Set company profit and dividends to see the dividend tax calculation: the £500 allowance, then 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% depending on your total personal income for 2026/27.
Updated for 2026/27. Uses UK corporation tax, dividend tax and PAYE assumptions. Estimates only — not tax advice.
Calculate company tax Read the guidesCalculate dividend tax 2026/27: £500 allowance, then 10.75% basic rate, 35.75% higher rate, 39.35% additional rate. Shows how salary and dividends interact.
Updated for 2026/27. Written and reviewed by James Whitfield against current GOV.UK and HMRC guidance · Editorial standards · Methodology. Estimates for planning only — not tax, accounting or financial advice.
Figures reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year (last updated July 2026). Source: GOV.UK.
This calculator works out the personal dividend tax on money you take out of your limited company as dividends. Dividends are paid from profit that has already been through corporation tax, so they carry no National Insurance for you or the company. The first £500 of dividends each year is covered by the dividend allowance and is taxed at 0%.
Above the allowance, dividends are taxed at 10.75% while they fall in the basic-rate band, 35.75% in the higher-rate band, and 39.35% in the additional-rate band.1 Crucially, dividends stack on top of your salary and other income: your salary uses up part of your Personal Allowance and basic-rate band first, so the band a dividend lands in depends on your total income for the year.
Because dividends come out of post-corporation-tax profit, the true cost is the combination of corporation tax on the company profit and the dividend tax you then pay personally. That combined rate is why dividend planning is usually done alongside your salary rather than in isolation.
Dividends are taxed by where they land once placed on top of your salary. Take a director on the usual £12,570 salary who draws £37,498.55 of dividends — the whole picture turns on the £50,270 basic-rate ceiling.
Total income here is £50,068.55, just under the £50,270 threshold, so every taxable dividend sits at 10.75%. One more pound of dividend would cross into the higher-rate band and be taxed at 35.75% — the cliff this calculator is built to make visible.
The rates and rules on this page are drawn from the official UK government sources below, using the confirmed 2026/27 figures. Each link opens the relevant HMRC, GOV.UK or Companies House page in a new tab.
A limited company must keep its finances separate from personal accounts. These accounts are free to open.
Companies House now charges £100 to register a limited company online (up from £50 in February 2026). Same-day digital registration is £156. You can register directly at gov.uk or through a formation agent.