The exact profit level where a limited company starts paying you more — recalculated for the April 2026 dividend rise.
- £39
- 10 templates
- Updated at every Budget
- 30-day refund
- Read Module 1 free
The “incorporate at £50k” rule still ranks on Google, and the April 2026 dividend rise quietly killed it. Run the numbers honestly at published 2026/27 rates and a limited company that pays everything out each year leaves you with less than a sole trader at almost every profit level, before you have paid an accountant for the company accounts.
That does not mean nobody should incorporate. It means the reasons are now specific: profit you can leave in the company, employer pension contributions, and clients who will not engage a sole trader. This course computes your case rather than a generic one, and if incorporation wins, it gives you the fourteen steps in order, including the identity-verification rule at Companies House that stalls unprepared filings.
What’s inside
- The computed comparison table, £35k–£100k, at real 2026/27 rates — with every assumption stated
- The retention scenario: the one genuine tax case left, modelled
- The 9-line honest scorecard · IR35 reality check · the director’s loan and dividend-paperwork traps
- Incorporation in 14 steps with current Companies House fees — including the new identity-verification law (in force since Nov 2025) that stalls unprepared filings
- Moving the business across: assets, contracts, VAT number, one clean transfer date · and the exit route if it stops paying
The 10 templates
Excel toolkit: scorecard · the full break-even calculator (change any assumption, it recalculates) · transfer-of-assets schedule · DLA tracker with s.455 warnings · salary/dividend/pension split worksheet. Plus: change-of-entity letter, board minute, dividend voucher, compliance calendar, first-year checklist.
What the first evening looks like
The honest test comes first, nine lines, and it is deliberately unflattering. Then the break-even calculator with your own profit, your own salary and dividend split and the amount you could realistically retain. If the company wins, the transfer schedule, the change-of-entity letter, the board minute and the dividend paperwork are ready; the director’s loan tracker warns you about the section 455 charge before you trigger it.
Read Module 1 free. “The honest test” — the opening module in full, nothing cut, plus the contents page. No email, no signup. Download the free sample (PDF, 4 pages)
Buying more than one? The Complete Freelancer System, all five original courses, is £97 against £215 at full price. See the full course list.
Not for you if: material goodwill, property, or investors are involved — take advice (the course’s schedules will make it cheaper).
Before you buy
I was told to incorporate at £50,000. Is that wrong now?
At 2026/27 rates, drawing everything out each year, a company pays you less at £50,000 than staying a sole trader, before accountancy costs. The course shows the full table and lets you change the assumptions.
What is the one case where a company still wins?
Retained profit. Money left in the company is taxed at Corporation Tax only until you draw it. The retention scenario is modelled in full.
Does it cover the new Companies House identity checks?
Yes. The identity-verification requirement in force since November 2025 is built into the fourteen-step plan.
What about goodwill, property or investors?
Take advice for those. The course’s schedules will make that advice cheaper, but they do not replace it.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Figures checked against HMRC and other primary sources at publication — see our editorial policy.