What's the best way to arbitrage between Corporate and Personal income tax rates?

But what if I'm the only shareholder? Doesn't that change things since it's all my money anyway? And how would HMRC even know if I'm using a separate business account?

Being the sole shareholder makes no difference. A limited company is a separate legal entity from you personally, even if you own 100% of it. The money in the company belongs to the company, not to you directly, until it's properly extracted through legitimate means. HMRC has sophisticated methods for detecting this kind of behavior. Bank account monitoring, lifestyle analysis compared to declared income, routine tax investigations, and business expense reviews are all common. Plus, if you're ever audited (which is more likely for owner-managed businesses), this kind of arrangement would be immediately obvious and could result in significant penalties, interest charges, and even criminal prosecution for tax fraud.

How does it actually work though? Does it just give general advice or can it look at your specific numbers?

Sounds too good to be true honestly. Couldn't you just ask an accountant? Why would an AI know tax law better than a professional?

It works by analyzing your specific financial situation including company structure, revenue patterns, and personal tax position. Then it recommends an optimal extraction strategy tailored to your circumstances. It's not just general advice - you upload your financial data and it runs calculations on different scenarios. The AI doesn't replace accountants - it actually works alongside them. My accountant now uses the reports it generates to implement the strategy. The difference is that it can instantly model dozens of different scenarios that would take an accountant hours to calculate manually. It's basically augmenting human expertise with computational power.

How exactly does that even work? HMRC phone lines are notoriously impossible to get through - how could a service possibly change that?

This sounds like a scam. There's no way to "skip the queue" with HMRC. They're a government entity with strict procedures.

It works through a system that continuously redials and navigates the HMRC phone system until it secures a place in queue, then alerts you when you're about to be connected. It's not actually "skipping" the queue - it's just handling the painful waiting and menu navigation for you. There's nothing scammy about it - it's just an automated system that does the waiting for you instead of you having to sit on hold for hours. It essentially monitors the call and gives you back your time. When you're about to be connected to an agent, you get alerted and jump in for the actual conversation.

What about directors loan accounts? I've heard you can borrow from your company?

Yes, director's loan accounts are an option, but they come with strict rules. You can borrow from your company, but if the loan exceeds £10,000, it's considered a benefit in kind and you'll pay income tax on it. Additionally, if the loan isn't repaid within 9 months after your company's year-end, the company will have to pay a temporary tax (currently 33.75%) on the outstanding amount. When the loan is eventually repaid, the tax can be reclaimed, but it creates cashflow issues. Also, if you repeatedly take out loans and repay them (bed and breakfasting), HMRC has anti-avoidance rules that will catch this. Director's loans are legitimate but not a good long-term strategy for extracting value compared to the salary+dividend approach.

Yes! My brother-in-law tried something similar with his plumbing business. HMRC did a routine VAT inspection which led to them looking deeper at his accounts. They found personal expenses being paid directly from the business account and hit him with additional income tax, NI contributions, penalties AND interest going back 4 years. Cost him over £30k in total and now he's on their high-risk list for future audits.