You’ve completed the project. The profits are in the business bank account. But now comes the real question: how do you actually get paid, without losing half of it to tax?

For developer-directors, extracting personal funds from a company can feel like walking a tightrope. Move too fast and you risk tax inefficiencies. Move too slow and you miss out on using your money when it matters most – whether that’s securing a new deal, investing in your family’s future or simply enjoying the reward for your hard work.

At GoldHouse, we help clients strategically extract funds in a way that balances tax efficiency, cash flow, and personal goals. Here’s how to do it smartly.

How to Take Money Out Without Bleeding Tax

Your development company might be turning a strong profit, but that doesn’t mean the money in the business is automatically yours. Taking funds out of the company requires careful planning to avoid triggering unnecessary tax or breaching HMRC rules.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, it depends on your structure, goals, and timelines. But there are proven ways to protect more of what you’ve built.

Salary, Dividends, or Directors Loans?

Each extraction method comes with pros, cons, and tax implications:

• Salary: Counts as a business expense and reduces corporation tax, but comes with income tax and National Insurance liabilities.
• Dividends: Taxed at lower rates than salary but only payable from profits after corporation tax. You’ll also need to plan for dividend tax.
• Directors Loan Account (DLA): Useful for temporary withdrawals, but an overdrawn loan account at year-end can trigger taxes (see below).
• Home office agreements: You can claim rent from your company if you’re working from home, but this requires a formal rental agreement. The rent is deductible against corporation tax.
• Charging interest on director loans: If you’ve lent money to your company, you can charge interest—provided there’s a formal loan agreement in place and you submit a CT61 to HMRC. This interest is deductible for the company and reduces corporation tax.

Always seek professional advice when implementing these strategies to ensure compliance and maximum benefit.

Using Pensions or Property for Personal Benefit

If you want to extract funds without taking them directly as income, a SSAS pension could be the key. You can:

• Contribute profits to your pension tax-free
• Loan money back to your business for future projects
• Use the pension to buy commercial property that you or your company can lease

This strategy shields wealth from income tax, inheritance tax, and future changes to legislation, all while keeping the capital working for you.

Another route? Holding property personally but purchased via intercompany or pension-led funding, depending on your goals. This requires careful legal and tax structuring, but it’s where GoldHouse’s joined-up approach shines.

Timing Distributions and Avoiding Overdrawn Loan Accounts

It’s not just how you extract, it’s when.

Taking funds before your accounts are finalised can mean paying out of estimated profits that may change.

This is how developers end up with overdrawn DLAs and unexpected tax bills.

If a director’s loan account is overdrawn at year-end, it can trigger s455 tax at 33.75%. And if the loan exceeds £10,000 per director, it may also be treated as a benefit in kind (BIK), bringing additional personal tax consequences.

Plan your distributions around key events:

• Final project exit or sale
• Year-end or dividend declaration
• Pension contribution deadlines

We help you forecast your total tax position across multiple companies and income streams so your personal cash flow doesn’t cause long-term issues.

Tax-Efficient Income for Developer-Directors

We work with developer-directors to build annual income strategies that protect the long game. This includes:

• Taking low salary + dividend combinations
• Splitting income across tax years
• Using your spouse’s tax allowance if they’re involved in the business
• Investing retained earnings into lower-tax structures

Want even more flexibility? Using holding companies, SSAS pensions, or family investment companies (FICs) can give you ways to build and extract wealth outside your main trading business.

Personal Wealth Strategy After a Big Exit

After a large development exit, your tax exposure can skyrocket if you don’t plan ahead.

You may want to:

• Reinvest into your next deal
• Gift wealth to family
• Secure your retirement through a SSAS or trust
• Fund a big personal life goal

Our role is to map all your options and help you execute with confidence, from pre-exit planning to post-exit investing.

Protecting What You’ve Built: Your Next Smart Move

You’ve built something valuable, now make sure you keep as much of it as possible. Whether you’re looking to pay yourself, protect family wealth, or fund your next venture, GoldHouse can help you do it with strategy and certainty.

Book a discovery call today and find out how we help developers extract value with less tax, more clarity, and a smarter structure.