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Resources overviewHow we check our numbers
Last reviewed: by Anna Stafford, Founder. Prepared with our qualified accountants.
Anything we publish with a tax rate, a threshold or a sum in it goes through the same checks.
Six checks before a number goes out
Choose a check to see where it shows on the example. Change the loan and the sum follows.
- 01
Every tax rate, allowance and threshold is checked against HMRC’s own manuals, the GOV.UK rates and allowances pages or the legislation. We note the page and the date we read it. One guidance page on its own is not enough, because they are not always kept up to date.On the example: the source line at the foot - 02
Rates change, and some depend on when something happened. The tax a company pays on an overdrawn director’s loan is 35.75% for a loan made on or after 6 April 2026, and 33.75% for a loan made in the four years before that. So a rate always comes with its date.On the example: the rate, with the dates it applies to - 03
If we say £24,000 at 35.75% is £8,580, the working is there for you to check. Every calculation is run again before it goes out.On the example: the total, with the working under it - 04
Where we use a business to make a point, it is called Example Ltd and marked as illustrative. We do not invent client stories or results.On the example: the label at the top - 05
What the law says, how HMRC applies it and what we would do in your position are different things. We say which one you are reading, and we say when a point needs a specialist.On the example: the rule and our view, marked separately - 06
Year-end accounts and tax returns are prepared by qualified accountants and reviewed by other qualified accountants. Anna Stafford, our founder, then gives them a final review before they come to you.On the example: the three steps under the sheet
The ruleThe rate is the higher dividend tax rate for the tax year the loan was made in.
Our viewDecide before the year end how the loan will be cleared, by salary, a dividend the company can afford or repayment.
Source: HMRC Company Taxation Manual, CTM61505, and the Corporation Tax Act 2010, section 455. Read 11 November 2026.
- Prepared by qualified accountants
- Reviewed by other qualified accountants
- Final review by Anna Stafford
The path a number takes
- 1SourcedFrom an HMRC manual, the GOV.UK rates pages or the legislation.
- 2DatedThe date the rate applies from, and the date we read it.
- 3WorkedThe sum is run, then run again.
- 4LabelledMade-up examples are marked, and the source goes on the page.
- 5PublishedWith the working there for you to check.
When we get one wrong
On 9 November 2026 two of our posts gave the director’s loan rate as 33.75%. It came from a GOV.UK page that had not been updated. The rate for a new loan is 35.75%. Both posts were corrected two days later, and we changed how we check rates.
If something of ours looks wrong, tell us at hi@aiaccounts.co.uk and we will check it and correct it.
Want your own numbers looked at?
The free Finance Gap Analysis is eight questions and a two-page report on where your finance has gaps. It is for owner-managed UK companies turning over £1m to £15m.