11/08/2026
The question I got asked this week: **should I go limited?** It's almost never the tax question people think it is.
A sole trader this time — looking to grow, and potentially take on staff.
Three things I asked back.
**Where's this going?** If you want to hire, expand, take on premises, or sell the thing one day, limited gives you a lot more flexibility — and it puts a line between the business's problems and your house. Better to have it in place before you need it than to be restructuring at the point the business is under most pressure. Just don't form it years early: once the company exists it has to file, trading or not.
**Are you spending everything you earn?** This is the one that decides it. If every penny of profit goes out of the door to cover your living costs, going limited won't save you tax — with dividend rates up again in April, it can quietly cost you more. The benefit is in what you *don't* take out: profit left in the company is taxed at 19%, rather than 40% plus National Insurance on its way to your pocket. Pension contributions paid by the company work the same way. If there's nothing spare to leave in, there's nothing to save.
**Do you want the admin?** Annual accounts, a corporation tax return, a confirmation statement, your figures on public record at Companies House, and a bigger bill from me. It isn't onerous. It isn't nothing, either.
If you're growing and the question has crossed your mind, don't settle it on what someone told you at a networking event — every business is different. Half an hour with your real numbers and your real plans will answer it properly.
Ask me, if that's easier.
