Finances → Expenses, Tax, Dividends, Loans

Expenses, Tax & Dividends

What goes out: staff and subscriptions, the tax you're putting aside, the dividends you've taken and the loans you're paying down.

How to add an expense

Expenses are your running costs: wages, software, anything that comes off the top. They are what the overview subtracts from revenue, and what the tax estimate treats as deductible.

The Add Expense Item dialog with a type, a name and a note filled in — Pick the tab it belongs on, then name it.

The Subscriptions tab with two expense items and their monthly amounts — The item lands on that tab with twelve months to fill.

Open Finances → Expenses from the sidebar.
Pick the tab the cost belongs on, such as Staff or Subscriptions.
Click + Add Expense, top right.
Check the Type is the tab you want, and type a Name.
Add a note if it helps, then click Add Expense.
Fill in the months: click the + in a month, type the amount, and click the button beside it to mark it Paid.
Hover a month header and click its arrow to copy the month before into it, rather than typing a repeating cost twelve times.

Tip: On the Staff tab, any item with "director" in its name is floated to the top of the list.

How to check your corporation tax estimate

The Tax screen works out roughly what you'll owe from the revenue and costs you've entered, and compares it with what you've actually set aside.

The Corporation Tax Estimate card showing revenue, deductions, taxable profit, effective rate, estimated tax, budgeted and surplus — The estimate, with what you've budgeted beside it.

Open Finances → Tax from the sidebar.
Use the Now / Projected toggle, top right of the card. Now counts only the months that have happened; Projected counts all twelve.
Read the top row: Revenue, the Deductions it subtracted, the Taxable Profit left over, and the Effective Rate that profit falls into.
Read the three cards below: Estimated Tax is the bill, Budgeted is what you've put on the Corporation Tax tab, and the third card is the Surplus or Shortfall between them.
Open Monthly breakdown to see profit and running tax build up month by month.

Tip: Only the operating-expense tabs count as deductions — the ones under Expenses. Dividends, VAT and loan repayments don't reduce taxable profit, so they never appear in that figure. It's an estimate for planning, not a return: your accountant has the final word.

How to budget for tax and VAT

Under the estimate is an ordinary month grid, and this is where you record the money you're actually putting by. What you enter on the Corporation Tax tab is what the Budgeted card counts.

The tax tabs below the estimate, with a Corp tax pot item holding a monthly amount — The tax tabs sit under the estimate: Corporation Tax, VAT, and any you add.

Open Finances → Tax and scroll past the estimate to the tab strip.
Pick the tab you need: Corporation Tax for the yearly bill, VAT for your returns, or one of your own.
Click + Add Expense and name the item, for example "Corp tax pot".
Click the + in each month and type what you're setting aside. Click the button beside it to mark it Paid once the money has moved.
Go back up to the estimate: the Budgeted card now counts what's on the Corporation Tax tab, and tells you if you're short.

Tip: These amounts come off Net Cashflow and the predicted bank balance in the overview, so money you've set aside stops looking like money you can spend.

How to check what you can take as dividends

Dividends come out of profit after tax. The Dividends screen works out how much of that there is, subtracts what you've already taken, and tells you what's left.

The Dividend Allowance card showing revenue, deductions, estimated corp tax, post-tax profit, available to withdraw, total withdrawn and remaining — Post-tax profit, minus what you've already taken.

Open Finances → Dividends from the sidebar.
Use the Now / Projected toggle to choose between the months so far and the full year.
Read across the top: Revenue, Deductions, Est. Corp Tax and the Post-Tax Profit that's left.
Read the three cards below: Available to Withdraw is that post-tax profit, Total Withdrawn is what's on the Dividends tab, and Remaining is the difference.
If the last card turns red and says Overdrawn, you've taken more than the profit supports.
Open Monthly breakdown to see the headroom build up month by month.

How to record a dividend you've taken

Every dividend you take needs to go on the Dividends tab, otherwise the allowance above it will keep telling you the money is still there.

The Dividends tab under the allowance card, with a Director dividend item and amounts in three months — The Dividends tab feeds the Total Withdrawn figure above it.

Open Finances → Dividends and scroll past the allowance card to the Dividends tab.
Click + Add Expense and name the item, for example "Director dividend".
Click the + in the month you took it and type the amount.
Click the button beside the amount to mark it Paid once it has left the account.
Scroll back up: Total Withdrawn and Remaining have both moved.

Tip: Dividends also show as their own row in the overview's Profit & Deductions block, so they come off your predicted bank balance.

How to track a loan repayment

Loan repayments aren't a business cost, but they do leave the bank. Putting them on the Loans screen keeps the predicted balance right without touching your taxable profit.

The Loans screen with a Start-up loan repayment item paid in every month — One row per loan, one figure per month.

Open Finances → Loans from the sidebar.
Click + Add Expense and name the loan, for example "Start-up loan repayment".
Add a note with the end date if it's a fixed term, so future you knows when it stops.
Click the + in the first month and type the repayment.
Hover the next month's header and click its copy arrow to carry the same figure across, then repeat to the end of the term.
Mark each one Paid as it goes out.

Tip: Loan repayments reduce Net Cashflow and the predicted bank balance, but they are not deducted from taxable profit, so they never change the tax or dividend estimates.