How to use it
- 1Keep one register per director. Add every movement in date order: money taken out, personal costs the company paid, repayments, and dividends, salary or expenses credited to the account.
- 2A positive balance means the director owes the company (overdrawn). A negative balance means the company owes the director.
- 3At each accounting period end, add a row with that date and the type Period end. Leave the amount blank.
- 4The Period end row shows the balance, the repay-by date 9 months later, repayments entered in those 9 months and the s455 charge on anything left.
- 5Until the 9 months have passed, the charge assumes nothing more is repaid. Add repayments as they happen and it updates.
What each field means
- Type
- Money taken out and personal costs paid by the company increase what the director owes; everything else reduces it.
- Movement
- The amount with its sign: plus if owed to the company.
- Balance
- The running balance after the line.
- Position
- Overdrawn, In credit or Nil.
- Repay by
- On a Period end row, 9 months after the period end.
- Repaid within 9 months
- Credits to the account dated after the period end and by the repay-by date.
- s455 due
- What's still outstanding after 9 months, at the s455 rate on the Rates sheet.
When s455 applies
GOV.UK says you must keep a record of any money you borrow from or pay into the company, usually called a director's loan account, and show the balance either way in the annual accounts.
If you're a shareholder and director and the account is overdrawn at the end of the Corporation Tax accounting period, show the amount owed on form CT600A. If it isn't repaid within 9 months of the period end, the company pays Corporation Tax on the outstanding amount, and interest is added until the tax is paid or the loan is repaid.
The rate is the dividend upper rate for the tax year the loan was made: 35.75% for loans made from 6 April 2026, and 33.75% for loans made between 6 April 2022 and 5 April 2026. The sheet applies the current rate, so adjust older balances by hand.
Getting the tax back
The company can reclaim s455 once the loan is repaid, written off or released, but not the interest. The relief is due 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period in which the loan was cleared, and HMRC won't repay before then.
Repaying and re-borrowing doesn't escape the charge. If the loan was more than £5,000 and you take another of £5,000 or more within 30 days either side of repaying it, or more than £15,000 and you arrange another loan when you repay it, the charge applies to the original loan.
Licence and disclaimer
Free to use, copy and adapt for your own business or personal records. Please don't resell it or republish it as your own template.
A template is a starting point, not advice for your circumstances. Check the result against the GOV.UK guidance linked below, or ask an accountant.
Related
What else will you need?
- TemplateDividend registerA dividend register is a company's running list of every dividend it declares and pays: the date, each shareholder, the shares held, the amount, and the voucher and board minute behind it.Excel
- TemplateDividend voucherA dividend voucher is the record a limited company issues each time it pays a dividend.PDFWord
- ChecklistLimited company year-end checklistAt a limited company's year end, reconcile every bank and loan account, list unpaid invoices and bills, count stock, record asset purchases, review the director's loan account and check dividends were minuted.
- CT600CT600 Company Tax ReturnThe CT600 is HMRC's Company Tax Return.
Rather we did it?
Countify can handle this for you, for a fixed fee agreed upfront.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Does a dividend clear an overdrawn loan account?
A dividend properly declared and credited to the account reduces the balance, as does salary or a bonus put through payroll. Record it with the type Dividend credited or Salary or bonus credited.
Is a loan over the benefit-in-kind threshold taxed on the director too?
If a shareholder-director owes more than £10,000 at any time in the year, the company must treat it as a benefit in kind unless interest at HMRC's official rate is paid. The director reports it on their tax return.
What happens if the company writes the loan off?
The company deducts Class 1 National Insurance through payroll and the director pays Income Tax on it through Self Assessment. The company can then reclaim any s455 it paid.
Why is the repay-by date 9 months after the period end?
GOV.UK sets the test as repaying within 9 months of the end of the accounting period. That is also when Corporation Tax for the period falls due, on the following day.
Checked against GOV.UK on · Reviewed by Kamran Ishaq FCCA, Founder & CEO, on .
Sources: Director's loans (opens in a new tab) (HM Revenue & Customs); Director's loans: if you owe your company money (opens in a new tab) (HM Revenue & Customs); Company Taxation Manual CTM61505: loans to participators (opens in a new tab) (HM Revenue & Customs).