Dividends

Record and manage dividend declarations and payments for UK limited companies.

Dividend handling in SpeyBooks is explicit, ledger-backed, and audit-friendly. SpeyBooks records dividends — it does not decide whether one is lawful.

Plan requirement

Dividend features are available on the Limited Company plan (£24.95/month).

Overview

Dividends are distributions of post-tax company profits to shareholders.

They are:

• Paid from distributable reserves
• Not a business expense
• Taxed personally on the recipient, not the company

SpeyBooks treats dividends as equity movements, not operating costs.

Legal prerequisites

Before declaring a dividend, the company must:

• Have sufficient distributable profits (retained earnings)
• Have accounted for corporation tax liabilities
• Remain solvent immediately after payment

SpeyBooks does not validate legality beyond basic accounting constraints. Directors remain responsible for ensuring dividends are lawful.

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Dividend lifecycle

Dividends in SpeyBooks follow a strict two-step lifecycle:

Step	Action
Declaration	Creates a dividend voucher and accounting liability
Payment	Settles the liability when cash is transferred

These steps are recorded separately and explicitly.

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Create a dividend voucher (declaration)

Declaring a dividend creates a dividend voucher and posts the corresponding ledger entry.

curl -X POST https://api.speybooks.com/v1/dividends \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "shareholder": "John Smith",
    "sharesHeld": 100,
    "totalShares": 100,
    "amount": 500000,
    "date": "2026-01-31"
  }'

Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "id": "div_abc123",
    "voucherNumber": "DIV-0001",
    "shareholder": "John Smith",
    "sharesHeld": 100,
    "totalShares": 100,
    "percentage": 100,
    "amount": 500000,
    "date": "2026-01-31",
    "createdAt": "2026-01-31T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Properties

• Amounts are in minor units (pence)
• Voucher numbers are sequential and immutable
• Dividend vouchers cannot be edited once created

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Accounting entries (declaration)

When a dividend is declared, SpeyBooks records:

Account	Debit	Credit
Dividends (3200)	£5,000
Director's Loan (2300)		£5,000

This reflects:

• A reduction in retained earnings
• A liability owed to the shareholder

No cash movement occurs at this stage.

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Pay a dividend

When the dividend is actually paid, the liability is settled.

Account	Debit	Credit
Director's Loan (2300)	£5,000
Bank (1200)		£5,000

Payment may occur on a different date from declaration.

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Download dividend voucher

Each declared dividend has an associated PDF voucher.

curl https://api.speybooks.com/v1/dividends/div_abc123/pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_api_key" \
  --output dividend-voucher.pdf

The voucher includes all legally required information:

• Company name and registration number
• Shareholder name
• Number of shares held
• Total shares in issue
• Dividend per share
• Total dividend amount
• Declaration date
• Voucher reference

Vouchers are generated from stored data and are reproducible.

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Tax considerations

Dividend taxation is personal to the shareholder.

For the 2024/25 tax year:

Band	Rate
Dividend allowance	£500 at 0%
Basic rate	8.75%
Higher rate	33.75%
Additional rate	39.35%

SpeyBooks does not calculate personal income tax. Dividend records are provided for reporting and self-assessment purposes only.

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List dividends

Retrieve all dividends for a given year:

curl "https://api.speybooks.com/v1/dividends?year=2026" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_live_your_api_key"

Response

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "dividends": [
      {
        "id": "div_abc123",
        "voucherNumber": "DIV-0001",
        "shareholder": "John Smith",
        "amount": 500000,
        "date": "2026-01-31"
      }
    ],
    "meta": {
      "year": 2026,
      "total": 1
    }
  }
}

Results are ordered by declaration date.

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Dividend invariants

SpeyBooks enforces the following:

• Dividends are never treated as expenses
• Dividend vouchers are immutable once created
• Declaration and payment are separate events
• All dividend movements are double-entry
• All records are auditable and reproducible

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Error codes

Code	HTTP	Description
validation_error	400	Missing required fields or invalid data
insufficient_reserves	422	Distributable profits insufficient for dividend
not_found	404	Dividend does not exist
plan_required	403	Limited Company plan required

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Amount format

All dividend amounts are in minor units (pence for GBP):

500000 = £5,000.00

Divide by 100 for display.