Making a withdrawal?

MARK MCLAUGHLIN considers some alternative methods of extracting value from family and owner-managed trading companies.

FAMILY AND OWNER-MANAGED trading companies come in all shapes and sizes. The same applies to their owners; not only in a physical sense but also in terms of their financial aspirations and their needs and attitudes towards extracting value from the company. The challenge faced by many advisers is in convincing director shareholders that the company's money is not their own! So here are ten ways of extracting profits or value from the family company. This article does not cover share option schemes nor does it seek to contrast the relative merits of one extraction method over another although it does highlight some practical issues relating to them. I expect that the intellectual and innovative minds of Taxation readers will be able to come up with additional strategies! However this article...