Readers’ forum: Providing a limited company with tax-efficient funds.

My client is the majority shareholder and director of a personal service company and his wife is also a director with a minority shareholding. I do not believe there are IR35 issues. Over the years most of the profits were withdrawn as remuneration or dividends and in recent years any capital reserves have also been taken as dividends because the business was winding down and they wanted to extract funds.

However a new business opportunity has now arisen which they intend to undertake through the same company to mitigate any potential trading risks. To put the wheels in motion the company will require an injection of capital to fund the new venture.

Can Taxation readers offer any suggestions as to the best way of going about this? Would it be better for the couple simply to lend money to the company or should they issue new shares...