There are more routes than salary and dividends, and the mix matters more than any single one. Beyond a sensible salary and dividend split, consider employer pension contributions, which are deductible and untaxed on the way in; repayment of any director’s loan you genuinely made to the company, which is tax free because it is your own money coming back; rent, if the company occupies premises you own personally, though that interacts with your eventual capital gains position; and mileage at the approved rates for business use of your own car. Benefits in kind are usually poor value except for the specific ones the rules favour, notably electric cars. What you should not do is take money informally and sort it out later — that is how overdrawn loan account charges happen.