Cash surplus in Ltd company.

[Armstrongracer]

I'm a Ltd company contractor with myself as director and no other employees, Ive just taken on a permanent role and want to wind down my Ltd Co but need to minimise my liabilities and maximise my earnings from contracting because I'm taking a big drop in salary and things will be tight going forward. This is the state of play

• My vat is up to day with revenue but I was stupidly busy (working away) in 2024 so lived off personal savings and havent yet paid myself any salary from the company in 2024.
• Have a sizeable surplus in the company account (approx 6 months salary) because I was always prudent as a contractor and paid myself less than I was earning in case I had a gap between contracts and would still need to pay myself even though there would be no income coming in.
• This prudence could well bite me big time if I just pay everyting out thats left in the company account as salary, as all of this surplus will be taxed at the upper income tax rate.

Whats the most tax efficient way to deal with this, I need to be smart here as my salary drop is 25-30% and I,m a single parent with kids about to hit college years. I've also just hit 65 and wonder if there are any additional tax advantages I can leverage.