How to account for paying dividends (UK)

[Maf. King]

On Thursday 12 Jun 2008, Jim Hitch wrote:
> Hi Guncashers.
>
> I use guncash for my business accounts. I can find plenty of stuff in the
> archive about getting dividends and putting them into personal accounts,
> but can't find anything about paying them.
>
> I pay them to myself, but don't know how to account for them. I know that
> they shouldn't go into expenses, because they are paid from a presumed
> profit (presumed in the sense that they are paid before EOY), and that I'm
> going to need to put in a Corporation Tax liability... but can't quite get
> my head around how to sort it out.
>

Hi Jim,

My dividends are treated as

Bank Current -> Expenses:Non-Vatable:Dividends

which my accountant seems happy with, although they are effectively taken 
against "retained earnings" - ie from last year's post-tax profits

HTH,
Maf.