The issue is more over principle than the software used.

The directors are taking money from the company so the options really come down to Salary or Dividend.

A dividend would not need to be taken immediately but rather than withdrawals could be taken to the DLA and cleared with a Dividend at the year end.

This is likely to change when RTI comes in expecting weekly or monthly reporting.

If the directors regard the withdrawals as salary (which is what they are indicating) but are looking to not pay tax or NI on such then that is tax evasion which is a crime under the money laundering regulations and carries penalties including unlimited fine and imprisonment and banning from acting as directors.

Sometimes directors need to be reminded of their fiduciary duty of care over the company that they control in the same way as a parent controls a child rather than a possession such as a car or house that they can do with as they will.

If the business goes down the dividends route then do the directors also have other income with which they are paying their normal living expenses such as their mortgage?

Note that dividends can only be paid from profit. If the company is not making a profit (or not making sufficient profit) then it cannot pay dividends so everything withdrawn will either be a withdrawal of capital already invested in the business (not an expense of the company against revenue) OR be deemed salary upon which tax and NI (and employers NI) is payable (and the business should be registered as an employer as directors are employees of the company).

HTH,

Shaun.