Trying to work out typical salary based on turnover

[Ahardyfool]

I'm trying to work out what my ex partner's salary might reasonably be based on business (retail) turnover of approx. £250 000 pa.

In the past he took anywhere between £50 000 and £70 000.

This is for a small retail business with one member of staff (officially ) only - paid min wage.

Property is owned and part dwelling part business but no rental fee against business.

I should add that he has suggested maintenance of £300 monthly which I suspect is laughable, but I could be wrong.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

It's the gross & net profit figures that you need you could have billion pound turnover & still not make a profit.

300 pounds for how many children?

Red Helen's right. There are plenty of companies with big turnovers which make an annual loss, and some little ones with few overheads which produce a good income.

You're going to have to see 3 years accounts to get an idea of what would be appropriate.

You're right. The only additional financial detail I have is the margin he achieves.

This is for one child only, but he does make a payment each month to his ex wife for their two children which was part of maintenance agreement through divorce rather than a separate child maintenance arrangement via CSA.

I'm trying to ascertain whether this is a fair amount, as if it is I will accept it. However, based on what he used to take out of the business it doesn't seem fair at all.

He is pretty well off to be honest, and yet doesn't pay for DD's additional needs (she has a condition that benefits from activities such as swimming, riding, yoga, etc. that I cannot afford to pay for alone).

I have offered to take the £300 as basic payment and to agree on extra activities which he will pay for so he can appease his sense of 'giving money to the ex'.

It depends on the business. A £250k turnover business prducing a pretax profit before the downturn could very easily have seen its profits drop to £25k or less in the current climate. What kind of business is it? The net pre-tax margins on say a consultancy business would be around 75% of turnover but on a shop or restaurant they might be only 5%.

Did he pay personal income tax on the £50 - 70k he took out or was that his income after tax? The only real way to see this is to look at the accounts and tax returns for his business and himself. There are just too many unknown variables here.

Thanks, it is indeed a small shop/newsagent.

Property value of circa £700 000, and, as I say part residential. I don't know what the mortgage repayment is but I think around £1000 a month to cover both commercial and private living accommodation. However, unsure of footfall and only vague on utility payments and all rather too much like guesswork to try and arrive at an actual figure.

Historically he has never drawn a salary as such, but obviously there is an open pot there after business costs and tax.

I seem to recall him having tax bills of around £25 000 - which I think was quarterly.

I'm totally unsure of pre-tax figures as the time when I was familiar with all this was when he was dissolving partnership with ex wife and her tax was bound up with all this - for her was 2nd 'job'.

I'm pretty sure he will be in a position to take at least £60 000 pa.

Do the CSA look at previous 3 years books? Only, he has the ability to take cash from the business and I would think heftily reduce his apparent income if he wanted to do so as of now, whereas the last 3 years accounts would give a truer picture.

Newsagents have been particularly badly hit - especially by large supermarkets opening up small in town 'Metro' stores and selling newspapers and sweets and convenience goods.

In our town 4 newsagents have closed on the high street in the last 3 months. That said the only true way to see the profit is to get him to reveal his accounts and tax returns and I dont know how far CSA/courts will go to get that information revealed or what percentage of that income/profit would be reagrded as a fair and rightful allocation to you.

I think it is right if he is taking around 40,000 pounds salary considering he has two other children to provide for.