What is a dividend voucher?
A dividend voucher is a document that records the details of a dividend payment to a shareholder. It’s part of keeping a clear audit trail for your company’s dividends and shareholder records.
UK compliance guide
Dividend voucher template (UK): what to include (HMRC-ready fields)
If you’ve searched for a dividend voucher template, you’re not alone. Many UK limited company directors start with a Word/Excel template — but consistency and record-keeping get harder as you pay dividends more often or manage multiple shareholders.
This page sets out the fields GOV.UK requires and the good-practice extras, shows the template filled in for an example company, and points you to a free generator that turns it into a PDF.
Why templates go wrong
Most template issues come from inconsistent fields (missing references, mismatched dates, wrong shareholder details) or poor storage (files not attached to the accounting trail).
Dividend voucher template fields (UK)
GOV.UK sets a short legal minimum. Most vouchers carry more than that, because the extra fields make each one easy to check against the board minutes and the accounting entry. Each field below shows its value from the example further down the page.
“For each dividend payment the company makes, you must write up a dividend voucher showing the:
- date
- company name
- names of the shareholders being paid a dividend
- amount of the dividend
You must give a copy of the voucher to recipients of the dividend and keep a copy for your company’s records.”
Required by GOV.UK
The four details every voucher must show.
- Date
- The date the dividend is paid. It decides which tax year the dividend falls in.
- 15 September 2026
- Company name
- As registered at Companies House.
- Northwood Holdings Ltd
- Shareholder name
- The shareholder being paid.
- Ms R. P. Whitfield
- Amount of the dividend
- The total paid to this shareholder.
- £1,800.00
Good practice
Not required by GOV.UK, but they make each voucher self-explanatory years later — for you, your accountant and HMRC.
- Company number
- Ties the voucher to the company on the Companies House register.
- 12345678
- Registered office
- As shown on Companies House.
- 38 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QB
- Shareholder address
- As held in the company’s records.
- 14 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0AG
- Shares held and class
- The shareholding the dividend is paid on.
- 4,500 Ordinary
- Dividend per share
- Shares held × dividend per share should equal the amount.
- £0.40
- Interim or final, and period
- Which dividend this is, and the financial year it relates to.
- Interim · year ending 31 January 2027
- Tax year
- The tax year the payment date falls in.
- 2026/27
- Voucher reference
- A unique number linking the voucher to the minutes and the accounting entry.
- DV-2026-0143
- Director’s signature
- The director issuing the voucher.
- R. Whitfield, director
Dividend voucher example (filled in)
Here is the template filled in for a fictional company, Northwood Holdings Ltd, paying an interim dividend of £0.40 per share. Ms R. P. Whitfield holds 4,500 Ordinary shares, so her voucher shows £1,800.00 paid on 15 September 2026, in the 2026/27 tax year.
One voucher per shareholder
If Northwood had a second shareholder, they would get their own voucher: the same date, company and dividend per share, but their own name, shareholding and amount. The usual practice is one voucher per shareholder, per payment — each person gets a copy showing only what they were paid, which they can keep for their own tax return.
Form DV/01 · Companies Act 2006
Dividend Voucher
Ref.
DV-2026-0143
Issued by
Northwood Holdings Ltd
38 Marylebone High StreetLondonW1U 4QBCo. № 12345678Paid to shareholder
Ms R. P. Whitfield
14 Gordon SquareLondonWC1H 0AGShare classOrdinary
Shares held4,500
Per share£0.40
Total dividend£1,800.00
Payment date15 September 2026
Tax year2026 / 2027
Interim — financial year ending 31 Jan 2027
R. Whitfield
Signed · Director
Issued
15 September 2026
The paperwork that goes with it
A voucher records the payment. It sits alongside the documents that record the decision.
Board minutes
GOV.UK says that to pay a dividend you must “hold a directors’ meeting to ‘declare’ the dividend” and “keep minutes of the meeting, even if you’re the only director”.
Interim dividend: a declaration
Interim dividends are paid during the financial year on the directors’ decision. A written dividend declaration records the amount, the date and the shareholders paid.
Final dividend: a resolution
Final dividends are approved by the shareholders once the year’s accounts are prepared, so you also need a shareholder resolution.
The full sequence — checking reserves, minuting the decision, issuing vouchers, paying and recording — is in how to pay dividends as a limited company. Dividendly drafts the voucher, board minutes and the declaration or resolution from the same figures, collects e-signatures and emails each shareholder.
Fill in the template: a free dividend voucher generator
The quickest way to fill in this template is our free generator. Enter the company, shareholder and dividend details, watch the voucher build as you type, and download the PDF. It needs no login and runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded or saved.
Using Xero or QuickBooks Online?
Dividendly can post each dividend to your books with the voucher PDF attached — a SPEND transaction in Xero, a Purchase in QuickBooks Online — and back-fill vouchers for dividends already paid there (historical back-fill is included on Growth, Accountant and Enterprise). Integration is optional on every plan, and documents-only mode needs no accounting software at all.
Common questions
Do I need a voucher every time I pay a dividend?
Yes. GOV.UK says the company must write up a voucher for each dividend payment, give a copy to each shareholder paid and keep a copy for its records. If you’re unsure how that applies to your company, confirm with your accountant.
Can I use one template for multiple shareholders?
It’s usually clearer to generate one voucher per shareholder, per payment. That’s one reason a generator workflow is easier to manage than copying templates.
For deeper Q&A, see the Dividend voucher FAQ.