Tolan,
I have been a self employed pilot contractor for a number of years.
My advice is; that if you are serious, get a good accountant from the outset. It will cost you some money, but it will be worth it in the long run, especially if you happen to be audited by the Inland Revenue. Get some good advice on structuring also.
There is well held case law regarding the treatment of income derived from ones own labour. In principle if the income from your business is soley derived from your own labour, then it can not be split. For example, if you are a pilot and you are the only employee in your business and the business income is soley derived from you going out flying and getting paid for it, then you can not split this income. i.e. you can not pay yourself the minimum wage and hide the rest of the income in the business. What you can do, however, is deduct all related expenses from this income. Expenses might include; Office (typically 10% of your housing costs; Rent, Interest, Housing tax, Electricity, Phone, Water etc), Vehicle, Flight bag, sunglasses, books, airfares etc. The effect is that your taxable income is greatly reduced and you pay less tax.
If, on the other hand, you owned a business that employed pilots (possibly including yourself), and they went out and flew and the business received income as a result, then this income can be freely split. The business could pay each employee the minimum wage and distribute the rest of the income as it sees fit.
Laws differ, of course, depending on where you are resident.