Allowable expenses for sole traders: the full list
As a sole trader you can deduct the costs of running your business, such as stock, fuel, phone bills, insurance, advertising and protective work clothing, which lowers the profit you pay tax on. You cannot claim personal spending, everyday clothes, client entertaining or fines, and where something is used both privately and for work you claim only the business share.
How expenses lower your tax
Income Tax is charged on profit, which is turnover minus allowable expenses. Example: £32,000 of sales with £7,000 of allowable costs leaves £25,000 of taxable profit. Money you take out for yourself is not an expense.
Cash basis is the default from the 2024 to 2025 tax year. Under it, equipment you buy and keep, such as a laptop or tools, is claimed as an expense, while cars go through capital allowances. With traditional accounting, equipment and vehicles go through capital allowances instead.
What you can claim
These are the main groups GOV.UK lists, with typical examples. For how they map to tax return boxes, see HMRC expense categories.
- Office costs: phone, mobile and internet bills, postage, stationery, printing, ink, and software you use for less than 2 years or pay for with a regular licence renewal.
- Premises: rent, business and water rates, utilities, property insurance, security, and repairs to premises and equipment.
- Vehicles and travel: fuel, insurance, servicing, repairs, vehicle tax, breakdown cover, parking, hire charges, train, bus, air and taxi fares, hotels and meals on overnight business trips.
- Clothing: protective kit such as safety boots or hard hats, overalls or aprons used only for work, uniforms that are not everyday wear, and costumes for performing or advertising.
- Staff: wages, bonuses, pensions, benefits, agency fees, subcontractors and employer's National Insurance.
- Stock: goods for resale, raw materials and direct production costs.
- Financial and professional: accountants, solicitors and surveyors used for business, professional indemnity and public liability insurance, bank and card charges, loan and hire purchase interest, and leasing payments.
- Marketing: adverts, mailshots and website costs, free samples of what you sell, and branded giveaways up to £50 per person per tax year (not food, drink or tobacco).
- Subscriptions: trade or professional journals and memberships of trade or professional bodies.
- Training: courses that improve skills you already use in the business, keep you up to date with your industry, or support the business, including admin skills.
What you cannot claim
- Personal spending, and the private share of anything.
- Travel between home and work.
- Parking fines, speeding tickets and other penalties for breaking the law.
- Everyday clothes such as suits, shirts or ordinary shoes, even if you only wear them for work.
- Entertaining clients, suppliers or customers, including a working lunch with a client. A staff event where employees are the main guests is allowed.
- Gym membership, political donations and charity donations.
- Childcare or domestic help such as a nanny.
- Loan or overdraft repayments (only the interest counts) and depreciation.
- Training to start a new business or move into an unrelated field.
Phones and other mixed-use costs
If you use something for both work and home, work out the business share and claim only that. Example: a £360 annual phone bill where calls and data are about one third for business gives £120 to claim. Keep a note of how you worked it out.
Working from home
You have two choices. The first is a fair share of your actual household costs, such as heating, electricity, Council Tax, mortgage interest or rent, and internet, split by rooms used or time spent working. Example: one room of five used only as an office and a £1,500 energy bill gives £300.
The second is HMRC's flat rate, which you can use if you work at least 25 hours a month at home:
- 25 to 50 hours a month: £10
- 51 to 100 hours a month: £18
- 101 hours or more: £26
Example: 70 hours every month for a year gives 12 × £18 = £216. The flat rate does not cover phone or internet, so add the business share of those separately.
Mileage: is it 45p or 55p?
Instead of actual running costs, you can claim a flat rate per business mile. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year it is 55p for the first 10,000 miles in a car or van, up from 45p before 6 April 2026. It is 25p a mile after that, and 24p for motorcycles.
Example: 12,000 business miles gives 10,000 × 55p plus 2,000 × 25p, which is £6,000. Parking and train fares can be added on top.
You cannot switch a vehicle to the flat rate if you have already claimed capital allowances on it or deducted its cost as an expense, and once you use the flat rate for a vehicle you must stay on it. Cars designed for commercial use, such as black cabs, are excluded. See mileage allowance for sole traders.
Eye tests and health costs
GOV.UK's expenses guide does not mention eye tests or glasses. HMRC's Business Income Manual says spending on keeping or restoring your health is not generally allowable because it also benefits you personally. It accepts a narrow exception where the cost is of a special character dictated by the work itself, judged case by case.
The £1,000 trading allowance instead
You can deduct a flat £1,000 trading allowance from your gross income instead of actual expenses. If you do, you cannot claim any expenses or capital allowances, and the allowance cannot exceed your income. It usually only helps if your actual costs are under £1,000.
You cannot use it at all in a tax year if any of your trading income comes from a company you or someone connected to you owns or controls, a partnership you or someone connected to you belongs to, or your employer or the employer of your spouse or civil partner.
Do HMRC ask for proof of expenses?
You do not send receipts with your tax return or with Making Tax Digital updates. You must keep accurate records and proof, such as receipts, invoices and bank statements, to show HMRC if asked, for at least 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline. See records for sole traders and landlords.
Keeping the records with Snapfile
Snapfile lets you send receipt photos, PDFs or texts on WhatsApp. It records each cost, assigns an HMRC expense category, logs mileage, tracks the tax year and quarter, and exports a CSV. It does not submit to HMRC, and it is free during early access.
Common questions
What expenses can I claim as self-employed?
Costs that are purely for running your business: stock, office and phone costs, business travel, premises, staff, insurance, professional fees, advertising, subscriptions, relevant training and protective or uniform clothing. Personal costs, everyday clothes, client entertaining and fines are not allowed.
Can I claim 45p per mile as a sole trader?
45p was the rate for the first 10,000 business miles until 5 April 2026. From the 2026 to 2027 tax year the rate is 55p for the first 10,000 miles in a car or van, then 25p a mile.
Can I claim my phone bill as a sole trader?
Yes, but only the business share. If roughly a third of your use is for work, claim a third of the bill and keep a note of how you worked it out.
Can I claim an eye test as self-employed?
GOV.UK does not list eye tests as an allowable expense. HMRC's manual says health costs are not generally allowable because they also benefit you personally, with only narrow exceptions dictated by the work, so check with HMRC or an adviser first.
Do HMRC ask for proof of expenses?
Not when you file. You keep the receipts, invoices and statements yourself and show them only if HMRC asks, for example during a check. Keep them for at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline.
Sources: GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed; GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed (printable version, all sections); GOV.UK: Simplified expenses if you're self-employed; GOV.UK: Tax-free allowances on property and trading income; GOV.UK: Business records if you're self-employed; GOV.UK: BIM37940 Wholly and exclusively: health; GOV.UK: BIM37947 Wholly and exclusively: medical expenses dictated by the occupation; GOV.UK: Create digital records (Making Tax Digital for Income Tax). This is general information, not tax advice; check GOV.UK or an accountant for your situation.
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