Allowable Expenses for UK Tradespeople — What You Can Claim to Cut Your Tax Bill (2026)

The Golden Rule: "Wholly and Exclusively"

There is one test that sits underneath every expense decision. To be allowable, a cost must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of your trade. If a cost is purely for the business, it's allowable in full. If it's purely personal, it isn't allowable at all. The grey area — and where most tradespeople trip up — is costs that have both a business and a private element.

Your phone, your vehicle and your home are the classic examples. You use your mobile for quoting customers and for calling your mum. You drive your van to jobs and to the supermarket. You work from a home office and also live there. In each case you can usually only claim the business proportion of the cost — not the whole thing. A cost that genuinely serves both purposes at once (so-called dual-purpose spending) is not fully allowable, and you need a sensible, defensible basis for whatever split you apply. Keep a note of how you worked it out, because that's exactly what HMRC would ask for.

What You Can Claim

Here is the meat of it — a thorough, trade-specific run through the costs self-employed tradespeople can legitimately put against their profits. Not every item will apply to you, but most established trades will recognise the bulk of this list.

Materials, stock and consumables

The materials you buy in for jobs — timber, pipe, cable, fixings, paint, plaster, aggregate — are allowable, as is stock you hold and consumables that get used up in the course of work (sandpaper, blades, sealant, fuel for tools, cleaning materials). Keep the supplier invoices; merchant statements alone are not always enough detail.

Tools and small equipment

Hand tools and smaller power tools used in the trade are allowable. Larger, longer-lasting kit — a van, a heavy plant item, an expensive machine — is a capital asset and is generally claimed through capital allowances (most commonly the Annual Investment Allowance, which lets you deduct the full cost in the year of purchase up to the AIA limit) rather than as a normal running expense. The practical effect is often similar, but the route matters, so flag bigger purchases to your accountant.

Subcontractor and casual labour (and CIS)

Payments to subcontractors and casual labour for work on your jobs are allowable business costs. If you work in construction, the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) almost certainly applies — you may need to verify and deduct from subcontractors as a contractor, or have deductions taken from your own payments. CIS deductions are not an extra tax; they are payments on account that you reconcile through your return. Keep every payment and deduction statement.

Vehicle running costs

You can claim the business cost of running your work vehicle. There are two methods and you must pick one method per vehicle and stick with it for as long as you own it:

• Actual costs: claim the business proportion of fuel, insurance, repairs, servicing, road tax, breakdown cover and so on (capital allowances cover the vehicle itself).
• Simplified mileage: claim a flat rate per business mile instead — 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the year and 25p per mile after that for cars and vans. This covers running costs and wear; you can't also claim fuel and repairs on top.

Mileage is simpler and often generous for higher-mileage trades; actual costs can win for expensive-to-run or heavily used vans. Whichever you choose, ordinary commuting from home to a regular workplace is not allowable — only genuine business travel.

PPE, workwear and branded uniform

Protective equipment and protective clothing — boots, gloves, hi-vis, hard hats, knee pads, ear and eye protection, overalls — is allowable, as is uniform that carries your business branding. The important nuance: ordinary everyday clothing is not allowable, even if you only wear it for work, because it also keeps you warm and decent (a dual purpose). Protective gear and properly branded uniform pass the test; a plain pair of jeans does not.

Insurance

Business insurances are allowable: public liability, tool and plant cover, van insurance, employers' liability if you have staff, and professional indemnity where relevant to your trade.

Phone, broadband and IT

Claim the business proportion of your mobile, landline and broadband, plus software and apps you use to run the business. If a contract is genuinely in the business's name and used only for work, it can be claimed in full; a personal phone used partly for work is apportioned.

Use of home as an office

If you do your quoting, invoicing and admin from home, you can claim a proportion of household running costs (heating, electricity, broadband, council tax, rent or mortgage interest) based on the rooms used and time spent — or use HMRC's simplified flat rate based on hours worked from home each month, which avoids the calculation entirely.

Premises, yard and storage

Rent, business rates and utilities for a workshop, yard, lock-up or storage unit used for the trade are allowable.

Accountancy, banking and finance

Accountant and bookkeeping fees, bookkeeping or invoicing software subscriptions, business bank charges and interest on business borrowing are all allowable.

Advertising and marketing

Advertising, your website and hosting, online and print marketing, vehicle sign-writing, branded workwear, and directory or lead-generation fees are allowable business costs.

Training, memberships and licences

Training that maintains or updates skills you already have is allowable, as are trade body memberships, scheme registrations, competent-person certificates and trade licences. Watch the nuance: training to acquire a brand-new trade or skill you didn't previously have can be treated as capital or disallowed, because it's seen as setting you up rather than running an existing business. If in doubt, ask your accountant before assuming a course is deductible.

Travel, parking and working away

Business travel, parking, tolls and congestion or clean-air charges incurred for work are allowable, and so is reasonable accommodation and subsistence when you're genuinely working away from home overnight. Ordinary daily commuting and parking penalties are not.

Trade-specific and site costs

Plant and tool hire, skip and waste disposal, scaffold and access hire, site welfare and other trade-specific items used on jobs are allowable.

What You Can't Claim (or Only Partly)

Just as important as knowing what to claim is knowing where the line is. The following are commonly attempted but are wholly or partly disallowed:

• Ordinary clothing — everyday clothes worn for work fail the wholly-and-exclusively test (protective gear and branded uniform are fine).
• Client entertaining — taking customers for lunch or drinks is specifically disallowed for tax.
• Fines and penalties — parking tickets, speeding fines and other penalties are never allowable, even if incurred during work.
• Your own wages or drawings — as a sole trader you aren't an employee of your business; money you take out is drawings from profit, not a deductible expense.
• The private element of mixed costs — the personal share of your phone, vehicle, home or anything dual-purpose.
• Capital assets bought as a normal expense — you don't expense a van or major machine as running costs; you claim it through capital allowances.
• Personal and household costs — anything for you or your home that isn't genuinely connected to the business.

None of this is a complete list and the boundaries can be fact-specific, so check anything you're unsure about with HMRC's guidance or your accountant.

Simplified Expenses

HMRC's simplified expenses scheme lets self-employed people use flat rates instead of working out actual costs in three areas:

• Vehicles — the 45p/25p per-mile mileage rates described above, instead of actual running costs.
• Use of home — a monthly flat rate based on the number of hours you work from home, instead of apportioning household bills.
• Living at your business premises — where you live on site (for example above the workshop), a flat-rate adjustment for the private use of the premises.

Simplified expenses are an easier alternative, not always the most generous one. They save time and record-keeping and suit trades with high mileage or modest home use. If your actual costs are clearly higher, the detailed method may save you more tax — it's worth comparing, and an accountant can run both quickly.

Records: No Record, No Claim

Every claim has to be backed by evidence. The working rule is simple — no record, no claim if HMRC asks. To stay on the right side of it:

• Keep every receipt and invoice — for materials, fuel, tools, insurance, everything.
• Use bookkeeping software or a receipts app rather than a shoebox; digital records are easier to search and harder to lose.
• Run a separate business bank account so business and personal spending don't get tangled — this alone makes your year-end far cleaner.
• Record the basis for any apportioned cost (phone, vehicle, home) so you can justify the split.

You're required to keep self-employment records for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year, and longer if a return is late or under enquiry. Good records don't just protect you in an HMRC check — they're how you spot the claims you'd otherwise miss.

Sole Trader vs Limited Company

This guide is written mainly for the self-employed sole trader, who claims allowable expenses on the self-employment pages of the Self Assessment tax return. Limited companies claim broadly similar costs, but against corporation tax rather than income tax, and the rules for directors' expenses, salaries and benefits are more involved — a director taking money out, for instance, is treated very differently from a sole trader's drawings. If you operate through a company, or you're weighing up incorporating, that's a conversation to have with your accountant rather than something to handle off a checklist.

Practical Tips

• Claim everything you're entitled to — but be honest. Aggressive or invented claims aren't worth the risk; legitimate ones are yours to take.
• Photograph receipts immediately. Snap them at the merchant counter or in the van before they fade or vanish.
• Review your numbers monthly. A short monthly catch-up beats a year-end scramble and stops claims slipping through the cracks.
• Use an accountant. For most trades a good accountant finds more in allowable expenses and reliefs than they cost in fees — and frees you up to be on the tools.

Quick Reference: Can Claim vs Can't Claim

Use this as a starting point, not the final word — borderline cases turn on the detail, so check with HMRC or your accountant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I claim my work van against tax?

Yes. The cost of the van itself is usually claimed through capital allowances (often the Annual Investment Allowance, which can let you deduct the full cost in the year of purchase), and you claim the business proportion of running costs — fuel, insurance, repairs, road tax — under the actual-costs method. Alternatively you can use simplified mileage at 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p thereafter, but you can't mix the two on the same vehicle. Private mileage isn't claimable either way.

Can I claim for my work clothes?

Protective clothing and PPE — boots, gloves, hi-vis, overalls, hard hats — are allowable, and so is uniform carrying your business branding. Ordinary everyday clothing is not allowable even if you only wear it on jobs, because it serves a dual purpose. So branded and protective gear: yes; a plain pair of trousers: no.

Can I claim for working from home as a tradesperson?

Yes, if you genuinely run the admin side of your business from home — quoting, invoicing, ordering, paperwork. You can claim a fair proportion of household running costs based on the space and time used, or use HMRC's simplified flat rate based on the hours you work from home each month, which is far less fiddly. Keep a note of how you arrived at the figure.

Tax rules and rates change from year to year and everyone's situation is different — use this as general guidance for 2025-26 and confirm the specifics with HMRC or your accountant before you file.