Self-employed expenses you can claim in the UK (2026 guide)

Step-by-step

1

Understand the 'wholly and exclusively' test

Every UK self-employed expense must pass HMRC's 'wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade' test. Three implications. You can only claim expenses with a direct business purpose — your weekly grocery shop isn't deductible even if you 'thought about work while shopping'. You can apportion expenses with mixed business and personal use (phone bills, home utilities) by proportion. You can claim training that maintains existing skills, but not training that takes you into a new field (that's capital, not revenue). When in doubt, document the business reason and consult an accountant.

2

Office and equipment costs

Standard deductible items: laptops and computers, software subscriptions, office supplies, mobile phone (business proportion), printer and printing costs, professional reference materials. For higher-value equipment (over £150), you may need to claim through capital allowances rather than as a straight expense — most accounting software handles this automatically. Annual Investment Allowance currently lets you claim 100% of qualifying equipment costs up to £1m per year, so most small business purchases are fully deductible in the year you buy them.

3

Working from home — flat rate or actual costs

Two methods. Simplified flat rate: £10/mo for 25–50 hours/mo, £18/mo for 51–100 hours, £26/mo for 101+ hours of business use at home. Doesn't require receipts but caps your claim. Actual costs: claim a proportion (typically by rooms used / total rooms × hours of business use) of mortgage interest, rent, council tax, electricity, gas, water, internet. More work but can be much larger than flat rate for full-time home-based businesses. Most self-employed people earning over £30k from home are better off with actual costs.

4

Travel and mileage

Business travel is deductible — train tickets, flights, parking, congestion charge for business trips. The biggest claim for most freelancers is mileage in your own car: 45p/mile for the first 10,000 business miles per tax year, 25p/mile after that. Critical: 'business' doesn't include your normal commute to a regular workplace — only travel to clients, meetings, etc. Track every business journey (date, purpose, miles) — HMRC routinely audits mileage claims for self-employed.

5

Professional and admin costs

Deductible: accounting and bookkeeping fees, professional memberships and subscriptions (if directly relevant), business insurance (PI, public liability), bank charges on business accounts, legal fees for routine business matters (not capital), training that maintains existing skills. Not deductible: training that qualifies you for a new trade (capital), personal subscriptions, fines and penalties (parking, late tax payments, etc.).

6

Marketing, website, and software

Fully deductible: website hosting and domain, builders like Adviita, paid advertising (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.), business cards, branded merch, professional photography for marketing, software subscriptions (Adobe, accounting software, Notion, etc.). Don't be shy here — these are clear business expenses and HMRC has no issue with them. The website you build with Adviita, including paid plan subscriptions, is fully deductible as marketing expenditure.

7

Keep records properly

HMRC requires 5 years of records from the 31 January submission deadline. Two systems that work. Digital: scan receipts via your accounting software (FreeAgent, Xero, QuickBooks all support this) — receipt photo, AI categorisation, done. Bank feed integration handles bank transactions automatically. Paper backup: a single folder per tax year with all receipts that didn't come digitally. Don't trust HMRC's audit selection — assume you'll be checked and keep records that survive scrutiny.

Common questions