Claiming Self-Employed Expenses

If you are self-employed then you need to be careful to claim all relevant expenses. So, what expenses can you legitimately claim? The principle is clear; the expenses have to be ‘wholly and exclusively in the course of your business’. Some are obvious. Most businesses will have some administration costs (stationery, stamps, telephone etc) and probably travel, advertising and so on. But there will be other expenses that relate specifically to your particular business – newspapers if you are a journalist, music if you are a musician, make up if you are a model.

If you keep the wholly and exclusively’ phrase in mind whenever you consider whether an expense is legitimate, then you should not go far wrong. There are some exceptions though. For example, you can’t claim for the cost of meals, even when entertaining a client, unless you are working from home overnight. Remember, much of English Law is case law so it doesn’t always follow an entirely logical process of thought. Some professional advice in talking you through what applies to your business will almost always be money well spent and result in a tax saving each year from now on.