TOOLS & GUIDES
Sole trader business expense guide.
Explore a business cost, work through the questions HMRC’s guidance turns on, and build a checklist to take to your accountant or your tax return. No amounts to enter, no account, nothing saved.
Explore one cost at a time
Gather the right facts
Build a checklist to take
Part of:
Working for yourself
ASSUMPTIONS AND SCOPE
What the guide covers, and what it doesn’t.
WHO IT’S FOR
UK sole traders, including a sole-trader side business. Limited companies, partnerships and employee expenses are outside its scope and are signposted rather than answered.
WHAT IT IS
A set of questions to discuss, not a list of approved expenses. It does not confirm that a cost is deductible, calculate a claim or decide anything for your tax return.
WHAT IT COVERS
Eighteen everyday cost areas, from working from home and mileage to training, subscriptions, entertaining and professional fees, each with its own HMRC sources.
HOW IT WORKS
Pick a topic, answer a few optional questions about how the cost was used, and the guide orders the checks that matter most. Every question lets you say you don’t know.
WHAT YOU TAKE AWAY
A checklist of questions and the records to gather, which you can copy or print for your accountant. Your selections stay in the page and nothing is saved automatically.
NOT COVERED
VAT, your own pay and drawings, pensions, staff costs and employment status, pre-trading costs, penalties, losses and amounts. Those are signposted to HMRC, not answered here.
This is general information for UK sole traders, not a personalised tax decision, tax advice or confirmation that HMRC will accept an expense. A receipt or a business bank payment is not proof that a cost is deductible. For an uncertain, complex or material claim, check current HMRC guidance and speak to a suitably qualified accountant or tax adviser.
Model version v1
GUIDES TO HELP YOU EXPLORE
Read alongside the guide.
NEXT STEP
Costs mapped? Now see what they leave you.
The take-home target calculator works back from the money you need to the revenue and rate that would support it.
Try the calculator