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What expenses can I claim?
- A Tutors Guide -
As a self-employed tutor, you will incur various running costs which you can deduct from your taxable profits (provided of course that they’re allowable expenses that relate to your activities as a tutor). The questions is - what expenses are allowable and what can you, as a self-employed tutor, claim as a deduction from your taxable profits? This guide will help you through this particularly tricky area of self-assessment tax.
The general rule
As a general rule of thumb, you can't claim a deduction for expenses spent on yourself for your own personal needs. For example, you can't claim for a personal phone bill or the cost of fuel for a non-business related journey. An allowable expense must relate 'wholly and exclusively' to your 'business', or in your case, your self-employed tutoring activities.
We have prepared further tax guides specifically for tutors and the self-employed.
Other tax guides for Tutors
Expenses you can claim for
Keeping the above general rule in mind, let's go through the types of self-employed expenses that you, as a tutor, may typically encounter:
Office & Stationary Costs
Stationary
You can claim expenses for:
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Learning materials, e.g. books
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phone, mobile, fax and internet bills
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postage
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stationery
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printing
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printer ink and cartridges
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computer software
For claiming expenses for equipment, such as computer hardware, see 'Capital Allowances', below.
Working from home
As a tutor you will probably carry out some of your work from home. You may be able to claim a proportion of your costs for things like:
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heating
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electricity
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council Tax
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mortgage interest or rent
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internet and telephone use
You’ll need to find a reasonable method of dividing your costs, eg by the amount of time you spend working from home. We can help with all of this.
Car & Travel Costs
You can claim allowable travel expenses, for example where you have travelled to and from a tutoring session. This can include the business proportion of:
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vehicle insurance
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repairs and servicing
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fuel
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parking
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hire charges
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vehicle licence fees
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breakdown cover
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train, bus, air and taxi fares
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hotel rooms
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meals on overnight business trips
Note:
You can't claim for:
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non-business driving or fuel costs
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parking fines
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speeding penalties
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travel to and from a permanent place of employment
Professional, Accountancy & Financial Costs
Professional, accountancy and legal costs can count as allowable expenses. In particular, for tutors, this may include:
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agency/commission charges
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our accountancy fee
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professional indemnity insurance premiums, if applicable.
Bank & Other Financial Charges
You can claim business costs for:
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bank, overdraft and credit card charges
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interest on bank and business loans
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hire purchase interest
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leasing payments
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alternative finance payments, eg Islamic finance
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Bad debts - E.g. if a student does not pay you for a tutoring session.
Capital Allowances
You can claim tax relief for the cost of capital business assets purchased for use in your role as a self-employed tutor. This will generally include items with an expected lifespan of over 2 years, including:
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computer equipment
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learning aids
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office furniture
Expenses relating to both personal and business
As a tutor, you may carry out self-employed tutor work in addition to working in permanent employment elsewhere. Because of this, some of your business expenses (tutor expenses), may also have a personal use. For example, you may use your personal mobile to make and receive calls to Ash Tutors or to your students. The cost of those particular calls will be classed as allowable expenses. It will sometimes be necessary therefore to apportion costs between personal and business and claim for the business element only on your self-assessment tax return.
Other allowable expenses may include:
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Uniform expenses (this must be for an identifiable uniform and not normal business clothing).
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Staff costs (if you employ or contract others).
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Subscriptions / professional memberships
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Marketing / advertising costs
We have prepared the following tax guides specifically for Tutors and the self-employed. Click on the links to read more:
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What expenses can I claim? - A Tutors Guide
Tax Guides for Tutors (subscribers only)
Need help with anything else?
There's more to us than just tax returns. Visit our website for details on our tax services:
