Blog / Business expenses
Business expenses: what your company can claim
Plain-English notes from Simon Jacobs, Chartered Tax Adviser, on which costs a UK company can claim, from equipment and subscriptions to travel and capital allowances.
Is gym equipment tax deductible through your company?
It depends on who the equipment is for and how it is used. Kit at home for a director's own use is a weak claim, while a workplace gym open to all staff can fall within a tax exemption.
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Can I put this through the business as an expense?
It depends on the purpose of the cost more than the item. An expense is allowable when it is wholly and exclusively for the business, so one purchase can pass in one business and fail in another.
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Business travel meals: subsistence or entertainment?
Reasonable meals while travelling or working away on business are subsistence, which a company can usually deduct. Once the meal is about hosting someone, it is entertainment and the rules tighten.
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Sold a business car? Your tax bill depends on how you claimed the running costs
Sell a car you have used in the business and the tax position turns entirely on whether you claimed Capital Allowances or Mileage Allowance. One method can add tax on the sale. The other never does.
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Laptop tax relief: repairs, new MacBooks, and the Annual Investment Allowance
Your laptop can cut your tax bill, but repairs and a brand-new machine are treated differently. Here is how each one works for an agency owner, and why the Annual Investment Allowance usually gives you the full relief upfront.
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Can you put Wimbledon or football tickets through your limited company?
Whether match tickets are an allowable expense comes down to one question: who is coming with you. Same seat, different guest, completely different tax treatment.
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Is travelling to your own office a business expense?
Travel to your normal place of work is not a business expense, and a temporary office can quietly become your normal one. Two numbers decide it: 24 months and 40%.
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Pre-trading expenses: what can you claim before you start trading?
Qualifying pre-trading expenditure from up to seven years before trading began can be claimed, if it would have been allowable once you were trading.
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Can you put an overseas business trip through your agency?
Flights, hotels and food on a genuine business trip can be allowable. Add enough personal time to the itinerary and HMRC can challenge the individual costs, or the whole trip.
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Can your agency put branded hoodies and staff uniform through the books?
Plain clothes you could wear anywhere are disallowed, however smart they make you look on stage. Clothing carrying a permanent company logo is a different argument, and kitting out staff has its own exemption.
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Is that £5k course a business expense or a personal one?
Training that sharpens skills you already use in the agency is normally deductible. Training that buys you a new career is capital, and HMRC has case law to back that up.
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Netflix, Audible, YouTube Premium: which subscriptions can your agency claim?
Two agencies can pay for the same subscription and only one of them gets the deduction. The deciding factor is whether there is any private benefit attached, because a part claim is usually not on offer.
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What your agency can actually claim as an expense: a 2026 checklist
Most agencies under-claim, not over-claim. As work has gone remote and software-heavy, the list of legitimate business expenses has quietly grown.
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