Business expenses – what you can claim

A self-employed business person can claim a deduction for tax purposes for all expenses ‘wholly and exclusively incurred’ for the business.

In practice, this is more complicated than it sounds. Some expenses are obviously for the business, such as the purchase of stock and materials, rent for business premises, advertising, stationery, postage and business insurance. Some expenses may be partly for business purposes and partly for private purposes.

There is more guidance on this subject in the being self-employed section of this site.