Allowable expenses - are you paying too much tax?

With HMRC focusing more and more on emerging industries like blogging and influencing, it has never been more important for your tax return to be accurate, but is the uncertainty or knowing what’s deductible and what’s not giving you a headache? Then let us help.

Claiming for allowable expenses is the simplest and easiest way to reduce you tax bill each year. So what’s allowed – here’s an outline of some expenses that you can offset against your income.  

  • Plug-ins and software that you use to create your content, for example Buffer, Hootsuite and Photoshop

  • Equipment like cameras, phones and computers

  • Books or workshops that you attend

  • Insurance

  • Subcontractor costs for example photographers, consultants or other freelancers

  • Travel expenses and mileage

  • Make-up, hair and clothing (yes even that killer mani you get each week!)

  • Utility bills if you work from home some of time

  • Recording and licensing fees if you use professional studios or backing tracks for your posts

  • Professional fees such as accounting or legal advice

But what if you’ve been gifted something that you feature in a post but then use personally? Or if you use your mobile phone for both personal and business use? In these cases things get a little trickier and you can only claim a proportion of the expense as business related, corresponding to the split of use. So if the item is used 40% for personal and 60% for business you can only claim 60% of the cost against your income for tax purposes.

Generally speaking most of the bits and pieces that you buy to make your content are tax deductible, but remember, if HMRC ever wants to look at your accounting records you’ll need to explain what they are and what you use them for.

If in doubt, give us a shout! You can reach us on 0730 041 0801 or by dropping us an email at hello@twentyaccounting.com.

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