Each time you use your business debit card make sure you record the expense and keep the receipt
As the owner of a limited company, you receive tax relief on what you spend to run your business. If you claim them correctly, these allowable expenses reduce the amount of Corporation Tax you pay. 
 
Here are some of the most common expenses you can claim. 

Advertising, marketing and PR 

Promoting your business is a valid expense so you can claim one-off costs or ongoing fees that support your business. 
 

Accommodation 

If your business takes you away from home overnight, you can claim the cost of accommodation. You can also claim for food if you’re away from your normal place of work. You’re allowed a ‘reasonable’ amount of alcohol (probably a single drink) with your dinner. 
 

Travel 

If you travel for business by public transport you can claim your fare. If you travel by car or van there’s a mileage allowance of 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, and then 25p per mile. These rates go down if you travel by motorcycle or bicycle. Parking costs, toll fees and congestion charges are also allowable expenses. 
Here's an infographic of some of the allowable expenses for your business.

Working from home 

Some of your household costs and utility bills can be claimed as expenses if you’re working from home. You can simply claim £6 per week or £312 per year and you won’t need any receipts. 
 
Another approach is to work out the proportion of your overall household costs for business purposes. To do this you must identify the number of rooms in your property that are used for business. You must allocate a percentage of time each is used for work and provide evidence of home running costs. 
 

Your telephone bill 

If you register your mobile phone contract in your company name and use it solely for business, you can claim the cost as a business expense. If you use a ‘pay as you go’ phone for work, you can claim your top-ups as long as you have receipts. 
 
To claim for use of your personal mobile phone for work, you must keep a record of calls and texts that are for business. 
 
You can also claim for business calls made from your home phone and part of your line rental if you can show them on an itemised account. 
 
You can provide an employee with a mobile phone or SIM card if the phone contract is between you and the supplier. You won’t have to report it to HMRC or deduct and pay tax and National Insurance. You do have to report employees’ mobile phone costs if they are part of a salary sacrifice arrangement. 
 

Childcare 

Childcare costs aren’t directly related to running a business, so you can’t claim them as an expense. You could continue claiming childcare vouchers from your pre-tax income if you registered on or before October 2018. You can’t continue to claim childcare vouchers or directly contracted childcare if you successfully apply for Tax-Free Childcare. You can work out what’s best for you using the government’s online childcare calculator

Professional fees 

You can claim professional fees such as accountancy, insurance and legal costs if they are exclusively for running your business. 
 

Pensions 

Pension contributions are classed as a personal allowance. As a company owner, you could pay less Corporation Tax if you use an HMRC approved pension scheme
 

Training courses 

You can also claim for training that improves your understanding and skills to run your business. Some training might not meet this requirement, so it’s always worth checking. 
 
We use Xero to keep records of expenses for most of our clients. Get in touch if you would like to know how this could work for you. 
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