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Top 5 failed self-employment expense claims



If you're self-employed, your business will have various running costs. There are certain expenses HMRC allow you to deduct from your tax bill. This doesn't mean you can try and claim for anything though, as these crazy claims were unsurprisingly rejected from HMRC..


A carpenter claiming £900 for a 55-inch TV and sound bar, to help him price his jobs!


Although there are certain 'tech' items you can claim for on your tax return, this type of equipment isn't likely to be successful.


£40 on extra woolly underwear..for five years!


You can claim allowable business expenses for clothing, including uniforms, protected clothing if needed for your work and costumes for actors and entertainers. Unfortunately, underwear doesn't fall into any of these categories.


£756 for pet dog insurance


You can claim for security and insurance costs such as property insurance. However even if your dog was a guard dog, you can't claim expenses for it!


A music subscription - to listen to music while working!


If used for business, you can deduct a mobile phone bill as an allowable expense. But, this wouldn't include any added apps such as music subscriptions as it is not a necessary or needed expense. Whistle while you work all you like, but if you want music - you'll have to pay for it!


A family holiday


Of course, there are certain travel costs you can deduct as allowable expenses - but a family holiday isn't one of them. You can claim travel expenses for things like vehicle insurance, fuel, parking and hotel rooms.


If working as self-employed, especially if you are working from home, you need to remember that these allowable expenses need to be wholly and exclusively for your business. Find out more about allowable expenses here: https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed

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