Claiming for business travel costs via Self Assessment

5 Minute Read

Last Updated: 10th January 2025

Although we’re encouraged to cut down on business travel, because it will save us time and money and help to minimise our carbon footprint, there are often times when you really have to go and meet a supplier or customer face to face.

UK motorways and roads in many cities and towns are heavily congested, which (disruption permitting) can make public transport a more preferable option, whether by bus, rail, tube or tram, with taxi journeys also in the mix, of course. For national and international travel, a business owner may need to fly, of course. As with most other things, travel costs have increased massively in recent years, largely driven by fuel price inflation we’re told. Going to see a customer or supplier or travelling to a trade show or exhibition has become expensive.

Are business travel costs “allowable expenses”?

If legitimate, yes they are. As the name suggests, “allowable expenses” are legitimate business costs that HMRC allows you to claim back as tax expenses. Doing so can reduce your tax bill significantly. And the great news is bus, rail, tube, tram and air-travel tickets purchased for legitimate business reasons are all allowable expenses, so you can deduct them from your gross profits.

As with all allowable expenses, the acid test is whether they were incurred “wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the trade, profession or vocation”. If you claim allowable expenses for the travel costs for personal journeys, you’re committing tax fraud, which can have serious consequences. And, you cannot claim for travel costs you pay to and from your normal place of work. These are commuting costs and you’ll have to pay those out of your own pocket, the same as everyone else. Commuting costs are “disallowable expenses”.

If you did travel to a trade show overseas and then decide to spend a few days sightseeing or lying on the beach, you can only claim a proportion of the travel costs, because the purpose of the journey was also your own personal pleasure and leisure. So, you might justifiably claim an allowable expense for the flight ticket from the UK, but not the one for the return flight home.

Subsistence and accommodation costs

If you need to stay overnight or longer while on business in another location, hotel or Airbnb costs may also be claimed as an allowable expense for sole traders via Self Assessment. As a general rule, the cost of any food and drink you buy while away from your normal place of work during the day cannot be claimed as an allowable expense, because you need food and drink no matter where you are, it doesn’t pass the “wholly and exclusively” test. However, if an overnight stay is necessary, you can claim for a modest evening meal, because subsistence in such cases is an allowable expense.

Keeping travel records and claiming expenses

As with all costs that you wish to claim as an allowable expense, you should retain proof, because HMRC can investigate your expense claims. And as well as an invoice or receipt for a travel cost, you should retain tickets for an event or meeting notes, because this can help to prove the legitimacy of your expense claim. A common mistake when it comes to business travel is to forget to ask for a receipt for taxi journeys, but it’s one you need to avoid.

If you’re a sole trader, you claim for your self-employed allowable expenses for travel by summarising your total travel costs within supplementary pages SA103, which you file with your main Self Assessment tax return (the SA100). If you’re a UK landlord with allowable travel expenses you want to claim, you summarise them within supplementary pages SA105. Never simply write off short business journeys that seemingly just cost a few quid here and there, because they are legitimate business costs and they can mount up over the course of a year.

Further reading on allowable expenses

GoSimpleTax features an expenses categorisation system, enabling you to better organise and claim your tax expenses. You can also specify what percentage of your cost was for private use, helping to ensure that you don’t claim disallowable expenses. Start your FREE trial now.

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Blog content is for information purposes and over time may become outdated, although we do strive to keep it current. It's written to help you understand your Tax's and is not to be relied upon as professional accounting, tax and legal advice due to differences in everyone's circumstances. For additional help please contact our support team or HMRC.

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