How tax works for hairdressers, barbers and beauty professionals
In hair and beauty, employed, self-employed and business-owning professionals often work side by side in the same salon. Your tax position depends on which you are:
- Employed stylists and therapists are paid through PAYE. Tax on wages is handled by the salon, but tips can still create tax to sort out.
- Self-employed professionals, including rent-a-chair stylists, room renters in beauty salons, mobile hairdressers and nail technicians, and home-based therapists, register for Self Assessment and pay Income Tax and Class 4 National Insurance on their profit.
- Salon owners trade as sole traders, partnerships or limited companies, and deal with payroll, VAT and chair rental income as well.
Being self-employed has to reflect how you actually work, not just what the agreement says, so it is worth checking if the salon decides your hours, prices and clients. HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool gives its view based on the facts you enter.
Worked example: a rent-a-chair stylist in 2026/27
Jade rents a chair in a VAT-registered salon for £150 a week including VAT, for 48 weeks. She is not VAT registered, so she cannot reclaim the VAT and the full rent is her cost. She sets her own prices and keeps her own takings, including tips.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Client services | £36,000 |
| Tips | £2,500 |
| Total income | £38,500 |
| Less chair rent: £150 x 48 weeks | (£7,200) |
| Less colour, products and consumables used on clients | (£3,000) |
| Less scissors, clippers and a new dryer | (£500) |
| Less training course on new colour techniques | (£400) |
| Less card machine and booking app fees | (£350) |
| Less business share of phone | (£300) |
| Less public liability insurance | (£150) |
| Taxable profit | £26,600 |
Income Tax: £26,600 minus the £12,570 personal allowance is £14,030, at 20% = £2,806.00.
Class 4 National Insurance: 6% of £14,030 = £841.80. Her profit is above £7,105, so Class 2 contributions are treated as paid and her State Pension record is protected.
Total for the year: £3,647.80, about £304 a month to set aside. Scottish Income Tax bands apply instead if you live in Scotland. Notice that the tips are included: as a self-employed stylist, tips clients give you for your services are part of your business income.
Chair rental and VAT
Renting a chair is not treated like renting property. HMRC's position, confirmed by the courts and put into law from 1 October 2012, is that chair rental in a hairdressing salon or barbers is a standard-rated supply of facilities. That applies to a chair with access rights, or a defined room or area, together with services such as reception, appointment booking, washbasins, laundering towels or refreshments.
What that means for each side:
- Salon owners who are VAT registered must charge VAT on chair rental. The rent also counts towards your own taxable turnover.
- Chair renters who are not VAT registered pay the VAT as part of the rent and cannot reclaim it. Budget for the VAT-inclusive figure.
- Each self-employed stylist has their own £90,000 threshold, based on their own takings. The salon's turnover does not count towards yours.
Tips, service charges and tronc
Tips are taxable, but who reports them depends on how they reach you:
- Self-employed: tips are business income and go in your accounts with your takings.
- Employed, tips paid directly to you by clients in cash or through an app: you must tell HMRC, through Self Assessment, your personal tax account or by phone. HMRC adjusts your tax code to collect the Income Tax. No National Insurance is due on these tips.
- Employed, tips paid through the salon's payroll or a tronc: Income Tax is deducted when you are paid. National Insurance depends on how far your employer is involved in deciding how tips are shared.
By law, employers must pass all tips to workers without deductions, and a statutory code of practice covers fair distribution and written tipping policies. Tips do not count towards the National Minimum Wage, which is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026. For VAT, a tip given freely on top of the bill is outside the scope of VAT, but a compulsory service charge is part of the price and VAT applies to it.
Allowable expenses for hair and beauty professionals
| Expense | Claimable? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chair, room or salon rent | Yes | Including the VAT if you are not registered |
| Products and consumables used on clients | Yes | Colour, wax, lashes, nail products, gloves |
| Stock bought for resale | Yes | Sales of retail products are income |
| Scissors, clippers, dryers, couches, lamps | Yes | An expense on the cash basis |
| Training to develop skills for your existing work | Yes | Not training to start a new, unrelated business |
| Uniforms and protective clothing | Yes | Everyday clothing is not, even if worn only at work |
| Insurance, booking software, card machine fees | Yes | |
| Travel between clients for mobile work | Yes | Mileage rate of 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles in 2026/27, or actual costs |
| Advertising, website and social media promotion | Yes | |
| Haircuts, treatments and clothes for yourself | No | Personal, even if they help your image |
If you use the cash basis, which is the standard method for sole traders, equipment you buy to keep and use in the business is claimed as a normal expense. See our guide to self-employed expenses and allowances for the general rules.
VAT for salons and beauty businesses
You must register for VAT when taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12 months. Hairdressing and beauty treatments are standard-rated at 20%, and retail product sales count towards turnover too.
Aesthetics and cosmetic treatments. The VAT medical exemption only covers services by registered health professionals whose primary purpose is protecting, maintaining or restoring health. HMRC says treatments carried out purely for cosmetic reasons are standard-rated, so being medically qualified does not by itself make a cosmetic treatment exempt.
The Flat Rate Scheme is an option for smaller registered salons. You pay HMRC a fixed percentage of your VAT-inclusive turnover instead of working out VAT on each sale and purchase. The rate for hairdressing or other beauty treatment services is 13%, with a 1% discount in your first year of registration. For example, a salon with £100,000 of sales charges £20,000 VAT, making £120,000 VAT-inclusive turnover. It pays 13% of £120,000, which is £15,600, instead of the £20,000 charged, but generally cannot reclaim VAT on its purchases. Businesses that spend very little on goods (less than 2% of turnover, or less than £1,000 a year) must use 16.5% instead. Compare both methods with our standard vs flat rate VAT calculator.
Salon owners: staff, structure and records
If you employ staff, you run PAYE and pay employer National Insurance of 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year per employee in 2026/27. The Employment Allowance can reduce that bill by up to £10,500 if you are eligible. Employers paying tips through payroll or a tronc also need to get the tax and National Insurance treatment right.
A limited company can make sense for a profitable salon with staff, because profits kept in the business pay Corporation Tax at 19% on the first £50,000. Money you take out as dividends is taxed at 10.75% in the basic rate band and 35.75% in the higher rate band from April 2026, after a £500 allowance, so the saving depends on how much you draw. Use the sole trader vs limited company calculator as a starting point.
Key deadlines and Making Tax Digital
- 5 October 2026: register for Self Assessment if you became self-employed during 2025/26.
- 31 January 2027: file your 2025/26 return and pay the balance, plus the first payment on account for 2026/27.
- 31 July 2027: second payment on account for 2026/27.
- 31 January 2028: file your 2026/27 return.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from 6 April 2026 if your self-employment and property income before expenses was over £50,000 in 2024/25, from April 2027 if over £30,000 in 2025/26, and from April 2028 if over £20,000 in 2026/27. Jade's £38,500 of income would bring her in from April 2027 if 2025/26 was similar. You then keep digital records and send quarterly updates by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May.
How GoForma helps hair and beauty professionals
GoForma is a UK online accountancy practice working with clients across the country by phone, video, email and WhatsApp. Our accountants are ACCA and AAT qualified, and FreeAgent accounting software, worth £360 a year, is included in every package.
- Start Sole Trader (£44 a month plus VAT, 50% off for the first 3 months): your Self Assessment return, a dedicated personal accountant and WhatsApp support. See Start Sole Trader.
- Start Sole Trader + VAT or + MTD (£68 a month plus VAT) for registered salons or those in Making Tax Digital.
- Lite Sole Trader (£22 a month plus VAT) for part-time stylists and therapists under £20,000 turnover who keep their own books.
- Start Bundle (£88 a month plus VAT) and Operate Bundle (£128 a month plus VAT) for salon limited companies.
Packages are rolling monthly. Book a free consultation to talk through chair rental, VAT or structure.