What are Cost of Sales?

You must keep your records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline of the relevant tax year.

Professional development costs can be claimed as an allowable expense, as long as the course content directly relates to your trading activity.

Training courses that you attend to learn a new skill-which you can use to expand into a new industry or offer different services-aren't allowable, unless you can show that these courses are helping you build up on your existing skills or knowledge.

For further information on allowable business expenses, refer to our expenses and allowances guides for limited company directors and the self-employed.

As a limited company director, you can can claim for the costs of hosting a staff party, as long as the following conditions apply:

• Your cost per pax shouldn't exceed £150 (including VAT). Your employees may invite a partner, and if they do, your total budget for an employee and an additional guest will be £300.
• The main purpose of the event is to entertain your staff members. As such, most of the event attendees should be your employees.
  

Do note that the per pax budget of £150 applies across the year, so you can claim for several staff events as long as the costs fall within the budget. You can claim this expense even if you're the sole employee in your business.

As a sole trader, you're not considered an employee. As such, you can't claim the costs unless you have employees.

For further information on allowable business expenses, refer to our expenses and allowances guides for limited company directors and the self-employed.

Yes, you can claim the costs of social media ads as a deductible expense.

For further information on allowable business expenses, refer to our expenses and allowances guides for limited company directors and the self-employed.

There are two methods you can use to work out your allowable home expenses: you can claim a flat rate allowance (also known as simplified expenses), or claim a proportion of your bills. For further information on these methods, refer to our expenses and allowances guide for limited company directors and the self-employed.

If you're a sole trader and aren't sure which method is the better option for your business, you can use Gov.uk's simplified expenses checker tool.

Allowable business expenses are costs that you can claim as a deduction against your revenue, which reduces the amount of tax you need to pay.

Here's an example: if your revenue is £35,000 and your allowable expenses total at £5,000, you'll just be taxed on £30,000.

The rules surrounding allowable business expenses aren't always straightforward, and this is where our guide comes into play.

In this article we will run through the most common expenses that sole trader businesses claim for, along with tips you can implement to ensure that you are keeping proper records.

Bear in mind that this isn't a definitive guide, so if you need personalised advice, it's best to consult our accountants atForma.

You do not need to pay tax on allowable business expenses. These are essential business costs that are incurred "wholly and exclusively" for the purposes of running the business. They can be deducted against your income, thereby reducing the amount of tax that you need to pay.

For further information on the types of expenses you can claim, refer to our guides for sole traders and limited company directors.

There may be times when you have no option but to use your personal funds to cover company costs such as paying by cash or if you forget to bring your company card. It's important to keep a copy of the receipt of all expenses but this is especially important when paying for costs and expenses personally. This way, a record of the cost can be kept, logged in your company accounts and then your company can reimburse you for this.

You can claim parking costs as a deductible expense, as long as it is incurred wholly and exclusively for business purposes. Other allowable business travel expenses include tolls and congestion charges. You can't claim parking fines as a deductible expense.

For further information on allowable business expenses, refer to our expenses and allowances guides for limited company directors and the self-employed.

Being self-employed often means having to juggle multiple roles and tasks.

Amidst all your different responsibilities, keeping track of your business mileage can appear tedious-and it can easily become a task that you postpone time and time again. Yet, these little trips can add up, and as a small business owner, it's important that you make the most of what you can claim.

If you're newly self-employed, or just want to get a grasp on the basics of claiming your business mileage, this article is for you.

It explains the essentials, including how you can calculate your costs, the records you need to keep, and other important information that you need to be aware of.

Both business owners and employees can claim business mileage.