Locum Vet Allowable Expenses
The test for a self-employed expense is that it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade. That single phrase decides most questions, and it is stricter than people expect.
On This Page
- Usually Allowable
- Depends on Your Circumstances
- Usually Personal
Below is where the common locum costs usually fall. Where an item depends on your circumstances, we have said so rather than giving a false yes.
Usually Allowable
- RCVS annual registration fee
- Professional indemnity cover, including VDS membership where you hold it personally
- Professional subscriptions to approved bodies relevant to your work
- Continuing professional development, courses and congress fees where they maintain existing skills
- Clinical equipment such as stethoscopes, otoscopes and thermometers
- Protective and branded clinical clothing including scrubs
- Accountancy fees for the business accounts and tax return
- Business insurance and public liability cover
- Business banking charges
- Practice software and subscriptions used for your work
Depends on Your Circumstances
- Travel and mileage
- Journeys to a temporary workplace are usually business travel. Journeys to a place you attend regularly and expect to attend for a long period may be ordinary commuting and not allowable. The pattern of your engagements decides it.
- Accommodation and subsistence
- Reasonable costs on a genuine business journey away from your base can be allowable. Regular arrangements that look like a second home are not.
- Mobile telephone and internet
- The business proportion of a mixed use bill can be claimed. Keep a reasonable basis for the split rather than claiming the lot.
- Working from home
- A proportion of household costs, or the simplified flat rate, where you genuinely do administrative work at home. The amounts are usually modest.
- Training in a new discipline
- Training that maintains or updates existing skills is generally allowable. Training that gives you a genuinely new qualification or expertise can be treated as capital and disallowed.
Usually Personal
- Everyday clothing, including non-branded clothes worn to work
- Ordinary commuting to a regular workplace
- Meals during a normal working day near your usual base
- Childcare
- Fines and penalties, including parking fines incurred on business journeys
- The cost of getting your initial veterinary qualification
Last reviewed 3 August 2026. [REVIEWER DETAILS REQUIRED BEFORE PUBLICATION]
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I claim my scrubs?
Protective and branded clinical clothing is generally allowable. Ordinary clothing worn to work is not, even if you only wear it for work, because it also serves the everyday purpose of clothing you.
Can I claim a laptop?
Where it is used for the business, yes, with an adjustment for private use. It is capital expenditure, so it is normally claimed through capital allowances or under the cash basis rules depending on how you report.
What if I get an expense wrong?
Amend the return if you spot it, or tell HMRC. Correcting an error voluntarily is treated very differently from having it found, and the penalty position reflects that.
Check an Expense Before You Claim It
Use the expense checker for a first view, then send us anything that sits in the grey area.