Locum Vet Expense Checker
Search for a cost and see where it normally falls for a self-employed locum veterinary surgeon. The answers are deliberately not simple yes or no, because the wholly and exclusively test depends on facts.
Search an Expense
Type what you spent money on. Leave it blank to see every category.
What the four answers mean
Commonly considered allowable. A cost that is normally deductible for a self-employed locum, on ordinary facts.
Depends on circumstances. Deductible in some situations and not in others. The detail decides it.
Usually personal. Normally not deductible, however work related it feels.
Needs professional review. An area where a wrong claim is expensive and the facts genuinely matter.
All Expense Categories
RCVS annual registration fee
Commonly considered allowableRegistration is required in order to practise, so it is ordinarily an allowable professional cost against self-employed veterinary income.
Official guidanceVDS or other professional indemnity cover
Commonly considered allowableIndemnity cover held for your own locum work is a business cost. Cover provided by a practice for its employees is a different thing and is not your deduction.
Professional subscriptions such as BVA or BSAVA
Commonly considered allowableSubscriptions to bodies relevant to your work are ordinarily allowable, and bodies on the HMRC approved list are the clearest cases.
Official guidanceCPD courses and congress fees
Depends on circumstancesTraining that maintains or updates skills you already use is generally allowable. Training that gives you a genuinely new qualification or expertise can be treated as capital and disallowed, so an expensive certificate is worth checking first.
Clinical equipment such as a stethoscope
Commonly considered allowableEquipment bought for your work is allowable, usually as capital expenditure claimed through capital allowances or under the cash basis rules depending on how you report.
Scrubs and branded clinical clothing
Commonly considered allowableProtective and branded clinical clothing is allowable. Ordinary clothing worn to work is not, even if you only wear it for work.
Everyday clothing worn to work
Usually personalOrdinary clothing fails the wholly and exclusively test because it also serves the everyday purpose of clothing you. This is settled and it catches people out every year.
Mileage to a practice you attend occasionally
Depends on circumstancesTravel to a temporary workplace is usually business travel. Travel to a place you attend regularly over a long period may be ordinary commuting and not allowable. The pattern of your engagements decides it.
Official guidanceMileage to a single practice you attend most weeks
Needs professional reviewA long, regular engagement at one practice can make it a regular workplace, at which point the journey is ordinary commuting. Where this is a large part of your claim it deserves a proper look at the facts.
Accommodation on a distant locum booking
Depends on circumstancesReasonable accommodation on a genuine business journey away from your base can be allowable. A regular arrangement that amounts to a second home is not.
Meals during a normal working day
Usually personalEveryday food and drink near your usual working base is personal. Reasonable subsistence on a genuine business journey away from base is a different question.
Mobile telephone and internet
Depends on circumstancesThe business proportion of a mixed use bill can be claimed. Keep a reasonable basis for the split rather than claiming the whole cost.
Working from home costs
Depends on circumstancesA proportion of household costs, or the simplified flat rate, where you genuinely carry out business administration at home. The amounts are usually modest.
Official guidanceAccountancy fees
Commonly considered allowableFees for preparing the business accounts and the business pages of your return are allowable. Fees relating purely to personal tax matters are treated differently.
Parking fines and speeding penalties
Usually personalFines and penalties are not deductible, however unavoidable the circumstances felt at the time.
Getting your original veterinary degree
Usually personalThe cost of obtaining the qualification that allows you to enter the profession is not an expense of a trade you had not yet started.
This checker gives a general view of where a cost usually sits for a self-employed locum veterinary surgeon. It is not tax advice, it cannot see your circumstances, and the wholly and exclusively test depends on facts. Anything marked as depending on circumstances or needing review should be checked before you claim it.
Have an Expense That Is Not Listed?
The grey areas are where the money is, particularly travel. Send us the details and we will tell you where it sits and what evidence you would need to keep.
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