Expenses

Expenses are costs that you might be able to claim against your earnings so that you pay less tax.

What you can claim will depend on your situation, sources of income, and the tax-free allowances which you’re already claiming.

The two most common sources of income where it makes sense to claim expenses are for self-employment and rental income, but it is possible to claim certain expenses from other sources of income too.

However, in some cases you might want to claim some flat allowances instead:

• Claim a flat £1,000 instead of self-employment or property expenses (if you’re a landlord)
• Claim the Rent a Room Scheme (£7,500) instead of property expenses (if you’re a live-in landlord)
• You can claim flat rate expenses the Mileage Allowance if you drive a lot (instead of petrol receipts) or the Home Office Allowance if you work from home (instead of calculating the percentage of your home that you use for work)

In all of these examples, you don’t need to worry about expense receipts.