Can I claim my phone bill as self-employed?

Yes, the business share. GOV.UK's example is a £200 phone bill for the year with £70 of business calls: you claim £70. A phone service with no significant private use can be claimed in full, in 2026-27 as before.

For most tradespeople the phone is how the work comes in: customers ringing for quotes, suppliers, the merchant, photos of jobs sent to the client. That makes it a genuine business cost. The rules below follow GOV.UK and HMRC's Business Income Manual (BIM) as checked on 16 October 2026.

What you can claim

GOV.UK lists phone, mobile and internet bills among the office costs a self-employed person can claim. It also says you cannot claim for any non-business use of phones. So the question is never just "is it my work phone?" but "how much of it is used for work?"

A contract in your trading name does not change this. The test is how the phone is used, and personal use has to come out whoever the contract is with.

Working out the business share

HMRC's manual (BIM47820) says the cost of business calls is allowable, plus a share of the line rental based on how much of the use is for the trade. That share should reflect all use, including incoming calls, but in most cases itemised outgoing calls give a reasonable measure. For all-inclusive packages, where calls are not charged one by one, it asks staff to take a flexible approach. Where private use is not significant, it says the full cost of the telephone and broadband service can be claimed.

One simple way to do it: pick a typical month, go through the itemised bill, and count business against personal calls and messages. Write down how you did it, keep the bill, and repeat the check if your use changes.

If you work from home and use the flat rate for home costs, the phone is still separate. GOV.UK says the flat rate does not include telephone or internet, so you claim the business share of those bills on top.

What this means for you

Take a roofer with a £35 a month mobile contract, £420 a year, who also bought a £600 handset outright in 2026-27. Checking an itemised month shows about 60% of calls are for work. On the cash basis, the claim is £252 for the bill and £360 for the handset, £612 in total.

If the roofer's profit sits between £12,570 and £50,270, outside Scotland, that saves 20% Income Tax and 6% Class 4 National Insurance: £159.12 in total. This is an example only. If the handset is paid for through the contract instead, the same rule applies: claim only the business share of the monthly payment.

One trap: if you use the £1,000 trading allowance, you cannot claim any expenses, so the phone is not claimable that year.

Steps to claim your phone

1. Decide whether you want a separate work phone or SIM. It makes the claim simpler, because the whole cost is business.
2. If you use one phone for both, check a typical itemised bill and work out the business share.
3. Write down the method and the percentage, and keep that note with your records.
4. Keep the contract, the monthly bills and the receipt for any handset.
5. Record the business share of each bill as an expense in your bookkeeping or Making Tax Digital (MTD) software.
6. Recheck the share once a year, or when your work pattern changes.

Under Making Tax Digital

Once you are in MTD, each phone bill becomes a digital record in your software, and your quarterly updates include the business part. Our guide to what tradespeople can claim covers the other common costs, and our guide to claiming tools explains how equipment you keep is treated.

The free MTD check shows when MTD starts for you, and the trades section has more guides for tradespeople.