Can I claim tools and workwear as a business expense?

Yes for tools and protective clothing such as safety boots and hard hats. No for everyday clothes, even if worn only for work. Under the standard cash basis in 2026-27, tools are an expense when you pay.

This page is for self-employed tradespeople: sole traders and partners, including CIS subcontractors. It goes deeper than our guide to tradespeople's expenses. The rules follow GOV.UK and HMRC's Business Income Manual as checked on 16 October 2026.

Tools and equipment

How you claim a tool depends on how you work out your profit.

Cash basis. GOV.UK says cash basis is the standard way for sole traders and partnerships without corporate partners. Under it, the cost of equipment you buy to keep and use in your business is a normal allowable expense, claimed when you pay. Cars are the exception and go through capital allowances. HMRC's manual lists other exceptions, including land, assets not acquired for continuing use in the trade, and assets that would not wear out or lose 90% of their value within 20 years. None of its exceptions names ordinary trade tools.

Traditional accounting. If you have opted out of the cash basis, tools you keep are claimed through capital allowances. GOV.UK says the annual investment allowance lets you deduct the full value of most plant and machinery, up to £1 million, in the period you bought it.

Small items either way. GOV.UK says items you would normally use for less than 2 years can be claimed as allowable expenses. Its examples include stationery and rent, and it does not list specific tools. Repairs and maintenance of equipment are allowable expenses too.

Workwear and clothing

GOV.UK says you can claim for buying, cleaning or repairing:

• protective clothing needed for your work, such as safety boots or hard hats
• clothing that protects your everyday clothes while you work, such as aprons or overalls, if you only use them for work
• specialist clothing or uniforms that are not everyday clothing

You cannot claim everyday clothing, even if you only wear it for work. HMRC's manual explains why. Ordinary clothing has a built-in private purpose, keeping you warm and clad, so it fails the rule that a cost must be wholly and exclusively for the business. The leading case is Mallalieu v Drummond (1983), where a barrister could not claim the plain clothes she kept for work, or their laundering. The same manual says protective clothing and uniforms should be allowed. Its test is whether the clothing might suitably be worn as part of an everyday wardrobe, and for uniforms and protective clothing it calls this a question of fact and degree.

What you can and cannot claim

What this means for you

Allowable costs for tools and kit reduce taxable profit, unless the £1,000 trading allowance is used instead. As an illustration only: in 2026-27, for a basic-rate taxpayer outside Scotland with the standard Personal Allowance and profits between £12,570 and £50,270 before and after the claim, each £100 claimed saves £20 of Income Tax (20%) and £6 of Class 4 National Insurance (6%).

Here is an illustration. A plasterer in that position, on the cash basis, spends £1,500 on tools and £300 on boots, a hard hat and overalls used only for work in 2026-27. That is £1,800 off their profit, saving £360 of Income Tax and £108 of Class 4 National Insurance: £468 in all. Under traditional accounting, the annual investment allowance would usually give the same full deduction for the tools in the period of purchase. Rates differ in Scotland and for higher-rate taxpayers, so actual figures depend on circumstances.

Two things can claw some of that back. Under the cash basis, HMRC's manual says proceeds from selling a tool whose cost was deducted count as business income, reduced in proportion if only part of the cost was deducted. The manual also counts a tool's market value as income when you stop using it for the business.

Under Making Tax Digital, these costs are part of the digital records kept in your software, and GOV.UK says the original records or copies, such as invoices, must still be kept.

Steps to claim tools and workwear

1. Buy tools and kit from your business account where you can, so each cost is easy to find.
2. Keep every receipt, on paper or as a photo.
3. Sort each item: tool or equipment, protective clothing, uniform, or everyday clothing.
4. Leave everyday clothing out, even if you only wear it on site.
5. For anything also used at home, work out the business share and write down how.
6. Check whether you use the cash basis or traditional accounting, and claim tools the right way.
7. If you are unsure about an item, GOV.UK says to contact HMRC.

Use the free MTD check to see when Making Tax Digital starts for you, and the trades section for more guides for subcontractors and tradespeople.