Can I claim training and courses?
Yes, when the training updates skills you already use, keeps you current with your industry, or adds skills related to it or to running the business, bookkeeping included. No, when it starts a new business or takes you into an unrelated area. HMRC widened its guidance in 2024; here is the current line.
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What gov.uk says you can claim
Skills you already use
Training that improves skills and knowledge you currently use for your business: a refresher, an update when regulations change, or an online course on software you already use, which is gov.uk's photographer example.
Keeping up with your industry
Training that keeps you up to date with technology used in your industry, or that helps you develop new skills and knowledge related to changes in your industry. Gov.uk's example is a gas boiler fitter training to install heat pumps, because they are the technology replacing boilers.
Running the business
New skills and knowledge to support your business, which gov.uk says includes administrative skills. Its example is a plumber on a beginners' bookkeeping course: nothing to do with plumbing, everything to do with running the business.
Not allowed
Training that helps you start a new business, or expand into areas not directly related to your industry. Gov.uk's examples are a taxi driver taking a painting and decorating course, a make-up artist training in tattooing, and someone unemployed training to become a driving instructor.
The rules behind every claim: allowable expenses for sole traders.
What changed in 2024
HMRC rewrote its manual on a sole trader's own training in March 2024, and gov.uk's guide carries the same list. The manual now says training is revenue expenditure, and so allowable, if it either updates existing expertise or provides new expertise or knowledge, as long as it relates to your existing business area or to running the business, and it says in terms that acquiring new skills to keep pace with technology and changes in industry practice counts. Training unrelated to your existing business, including training to start a new one, is still unlikely to be allowable.
Two tests still apply. The course must be wholly and exclusively for the trade you carry on at the time, so a course taken before you start trading, in order to start it, fails. And the cash basis excludes capital spending on education or training, so where a course is capital, because it buys a qualification unrelated to your existing business, it is not deductible under either method. The case HMRC still cites is Dass, an English tutor whose law diploma was capital because it took him into a new area of practice.
HMRC also tells its own staff not to take an overly narrow view of whether a course only updates existing skills. The question is purpose: a course that gives you a completely new specialisation or qualification unrelated to your existing business, or to running it, is unlikely to be wholly and exclusively for the existing trade.
The trades, in practice
Cards and reassessments
Renewing a CSCS card and its health and safety test, a gas reassessment, a wiring regulations update: each keeps a skill or qualification you already use current, which is the first thing on gov.uk's list.
Adding a related skill
A gas fitter training in heat pumps, an electrician on an EV charger course, a decorator learning spray finishing. New skills, same industry, and gov.uk's own heat pump example says allowable.
Bookkeeping and admin
A bookkeeping course, a short course on your accounting software, or digital skills. Gov.uk allows administrative skills, and HMRC's manual calls such courses ancillary to the trade.
A new trade is a new business
A plasterer training to become a plumber, or anyone training before they start trading, is starting a new business, and the course is not allowable however useful it proves.
Trade by trade: what a self-employed plumber can claim, Gas Safe reassessment included.
Recording it in FileThat
Record a course that qualifies as Other expenses, and keep the invoice with the record. A course you took but cannot claim, because it starts a new line of work, is still worth recording: mark it disallowable and it is declared without reducing your profit.
Straight answers
Can I claim a course that teaches me a new skill?
Yes, if the skill relates to your existing business or to running it. Since 2024 gov.uk allows training that develops new skills and knowledge related to changes in your industry, that keeps you up to date with its technology, or that supports the business, such as administrative skills. A new skill for a new line of business is not allowable.
Is a bookkeeping course tax deductible for a sole trader?
Yes. Gov.uk's own example is a plumber on a beginners' bookkeeping course: it will not help with plumbing, but it teaches them to keep accurate records, which helps them run the business, so the cost is likely to be allowable. HMRC's manual treats bookkeeping and digital skills courses as ancillary to the trade.
Can I claim a course I took before I started trading?
No. Gov.uk says you cannot claim training that helps you start a new business, and its example is someone unemployed who trains as a driving instructor to set up on their own. HMRC's manual puts the test as whether the course was wholly and exclusively for the trade you were carrying on when you took it.
Can I claim a degree or a professional qualification?
Rarely. Gov.uk's example of a disallowed course is a sportswear shop owner taking a sports science degree out of interest, and HMRC's manual cites a tutor whose law diploma was refused because it took him into a new area of practice. A qualification that deepens the work you already do is a different case; the question is whether it is for your existing business.
Does the cash basis change what training I can claim?
Only at the edges. The cash basis treats most capital spending as an expense, but HMRC's manual lists education or training among its exceptions, so training that is capital, because it buys a qualification unrelated to your existing business, is not deductible under the cash basis either. Training for your existing business is revenue expenditure and allowable under both methods.
Is a refresher course or a card renewal allowable?
Yes. Gov.uk's first example of allowable training is a refresher course, and improving skills you currently use is the first thing on its list. Renewing a CSCS card and its health and safety test, a gas reassessment or a wiring regulations update all keep a qualification you already use current, so they are costs of your trade, recorded as Other expenses.
Do I have to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
If your qualifying income is over the threshold, yes. It has been £50,000 since 6 April 2026, and falls to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Qualifying income is your turnover before expenses, from self-employment and property together, as shown on your tax return.
Keep every claim, file it with HMRC
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