Claiming clothing as an allowable expense as a public speaker

kkorsh

Hi all, I wonder if you have an answer to the below,

It’s about claiming clothing as an allowable expense as a public speaker. As it says on gov.uk:

Clothing expenses
You can claim allowable business expenses for:

uniforms
protective clothing needed for your work
costumes for actors or entertainers
You cannot claim for everyday clothing (even if you wear it for work).

Does this mean that public speakers can’t claim their clothing as an allowable expense?

I am a stylist and I work with public speakers and they often ask me that. I also wonder if it’s possible to claim personal styling or expenses spent on working out your stage look (I have a style coaching course which teaches that.) as a business expense.

Please let me know your view on this.

Thank you

Katie

Hi there,

Keeping with HMRC’s guidelines, claiming the cost of an outfit for public speaking wouldn’t be an allowable expense. This is because the item could be seen as having a dual purpose for work and personally, rather than solely for the purpose of business. If the outfit was branded with the company name/logo, this could possibly be argued as a uniform.

Personal styling/grooming would also be classed as dual-use and likely unallowable, unfortunately.

All the best,
Katie

kkorsh

Thanks Katie, and what if the personal styling or a course is specific to creating a look for stage / public speaking?

Katie

I’d recommend speaking to an accountant about specific circumstances as there can often be quite a fine line with what HMRC will and won’t allow.

If you need some one-on-one advice, check out our ‘Ask an Accountant’ service. You can find this on the Add-ons page in your Crunch account.

All the best,
Katie

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