What self-employed carers can claim against tax, and what HMRC will not accept

The difference between the last two terms is the one that matters most in practice. HMRC's manual at BIM37007 says a cost with a mixed purpose cannot be partly claimed, while BIM37600 allows a claim for a definite part or proportion that was spent only for the work. A phone contract is the usual example. Your calls to clients and families can be separated from your personal calls, so the business share counts. A pair of black trousers cannot be split in the same way, because you would need to wear something whatever your job.

The manual also allows for a private benefit that comes along with a cost made purely for work. A moving and handling course that also helps you lift your own shopping more safely is still a work cost, because the work is why you paid for it.

Your costs come out of what reaches you, not out of what the client is charged. On PrimeCarers a £20 hour of care pays the carer £16 after our 20% commission, and your travel, uniform and phone are paid for out of that £16. What carers earn on PrimeCarers sets out the commission in full. This guide is one of the carer resources on tax and paperwork, and it goes further into expenses than tax and money as a self-employed carer, which covers registering and the rates you pay.

A few of these are worth a word more than a table row can give them.

Uniform. gov.uk allows uniforms and protective clothing and rules out everyday clothing, even if you only wear it for work. The line HMRC's manual draws at BIM37910 is whether the design is dictated by the job. A care tunic is. A plain navy top you have decided to keep for visits is not, because it would do just as well as ordinary clothing.

Training. A course that improves skills you already use as a carer is allowable. HMRC's manual at BIM35660 says training that lets somebody start a new business, or move into an unrelated area of work, is unlikely to be. So a refresher in medication awareness taken while you are working as a carer is a cost of the business, while a course taken to get into caring from another line of work is not. Training for private carers covers which courses are worth doing, and keeping your carer certifications up to date covers refreshers.

Insurance. Any policy you hold for the business, such as public liability cover, is allowable. What insurance a self-employed carer needs, and what it costs, is set out in do I need insurance as a self-employed carer?.

Which journeys count. Driving from one client to the next during your working day is travel for the business. gov.uk's list of costs you cannot claim includes "travel between home and work", and HMRC's manual at BIM37605 explains why: where there is a fixed place of work, living somewhere else is a private choice, so the journey has a private purpose.

The manual does not stop there, and it is worth reading the next two pages before assuming your first journey of the day is lost. BIM37620 describes a bricklayer who worked on a series of building sites from a base at home, where he kept his tools and his books. The court allowed his travel from home to the sites, because his trade was an itinerant one. BIM37635 describes a milkman with a fixed round from one depot, whose travel from home to the depot was refused, and the judge drew the difference from how predictable the places of work were. The manual says each case turns on its facts. It does not say which side a carer visiting clients' homes falls on, so this guide does not either. If your first and last journeys of the day are a large part of your mileage, ask HMRC or an accountant about your own pattern of work before you claim them.

Mileage a client pays you. Whether a client pays you anything towards travel is a separate question from tax, and it is set by your agreement with them. Travel time and mileage for carers covers charging for it, building it into your rate, and keeping clients close together. Your car insurance also has to cover driving for work, which is a question for your insurer: what car insurance do I need as a home carer? explains what to ask for.

For a carer who drives between clients, the arithmetic usually settles itself. A few thousand business miles at 55p a mile soon passes £1,000 before a uniform or a phone bill is added. The allowance suits somebody whose caring income is small and whose costs are smaller still, such as a carer who walks to one or two local clients a week. Adding up your likely costs for the year before you file is the way to tell which side you are on.

Registering for Self Assessment once your income is over £1,000, and filing the return itself, are covered in how to pay tax as a self-employed carer.

1. 1

   Agree it before you spend anything

   Out-of-pocket costs

   Under the contract between you and each client, out-of-pocket expenses are repaid only where the client has agreed the arrangement in advance. Buying something first and asking afterwards gives the client no obligation to pay.
2. 2

   Keep the receipt and hand over a copy

   Every time

   The contract makes repayment subject to receipts or other evidence of what you paid. The same receipt is part of your own records.
3. 3

   Put any travel arrangement in writing

   Travel and mileage

   Travel is left out of the general expenses clause. It is chargeable only if agreed in advance, in writing, with the rate and the circumstances set out. Where it is agreed, 55p a mile is the usual figure on PrimeCarers.
4. 4

   Count what you are repaid as money received

   On your return

   Anything a client pays you is money your business has received. If you are unsure how a repaid cost should appear on your return, HMRC or an accountant can tell you.

Most of what a carer spends never goes near a client: your car, your uniform and your phone are costs of running your own business. Repayment usually comes up for smaller things bought on a client's behalf, such as a prescription collected on the way to a visit. Buying things with a client's own money is a different arrangement again, with its own risks, and handling money for clients safely covers it.

If you want to see what families are told about this side of the arrangement, what families are told about paying a carer's travel time and mileage is the page written for them. Every client you meet through PrimeCarers, and anybody that client refers to you, is booked and paid through PrimeCarers.

gov.uk lists receipts, bank statements and invoices as the proof your records should rest on. If records are lost or destroyed, gov.uk says to use your best estimate and tell HMRC that the figures are estimated or provisional. That is a fallback, and it is far easier to keep the photos from the start. Self-employed carer documents covers the other paperwork worth keeping together.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax changes how you send HMRC your figures once your income passes a threshold. It uses your qualifying income, which gov.uk defines as your total self-employment and property income before expenses, not your profit. The thresholds on gov.uk are:

• £50,000 of qualifying income in 2024 to 2025: Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2026, so it already applies in the 2026/27 tax year.
• £30,000 in 2025 to 2026: from 6 April 2027.
• £20,000 in 2026 to 2027: from 6 April 2028.

If it applies to you, you keep your records digitally in compatible software and send updates every quarter, and the same rules about which costs are allowable still apply. Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital on gov.uk, which also explains the exemptions.

If you are setting up and want your costs to count from the first visit, you can register as a carer on PrimeCarers and set a rate with them in mind, or see the carer jobs open near you first.