What Expenses Can I Claim as a Private Tutor in the UK?

by Mark Neale, Co-Founder & CEO

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Important: This article provides general guidance on allowable expenses for UK tutors as of February 2026. Tax rules change regularly, and individual circumstances vary. For specific advice about your situation, check GOV.UK or speak to a qualified accountant.

Private tutors in the UK can claim business expenses that are incurred wholly and exclusively for tutoring. This includes teaching materials, travel to pupils, a proportion of home office costs, professional subscriptions, equipment, and training. This guide walks through what you can and cannot claim.

Why understanding expenses matters

When you complete your Self-Assessment tax return, you pay tax on your profit, not your gross income. Your profit is calculated by deducting your allowable business expenses from your total tutoring income. This guide explains how to complete your Self-Assessment step by step.

This means that claiming expenses correctly has a direct impact on how much tax you pay. If you earned £20,000 from tutoring and spent £3,000 on legitimate business expenses, you only pay tax on £17,000 of profit. That £3,000 in expenses could save you £600 in Income Tax (at the 20% basic rate) plus National Insurance contributions.

Many tutors under claim expenses because they're not sure what's allowed or they don't keep adequate records. Others over claim by including personal expenses, which can lead to HMRC penalties if discovered. This guide helps you understand what you can legitimately claim and how to do it properly. If you're not yet registered as self-employed, this guide covers registration requirements.

The basic rule: wholly and exclusively

HMRC allows you to claim expenses that are incurred "wholly and exclusively" for the purposes of your tutoring business. This is the fundamental test that every expense must pass.

"Wholly" means the entire expense, not just part of it (though there's a specific exception for mixed-use items, covered below).

"Exclusively" means solely for business purposes, with no personal element at all.

If you buy something that has both business and personal use, you can claim the business proportion. For example, if you use your mobile phone 70% for tutoring and 30% for personal calls, you can claim 70% of the bill as a business expense.

If there's no identifiable business element at all, you cannot claim any of it. Personal costs are never allowable, even if they make it easier for you to run your business.

Source: GOV.UK - Expenses if you're self-employed

Common allowable expenses for tutors

Here are the main categories of expenses that private tutors can typically claim, along with specific examples for each.

Teaching materials and resources

You can claim the cost of materials and resources used directly for teaching. This includes:

Textbooks and workbooks for pupils to use during lessons
Worksheets, practice papers, and exam materials
Stationery (pens, paper, notebooks, folders)
Digital resources (educational software subscriptions, online teaching platforms)
Printing and photocopying costs

If you buy textbooks that you keep and use with multiple pupils over time, the full cost is allowable. If you buy workbooks that a pupil keeps, the cost is allowable. If you buy a textbook partly for your own interest and partly for teaching, only claim the business portion.

Travel and mileage

If you travel to pupils' homes to deliver lessons, you can claim these travel costs. There are two ways to claim:

Option 1: Simplified mileage rates (recommended for most tutors)

HMRC allows you to claim a fixed rate per business mile traveled in your own vehicle. For the 2025/26 tax year:

Cars and vans: 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p per mile thereafter
Motorcycles: 24p per mile
Bicycles: 20p per mile

These rates are designed to cover fuel, insurance, servicing, wear and tear, and all other running costs. You cannot claim additional vehicle costs if you use the simplified mileage rates.

To use this method, keep a mileage log showing:

Date of journey
Reason for journey (e.g., "Lesson with [pupil name]")
Start and end location
Miles traveled

Option 2: Actual costs

Alternatively, you can claim the actual costs of running your vehicle, calculated proportionately based on business use. This includes fuel, insurance, servicing, MOT, road tax, and depreciation. You'll need to calculate what percentage of your total mileage is for business and claim that percentage of all vehicle costs.

Most tutors find the simplified mileage method easier and more beneficial.

Other travel expenses:

Public transport (bus, train, tube) for journeys to pupils
Parking fees at or near pupils' homes (if required)
Congestion charges and similar road charges for business journeys

What you cannot claim:

Travel from your home to your normal place of work (this is commuting, not business travel)
Parking fines or speeding tickets

Source: GOV.UK - Simplified expenses for self-employed
Source: GOV.UK - Mileage rates research

Home office costs

If you work from home (preparing lessons, marking work, admin), you can claim a proportion of your household costs. Again, there are two methods:

Option 1: Simplified flat rate (easiest method)

HMRC allows you to claim a flat monthly rate based on how many hours per month you work from home:

25-50 hours per month: £10 per month (£120 per year)
51-100 hours per month: £18 per month (£216 per year)
101+ hours per month: £26 per month (£312 per year)

To use this method, keep a simple log showing the hours you work from home each month.

Option 2: Actual costs

Calculate the business proportion of your actual household costs, including:

Heating and electricity
Council tax
Mortgage interest or rent
Home insurance
Internet and phone line rental

You'll need to work out a reasonable method of calculating the business proportion. Common methods include:

Number of rooms used for business ÷ total rooms in the home
Hours spent working from home ÷ total hours in the month
A combination of both

Important: If you claim actual costs and use a room exclusively for business, this may create a Capital Gains Tax liability when you sell your home. The flat rate method avoids this issue.

Source: GOV.UK - Simplified expenses for working from home

Equipment and technology

You can claim for equipment used in your tutoring business:

Laptops, tablets, and computers used for tutoring
Printers and scanners
Educational software and apps
Online teaching equipment (webcam, microphone, headset, ring light)
Furniture (desk, chair) if used exclusively for tutoring

For larger items (typically over £500), these may need to be claimed as capital allowances rather than expenses, depending on which accounting method you use (cash basis or traditional accounting). Most small tutors use cash basis accounting, where equipment can be claimed as expenses. Check with an accountant if you're unsure.

Professional development and training

You can claim for training that maintains or updates skills you already use in your current tutoring work. This includes:

CPD courses relevant to the subjects you tutor
Subject-specific training (e.g., exam board updates, new curriculum training)
First aid training (if relevant to your tutoring)
Safeguarding training

What you cannot claim:

Training for a completely new subject or skill that you're not currently offering (this is considered pre-trading expenditure for a new trade)
Initial qualification costs (e.g., obtaining a teaching qualification before you start tutoring)

The key test is whether the training maintains your existing tutoring practice or takes you into a new area of work.

Source: ByteStart - Training expenses for self-employed

Marketing and advertising

Costs of attracting new pupils are allowable:

Website costs (domain registration, hosting, website builder subscriptions)
Business cards and flyers
Online advertising (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, tutoring platform fees)
Listing fees on tutoring directories
Professional photography for your website or marketing materials

Professional fees and subscriptions

Accountant fees for preparing your accounts and tax return
DBS check costs (required for working with children)
Professional indemnity insurance or public liability insurance
Membership fees for professional bodies (e.g., The Tutors' Association)
Legal fees for business matters (e.g., reviewing contracts)

Payment processing and banking fees

If you use online payment platforms or tutoring management systems to receive payments from pupils, the transaction fees are allowable business expenses.

Card payment processing fees (deducted when pupils pay by card through platforms like Tutonomi, Stripe, PayPal, or similar)
Bank charges on a business account
Platform fees for tutoring marketplaces (if you use them)

These fees are usually deducted automatically before the money reaches your account. You can account for them in two ways:

Option 1: Report your gross income (the full lesson price) and claim the transaction fees as a separate expense. For example, if a pupil pays £40 for a lesson and the platform deducts a 70p fee, you report £40 income and 70p in payment processing expenses.

Option 2: Report only the net amount you received (what actually hit your bank account). For the same example, you'd report £39.30 income and no separate fee expense.

Both methods are acceptable to HMRC. Option 1 is generally clearer because it shows the complete picture of your business operations.

Why this matters: you get tax relief on payment fees

Many tutors don't realize that payment processing fees effectively cost less than they appear because you get tax relief on them.

Here's a realistic example: if you teach 6 lessons a day, 5 days a week, with a typical card processing fee of around 70p per lesson (e.g., 1.5% + 10p on a £40 lesson), you'll pay approximately £1,050 in fees over a year (assuming 50 working weeks).

Those £1,050 in fees reduce your taxable profit by £1,050. At the 20% basic Income Tax rate, that saves you £210 in tax. You'll also save approximately £63-95 in National Insurance contributions.

Total saving: around £273-305 in tax on £1,050 of fees.

This means the effective cost of those fees is really only £745-777 after tax relief. In other words, payment processing fees are effectively about 26-29% cheaper than the headline rate once you factor in tax relief.

Put simply: a 70p transaction fee effectively costs you about 50p once you account for tax relief.

Other allowable expenses

Postage for sending materials to pupils
Stationery and office supplies
Mobile phone costs (business proportion if also used personally)
Music for teaching (sheet music, recordings) if you're a music tutor
Specialist equipment (e.g., sports equipment for sports coaching, musical instruments for music tutors)

What you cannot claim

Certain expenses are never allowable, even if they feel connected to your tutoring:

Personal expenses: Anything for personal use, including clothing (unless it's a branded uniform), personal meals, personal travel, gym memberships, or haircuts.

Entertaining costs: Taking a pupil or parent out for a meal, gifts to pupils beyond very small items.

Fines and penalties: Parking fines, speeding tickets, HMRC penalties.

Your own tax and National Insurance: These are personal payments, not business expenses.

Initial qualification costs: The cost of obtaining your first teaching qualification or degree cannot be claimed.

Client acquisition costs that create an asset: If you pay a significant sum to acquire a tutoring business or a list of clients, this is typically treated as capital expenditure, not an expense.

How to keep records

HMRC requires you to keep records of all your expenses for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year.

Acceptable records include:

Receipts (paper or digital)
Invoices
Bank statements
Credit card statements
Mileage logs
Records of hours worked from home (for simplified home office expenses)

You don't need to submit these records with your tax return, but HMRC can ask to see them at any time during the 5-year period.

Good practice:

Keep a dedicated folder (physical or digital) for all business receipts
Use accounting software or a spreadsheet to track expenses as you go
Take photos of paper receipts and store them digitally
Keep a simple mileage log in your car or use a mileage tracking app

Source: GOV.UK - Records you must keep for self-assessment

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim expenses if my tutoring income is under £1,000? If your gross tutoring income is £1,000 or less in a tax year, you're covered by the trading allowance and don't need to file a tax return or claim expenses. However, you can choose to register voluntarily and claim actual expenses instead of using the trading allowance if your expenses exceed £1,000.

Should I use simplified expenses or actual costs? For most tutors, simplified expenses (flat rate mileage and home office costs) are easier to calculate and often more beneficial. Actual costs require more record-keeping and calculation. Try both methods in your first year and see which gives you the better result.

Can I claim a laptop I bought before I started tutoring? Generally, no. You can only claim expenses incurred after you start trading. However, some pre-trading expenses (incurred up to 7 years before you start) may be allowable if they would have been allowable after you started trading. Check with an accountant if you have significant pre-trading costs.

What if I use my car for both business and personal journeys? This is fine. You simply claim business mileage using the simplified mileage rate and don't claim personal mileage. Keep a mileage log that shows which journeys were for business.

Can I claim for meals when I'm traveling to pupils? Generally, no. Meals are only allowable if you're traveling away from home overnight for business purposes. A packed lunch or coffee while traveling to a pupil's home is not allowable.

What happens if I claim too much? If HMRC discovers that you've overclaimed expenses, you'll need to pay the underpaid tax plus interest. In serious cases (deliberate overclaiming), penalties can apply. If you realize you've made a mistake, amend your tax return as soon as possible to minimize additional charges.

A note on making expense tracking easier

Keeping track of expenses throughout the year makes completing your Self-Assessment return much simpler. Some tutors find it helpful to use a platform that records all their tutoring income and pupil information in one place, which makes it easier to match income to expenses and prepare for tax returns.

Tutonomi is built specifically for private tutors and keeps all your income records organised automatically. It's completely free to use and means you have a clear record of your tutoring income whenever you need it.

Last updated: February 2026

Disclaimer: This article provides general guidance on allowable expenses for self-employed tutors in the UK as of February 2026. Tax rules change regularly, and what you can claim depends on your specific circumstances. For professional advice about your tax situation, check GOV.UK or consult a qualified accountant. The author is not a tax professional, and this guide should not be considered professional tax advice.