Business

The income generated from land or property in the UK is treated as arising from a UK property business. The underlying legislation defines this broadly to include all activities that produce rental income or similar receipts from UK land, whether the taxpayer is subject to Income Tax or Corporation Tax.

Although property income is treated as coming from a business, landlords are not generally regarded as trading unless they meet the normal trading tests. As a result, most trading-related tax reliefs, such as certain Capital Gains Tax reliefs, do not usually apply. Property business profits are instead calculated using principles similar to those for trading profits.

Since the 2017–18 tax year, the cash basis is the default method for calculating profits and losses for most individual landlords. However, companies and some other landlords must still use Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP).

A wide range of persons can carry on a UK property business, including individuals, partnerships, trustees, companies and non-residents with UK property income. Using an agent does not change who is treated as carrying on the business.

In most cases, all UK property income is treated as part of one single property business, allowing income and expenses across different properties to be combined. UK and overseas property, however, are treated as separate businesses. Activities carried out in different legal capacities, such as personally, as a partner or as a trustee, are also treated as separate property businesses for tax purposes.

The salaried member legislation applies to certain members of a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) whose terms of membership are more like an employee than a partner. To be a salaried member, the individual must perform services for the LLP in their capacity as a member.

The legislation uses a three-part test. If all three conditions apply, the member is classified as a salaried member for tax purposes:

• Condition A – Disguised salary: At least 80% of the member’s pay is fixed, or any variable amounts do not vary in line with the LLP’s overall profits or losses.
• Condition B – Lack of influence: The member has no significant influence over the LLP’s affairs.
• Condition C – Insufficient capital stake: The member’s capital contribution is less than 25% of their expected reward package.

If a member can show that at least one condition does not apply, they continue to be treated as a partner.

The rules do not apply to:

• Companies
• Individuals who do no more than invest money
• Individuals who no longer provide services for the LLP but continue to receive a profit share

HMRC examples illustrate that remuneration linked to overall firm profits, rather than individual performance, does not create a salaried member situation. Professional qualifications or experience are also irrelevant, what counts is the member’s role and risk exposure in the LLP.

The new 40% First Year Allowance came into force from 1 January 2026. This marks an important development for businesses investing in plant and machinery. The new allowance was first announced at Autumn Budget 2025 and is intended to encourage continued capital investment while changes to other capital allowance rates take effect.

This means that since 1 January 2026, businesses can claim a 40% First Year Allowance on qualifying main-rate plant and machinery expenditure. This provides an immediate deduction against taxable profits in the year the asset is acquired, improving cash flow and bringing forward tax relief.

A key feature of the new allowance is its broad availability. It applies to assets acquired for leasing, which were excluded from full expensing, and it is also available to unincorporated businesses such as sole traders and partnerships, who were unable to benefit from the full expensing regime. The allowance has been introduced on a permanent basis, providing greater certainty for long-term investment and capital planning.

The new 40% First Year Allowance sits alongside existing reliefs, including full expensing for companies and the Annual Investment Allowance. Taking advice before committing to significant investment can help maximise available reliefs and avoid any missed opportunities.

If you are self-employed, knowing which everyday costs you can legitimately claim can make a real difference to how much tax you end up paying.

The question of which costs you can claim against your self-employed business is a common one. If you are self-employed it is important to be aware if an expense is allowable or not. Any allowable costs can be used to reduce your taxable profit.

HMRC lists the following office expenses as being allowable:

• office costs, for example stationery or phone bills
• travel costs, for example fuel, parking, train or bus fares
• clothing expenses, for example uniforms
• staff costs, for example salaries or subcontractor costs
• things you buy to sell on, for example stock or raw materials
• financial costs, for example insurance or bank charges
• costs of your business premises, for example heating, lighting, business rates
• advertising or marketing, for example website costs
• training courses related to your business, for example refresher courses

If you work from home, you may also be able to claim a proportion of your costs for things including heating, electricity, Council Tax, mortgage interest or rent and internet and telephone use. You will need to adopt a fair and reasonable approach to apportioning your costs, such as by reference to the number of rooms used for business purposes or the proportion of time you work from home.

Starting a new business can be expensive, but many of your pre-trading costs may qualify for tax relief if they meet the right conditions.

There are special tax reliefs for pre-trading expenses that are incurred before a business starts trading. This could include expenses that are required to help a business prepare for trading such as buying stock and equipment, renting premises, getting insurance and initial advertising expenditure. 

A deduction may be allowed where the following conditions are met: 

• The expenditure is incurred within a period of seven years before the date the trade, profession or vocation commenced, and
• the expenditure is not otherwise allowable as a deduction in computing the profits of the trade, profession or vocation but would have been so allowable if incurred after the trade had commenced.

To be allowable, the pre-trading expenditure must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the relief. To be clear, this means that no relief would be allowed where pre-trading expenses would not have been tax deductible if they had been incurred when the business was trading. The business should keep accurate records relating to pre-trading expenditure to be able to demonstrate that the expenses are qualifying.

The qualifying pre-trading expenditure is treated as incurred on the day on which the trade, profession or vocation is first carried on. 

Capital expenditure does not qualify for this relief but there are other special provisions for capital allowances. 

HMRC is currently contacting certain sole traders by email to reiterate the importance of adjusting business expenses for personal use.

The email explains:

• why personal use must be adjusted on your self-assessment tax return; and
• what you need to do if your business expenses cover business and personal use.

The email also includes links to GOV.UK for more detailed information on personal use adjustments and allowable expenses. This is a genuine email that HMRC recently sent (from 20 October 2025 up to and including 7 November 2025).

This is an important reminder for sole traders. In general, if sole traders use something for both business and personal reasons, they can only claim allowable expenses for the business costs.

However, there are simplified arrangements available to sole traders for claiming a fixed rate deduction for certain expenses where there is a mix of business and private use. The simplified expenses regime is not available to limited companies or business partnerships involving a limited company.

Simplified flat rates can be used for working from home and for the business costs of vehicles. This method saves having to calculate the proportion of personal and business use.

The current monthly flat rates are based on the amount of business use of the home:

• 25 to 50 hours worked per month can claim – £10
• 51 to 100 hours worked per month can claim – £18
• 101 or more hours worked per month can claim – £26

Under simplified expenses, there are the following flat rates per mile available. These rates can be used instead of working out the actual costs of buying and running your vehicle, e.g. insurance, repairs, servicing, fuel.

• Cars and goods vehicles first 10,000 miles – 45p
• Cars and goods vehicles after 10,000 miles – 25p
• Motorcycles – 24p

Whilst using the flat rates is not compulsory, once a decision is made to use the simplification for a specific vehicle this must continue to be used for a vehicle as long as that vehicle is used for business purposes.

We would be happy to help you ascertain whether using simplified expenses or claiming based on actual costs incurred is more beneficial for your business.

Directors that have drawn remuneration from their companies as a mix of low salary and higher dividends would seem to be overlooked by the schemes announced in the past two weeks to support the employed and the self-employed.

In the first news story published by government announcing the Self-Employed Income Support arrangements (26 March 2020), the following paragraph was inserted:

“Those who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company are not covered by the scheme but will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they are operating PAYE schemes”. 

On this basis, the only financial support that directors could claim is the Job Retention Scheme. This will be based on their salary – not salary plus dividends – and only if they furlough themselves (play no active role in their businesses). It is likely that a director's statutory responsibilities will not count as work if a claim under the Coronavirus Job Protection Scheme is made.

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) allows business owners to claim the total amount of qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery, up to certain limits. This deduction reduces profits subject to tax.

The AIA can be claimed by an individual, partnership or company carrying on a trade, profession or vocation, a UK non-residential property business or a furnished holiday let business. Please note, that partnerships or trusts with a mixture of individuals and companies in the business structure are unable to qualify for AIA.

The AIA was permanently set at £200,000 for all qualifying expenditure on or after 1 January 2016. However, this limit was temporarily increased to £1 million for a 2-year period from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. This increased limit is a generous allowance and should cover the annual spend of most small and medium sized businesses. 

The AIA is available for most assets purchased by a business, such as machines and tools, vans, lorries, diggers, office equipment, building fixtures and computers. The AIA does not apply to cars.

There is now just three months left until the end of the tax year. If you are thinking of incurring large items of capital expenditure for your business, now is a good time to consider your investment options.

HMRC’s guidance lists the following useful examples about a change of accounting date:

If your accounting date in 2016 to 2017 is more than 12 months after the end of the basis period for 2015 to 2016, your basis period is the period between the end of the basis period for 2015 to 2016 and the new accounting date.

For example, your basis period for 2015 to 2016 ended on 31 May 2015, and the new accounting date is 31 August 2016, your basis period is the 15-month period 1 June 2015 to 31 August 2016.

If your accounting date in 2016 to 2017 is less than 12 months after the end of the basis period for 2015 to 2016, your basis period is the 12 months ending on the new accounting date.

For example, your basis period for 2015 to 2016 ended on 31 December 2015 and the new accounting date is 31 July 2016, your basis period is the 12-month period 1 August 2015 to 31 July 2016, see ‘Overlap profits’, below.

If your new accounting date is 31 March or 1, 2, 3 or 4 April, see Accounting dates in the period 31 March to 4 April below.

In the first example, above an overlap occurs because of the change in accounting date. A portion of profits is effectively taxed twice, this is known as overlap profit. Overlap profits relief can be used to reduce the profits on the final tax return when the business ceases trading or if the accounting period changes but the ideal scenario would usually be not to create the overlap in the first place.

It is important to be aware of the main basic business structures available if you are considering starting a new business. There are three commonly used forms of business structure.

• A sole trader – this is the simplest way of starting and running a business. However, you are personally responsible for your business’s debts. You also have accounting responsibilities.
• A limited company – the business is quite separate to you as a person, but there are more reporting and management responsibilities. In most cases you will not be personally liable for business debts, but it also means that you cannot draw money from the business whenever you feel like it without generating tax issues.
• Partnership – There are two main types of partnership, a conventional version where you work with one or more partners in the business. This is the simplest way to run a business for 2 or more people. There is also a limited liability partnership or LLP, This more complex structure provides you and your partners with the protection of limited liability, much like a limited company.

Which business structure is best suited to your new business will depend on a number of factors. For example, cash flow, your longer-term plans for the business, whether or not you need the protection of limited liability, your willingness to comply with legal and administrative obligations of companies and LLPs and the nature of any investment you are seeking to capitalise the business.

Planning before you make a start is essential. Please call if you would like to discuss your options. Getting it wrong can be a painful and costly experience.