Equipment and capital allowances
Cameras, computers, monitors, lenses, drawing tablets — these are capital expenditure, not immediate expenses. The good news: the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) lets you claim 100% of capital spend immediately, up to £1M per year. So practically, a £3K camera bought this year reduces this year's taxable profit by £3K.
If equipment is bought for personal use too, you claim the business proportion only (e.g. 80% of a laptop also used for personal admin).
Software, subscriptions, services
- Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Notion, Slack, etc. — fully allowable as monthly expense.
- Cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Workspace, iCloud) — business proportion.
- Email, hosting, domains.
- Stock footage, fonts, plugins.
Studio, location, props
- Studio rent — fully allowable.
- Use-of-home — flat rate or apportioned actual costs.
- Location fees, model fees, prop hire — fully allowable for shoots.
- Travel and subsistence on shoots — mileage, train fares, overnight stays.
Common rejections
- Clothes you wear on set — generally not, even if you only wear them for work.
- Entertainment — taking a client out is not allowable as a business expense.
- Training in a new trade — courses to acquire a new, unrelated skill aren't allowable.
- Personal phones — only the business proportion of bills.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim my studio bills?+
Yes — rent, electric, internet, business rates if applicable. If the studio is in your home, see the use-of-home rules: flat-rate £26/month or apportioned actual costs.
What about Adobe Creative Cloud?+
Fully allowable as a monthly expense. Same for Figma, Notion, Frame.io, Dropbox, and similar SaaS tools used for business.
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