Andy Egwim walks through ten legitimate business expenses UK doctors can claim through a limited company under HMRC rules: electric cars, staff costs, pension contributions, life insurance, equipment, staff events, training, professional subscriptions, business protection insurance, and professional fees. The key is meeting the 'wholly, exclusively, and reasonably incurred' test. Many doctors under-claim or over-claim, risking penalties.
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To deduct expenses through your limited company, HMRC has some clear rules. It has to be wholly for the business, exclusively for the business, and it has to be reasonable. Example, say I'm a locum GP who travels for work and I decide to buy a nice white horse to gallop me there and never use it for anything else. Nice horse, right? It's wholly for the business, yes. Exclusively for the business, yes. But not remotely reasonable. Now, say I buy a fully electric car instead, purely to get me to my locum shift back and forth, 20 miles away. That's reasonable. And if it's genuinely only used for the business, it can be a legitimate expense. And even if I use it for something else, I can pay benefit in kind. Now, many doctors either underclaim, missing out on real money, or overclaim and end up in genuine trouble. So here are 10 things that, done properly, are legitimate and you can claim them. 1, obviously, an electric car if it's genuinely for the business. 2, staff costs, including employing a family member, as long as the work is real. And the pay is reasonable. 3. Pension contributions straight from the company. 4. Relevant life plans. So that's life insurance for company directors, kind of. 5. Equipment. Medical equipment, laptop, phones, whatever you genuinely need to do the work. 6. Annual staff event, maybe Christmas party, up to £150 per person. 7. Training, coaching, including business or financial training if you're running the company. So not just clinical CPD. 8. Professional subscriptions. GMC, Royal College, indemnity, BMA. 9, business protection. And 10, professional expenses like your accountant and solicitor. Look, there are more than 10. I've made a full list of these things. And if you want it, if you want to make sure you're not leaving anything on the table, comment limited and I'll send you the list, the checklist, totally for free.
