Is art and collectibles
tax deductible?

No. Art, antiques and collectibles bought to decorate an office or as investments are not allowable. On the cash basis, assets that will not lose most of their value within 20 years are specifically excluded (HMRC BIM72035), and on traditional accounting art is rarely plant. Art dealers are different: their stock is allowable.

Some business owners buy art for their premises, hoping it will be deductible and increase in value. It is usually neither deductible nor relieved through capital allowances. The cash basis rules make this explicit: an asset that will not lose most of its value within 20 years is not an allowable expense.

Is art and collectibles tax deductible?

The HMRC rule

A cost is only allowable if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. Everyday living costs, health, appearance and leisure have a personal purpose, so they are not allowable even when they help you work. The rule comes from HMRC Business Income Manual BIM37007: wholly and exclusively, Claim capital allowances.

HMRC's manual says that on the cash basis, capital expenditure on an asset that is not a depreciating asset, meaning one that will not decline in value by 90% or more within 20 years, is not allowable (BIM72035). Only costs incurred wholly and exclusively for the business are allowable (expenses overview).

When you can claim it

• Art bought by an art dealer for resale, as stock.
• Artists’ materials for work they sell.
• Framing and displaying artwork a business sells.
• Inexpensive decorative prints that lose their value quickly, in some cases.

When you cannot

• Paintings and sculpture for an office or shop.
• Antiques and collectibles as investments.
• Classic cars, wine or watches bought as investments.
• Art for your home.

What to claim instead

If you want art in your premises, consider renting it or buying inexpensive prints. Art held as an investment is subject to Capital Gains Tax on sale, with special rules for chattels.

How to decide if you can claim it

1. Was it for the business? A cost is only allowable if you incur it wholly and exclusively for the business. If it also serves a personal purpose that cannot be separated, such as clothing that keeps you warm or a meal that keeps you going, HMRC disallows it.
2. Is part of it personal? Where a cost has a business part you can identify, such as the business calls on a phone bill or the business miles in a car, you claim that part and leave the rest out, on a reasonable basis you can explain.
3. Is it a running cost or something you keep? It is something you buy to keep. On traditional accounting that means capital allowances, where the item qualifies, rather than an expense. On the cash basis most equipment is an ordinary expense, but cars, land and buildings never are.
4. Is there a specific rule? For art and collectibles, the deciding rule is personal costs: a cost is only allowable if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. Everyday living costs, health, appearance and leisure have a personal purpose, so they are not allowable even when they help you work.

Worked example: a solicitor’s office art

A solicitor buys a £6,000 painting for her reception area. It is not a depreciating asset, so it is not deductible on the cash basis, and on traditional accounting it is not plant. If she sells it later for more than £6,000, the gain may be subject to Capital Gains Tax.

Non-depreciating assets

The cash basis makes most capital spending an expense, but not for assets that will keep most of their value for 20 years. Art, antiques and collectibles are classic examples. They remain capital, with no relief until disposal.

Art and capital allowances

On traditional accounting, capital allowances are for plant and machinery. Decorative art is rarely plant, unless it plays a functional role in the trade, such as creating the atmosphere of a hotel or restaurant. Even then, the claim is contestable.

Art dealers and artists

If you buy art to sell, it is stock, allowable as cost of goods sold. Artists claim materials, studio costs and exhibition fees in the normal way. The treatment follows the trade.

Capital Gains Tax on sale

When you sell art or collectibles, the gain may be taxable. Chattels sold for £6,000 or less are generally exempt, and there is marginal relief above that. Wasting assets, with a life of 50 years or less, are usually exempt.

Paying from the business account

Sole traders often pay personal costs from the account they use for the business. That is allowed, but the payment is drawings, not an expense. Record it that way so it does not end up in your expense totals. If your accounts do include it, the full self-employment pages have a disallowable column, box 45 for other expenses, where the same amount is added back.

Renting art

Some businesses rent artwork for their premises instead of buying it. Rental payments for art used to decorate business premises are running costs, and can be allowable where the premises are used only for the business.

Artists’ own work

Artists who keep some of their own work rather than selling it simply have unsold stock. The materials were allowable when bought. If an artist takes a work for their own home, it is treated like goods taken for own use.

Where it goes

Art for decoration or investment goes nowhere on the business pages. Art dealers' stock goes in cost of goods, box 17.

Where it goes on your return and in MTD

It is not an allowable expense, so it does not reduce your profit. Where your bookkeeping shows it as a business payment, record it as drawings, or include it and add it back as a disallowable expense on the full self-employment pages.

If your turnover was under £90,000, you can use the short self-employment pages (SA103S), which ask for a single figure for total allowable expenses rather than a box-by-box breakdown, and the full pages let you give just a total in box 31 too. The category still matters for your own records and for Making Tax Digital, where each quarterly update uses the same categories unless you choose to send one consolidated figure.

The accounting basis changes when a cost counts. On the cash basis, the default for sole traders since 2024/25, it counts when you pay it; on traditional accounting, when you incur it, with things you keep claimed through capital allowances.

How much an allowable cost saves

An allowable expense does not come back to you in full: it reduces your profit, so it saves tax at your marginal rate. For a sole trader in England, Wales or Northern Ireland that is 26p in the pound at the basic rate (20% Income Tax plus 6% Class 4 National Insurance) and 42p at the higher rate. The sole trader tax calculator works out the figure for your own profit.

What £1,000 of allowable expense saves a sole trader in 2026/27

• Basic rate (20% + 6%)£260
• Higher rate (40% + 2%)£420
• Additional rate (45% + 2%)£470
• Allowance taper band (60% + 2%)£620

Records to keep

You do not need business records for personal costs. If a personal payment was made from the business account, record it as drawings so it is excluded from your expenses. Keep policy documents, statements and receipts in your personal records, because some of them matter for your tax return in other ways.

If Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to you (qualifying income over £50,000 from April 2026, £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028), the records must be digital, and each quarter's costs go into a quarterly update. Check your date with the MTD requirement checker.

Common mistakes

• Claiming office art on the cash basis.
• Claiming capital allowances on decorative art.
• Ignoring Capital Gains Tax on sale.

Related expenses

This item sits in the other business expenses category, alongside care home fees, charity donations, clothing and workwear, cryptocurrency, fines and penalties, funeral costs, furniture and glasses and eye tests. The A to Z of expenses answers the same question for every other cost.

If you record your costs in TapTax, each one lands in the HMRC category it belongs to, with its receipt attached, so your quarterly updates and year-end return use the same figures.