Repairs and maintenance of property and equipment
for sole traders

Repairs and maintenance of property and equipment is box 22 on the full self-employment pages. It covers keeping business premises and equipment in working order: repairs, servicing, redecoration and replacement parts. Improvements, alterations and new assets are capital, and repairs to the non-business parts of premises or equipment are disallowable.

What goes in this category

• Repairs to business premises, such as a leaking roof or broken window.
• Servicing and repairs of equipment and machinery.
• Redecorating business premises.
• Replacing parts, or replacing like for like with a modern equivalent.

What does not

• Improvements and extensions.
• Buying new equipment, which is capital.
• Repairs to non-business parts of premises.
• Initial repairs to make newly bought premises usable, in some cases.

Items in this category

Repair or improvement

A repair restores something to its previous condition, even if modern materials are used. An improvement makes it better, bigger or different. Replacing a broken boiler with a similar modern model is a repair; adding central heating where there was none is an improvement.

Replacing the whole thing

Replacing a part of an asset is a repair. Replacing the whole asset, such as a whole machine, is capital, relieved as an expense on the cash basis or through capital allowances on traditional accounting. Replacing an entire building is capital.

Newly acquired premises

Repairs to premises you have just bought or leased are generally allowable, but if the premises could not be used for the business without them, and the price reflected their condition, the cost can be capital. Keep evidence of the condition when you took the premises on.

Home offices

Repairs to your home are personal, except repairs to a room used only for the business, or a reasonable business share of repairs to the whole home if you claim actual costs. Decorating a home office used exclusively for work can be allowable.

Equipment servicing

Servicing, calibration and maintenance contracts for equipment are running costs. Extended warranties bought with new equipment follow the equipment's treatment or are running costs, depending on the terms.

Vehicles

Vehicle repairs go with vehicle costs, box 20, not here. If you use mileage rates, repairs are already covered and cannot be claimed separately.

Cash basis

On the cash basis, alterations to install or replace equipment are expenses, but spending on the building itself, such as walls, floors, doors and windows, is not deductible when it is capital. Repairs are expenses on either basis.

Landlords

Landlords use box 25 of the UK property pages for property repairs and maintenance, under the same repair-or-improvement test.

Like for like with modern materials

Using modern materials does not turn a repair into an improvement if the result does the same job. Replacing single glazing with double glazing, or an old roof covering with a modern equivalent, is generally still a repair. The line is crossed when the work adds something new, such as an extra room, a loft conversion or a significantly better specification that changes the character of the asset.

Dilapidations at the end of a lease

If you rent premises, your lease may require you to put them back into good repair when you leave. Dilapidations payments to the landlord for repairs are generally allowable, as they relate to repairs the business was responsible for. Payments for removing your own improvements can follow the treatment of those improvements.

Repairs after damage

Repairing storm, fire or flood damage to business premises or equipment is a repair, allowable in full, with any insurance pay-out treated as income or set against the cost. If you take the opportunity to improve at the same time, only the cost of reinstating what was there before is a repair.

Routine maintenance contracts

Annual maintenance contracts, such as for a lift, alarm, boiler or air conditioning at business premises, are running costs, allowable in the year they relate to. Pre-paid multi-year contracts are spread over the years they cover on traditional accounting, and deducted when paid on the cash basis.

Equipment you lease

If you lease equipment and the lease makes you responsible for repairs, those repairs are allowable in the same way as repairs to equipment you own. If the lessor repairs it under the lease, there is nothing extra to claim.

Small tools and consumables

Replacement blades, bits, filters and similar consumables for equipment are running costs, allowable in full when bought. They are not capital, even if bought in bulk.

Records to keep

Keep invoices that describe the work, before and after photos for large repairs, and a note of why the work was a repair rather than an improvement.

Worked example: a hairdresser’s salon

A hairdresser pays £1,400 to repaint the salon, £600 to repair a backwash unit and £3,500 for a new extension to add a treatment room. Box 22 is £2,000. The extension is capital, and on the cash basis the building work is not deductible.

Four questions before a cost goes here

1. Was it for the business, and only for it? A cost must be incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade. A cost with a personal purpose that cannot be separated is not allowable at all.
2. Is part of it personal? Where a business part can be identified, such as business miles or business calls, claim that part on a reasonable basis and leave the rest out.
3. Is it a running cost or something you keep? Running costs belong in the expense categories. Things you keep are capital: an expense on the cash basis (except cars), capital allowances on traditional accounting.
4. Is there a specific rule? Some costs are disallowed whatever their purpose, such as fines and client entertaining, and some have their own treatment, such as cars, which always go through capital allowances.

Trading allowance or expenses

Instead of deducting expenses, a sole trader can claim the £1,000 trading allowance against trading income. You cannot claim both, so the allowance only helps when your allowable expenses are under £1,000. If your gross trading income is £1,000 or less, the allowance covers it and you may not need to register. Once your costs pass £1,000, deducting actual expenses gives the lower profit.

This category in Making Tax Digital

Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, each quarterly update carries your expenses in the same 15 categories as the full self-employment pages, so this category is one line of every update. Sole traders with qualifying income over £50,000 join from 6 April 2026, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. If your turnover is under £90,000 you can send one consolidated expenses figure instead of the categories, but you still keep the records behind it. The same £90,000 limit decides whether you can use the short self-employment pages (SA103S), which ask only for total allowable expenses.

Cash basis or traditional accounting

The cash basis, the default for sole traders and landlords since 2024/25, counts a cost in the tax year you pay it. Traditional (accruals) accounting counts it when you incur it, whenever you pay, and treats things you buy to keep as capital, relieved through capital allowances. For most costs in this category the only difference is timing; for anything you buy to keep, the basis decides whether it is an expense at all.

The disallowable column

The full self-employment pages have a second column of boxes (32 to 45) for disallowable expenses. If your accounts include something that is not allowable, such as the private share of a phone bill or client entertaining, you put the total cost in the expense box and the disallowable part in the matching box, so the tax calculation adds it back. The short pages (SA103S) simply ask for allowable expenses, so you leave the disallowable part out.

How much an allowable cost saves

Each pound of allowable expense saves a sole trader 26p at the basic rate (20% Income Tax plus 6% Class 4 National Insurance) and 42p at the higher rate, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish Income Tax bands differ, and the sole trader tax calculator works out your own figure.

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

Keep the invoice or receipt for every cost in this category, with a note of the business purpose wherever it is not obvious, and how you worked out the business share of anything also used privately. From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 keep digital records and send quarterly updates under Making Tax Digital, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.

Common mistakes

• Treating improvements as repairs.
• Putting vehicle repairs here.
• Claiming repairs to the personal parts of a home.

Every other category

The other 14 categories on the self-employment pages, in box order:

• Cost of goods sold, SA103F box 17
• Construction industry payments to subcontractors, SA103F box 18
• Wages, salaries and other staff costs, SA103F box 19
• Car, van and travel expenses, SA103F box 20
• Rent, rates, power and insurance costs, SA103F box 21
• Phone, stationery and other office costs, SA103F box 23
• Advertising costs, SA103F box 24
• Business entertainment, SA103F box 24, disallowed in box 39
• Interest on bank and other loans, SA103F box 25
• Bank, credit card and other financial charges, SA103F box 26
• Irrecoverable debts written off, SA103F box 27
• Accountancy, legal and other professional fees, SA103F box 28
• Depreciation and loss or profit on sale of assets, SA103F box 29, disallowed in box 44
• Other business expenses, SA103F box 30

The A to Z of expenses lists every item and all 23 categories: the 15 self-employment categories and the 8 for UK property.