Allowable expenses, vans and pressure equipment, CIS, VAT, National Insurance and MTD explained for self-employed graffiti removal and specialist cleaning contractors.
Graffiti removal is a deceptively capital-intensive trade. From the outside it looks like a person with a pressure washer, but the reality is a van full of expensive kit: a hot-water or steam system, a DOFF or TORC machine for delicate masonry, drums of solvent and gel removers, anti-graffiti sacrificial coatings, abrasive media, and a wall of PPE because you are spraying chemicals at pressure all day. That equipment, plus the vehicle that carries it, is where most of your tax deductions live, and getting the capital-allowances and vehicle treatment right matters far more here than for a desk-based trade.
This guide is built around how a specialist cleaning and graffiti removal contractor actually earns and spends: van and equipment costs, consumables and PPE, the Construction Industry Scheme that catches a lot of building-related cleaning work, and the VAT threshold that creeps up on you once council and facilities contracts start landing.
As a sole trader you pay Income Tax on profit, which is your total takings minus allowable expenses. For 2025/26 the personal allowance covers the first GBP 12,570, then you pay 20% to GBP 50,270, 40% to GBP 125,140 and 45% above, with the personal allowance tapering away between GBP 100,000 and GBP 125,140 to create an effective 60% band. Class 4 National Insurance is 6% on profit between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270 and 2% above, while Class 2 NIC is settled through Self Assessment and protects your State Pension record.
Scottish contractors pay Scottish Income Tax through six bands (19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45% and a 48% top rate) and carry an S-prefixed tax code, while National Insurance stays UK-wide. Welsh contractors have a C-coded tax code at rates currently matching the rest of the UK. If you do any PAYE work alongside the round, or CIS deductions have confused things, your code can end up wrong, so run it through the tax code checker.
This is the question that trips up new operators. The Construction Industry Scheme applies to a wide range of work on buildings and structures, including alteration, repair, decoration and demolition. Graffiti removal often sits right on the line.
If you work for contractors, builders or facilities-management firms, expect to be inside CIS. The contractor deducts 20% from the labour element of your invoice (or 30% if you have not registered as a subcontractor) and pays it to HMRC on your behalf. That money is not a final tax; it is an advance payment against your Income Tax and NIC. Register as a CIS subcontractor to get the 20% rate rather than 30%, and keep every CIS deduction statement, because at year end those deductions are set against your bill and usually generate a refund. Our CIS subcontractor guide explains the mechanics, and the CIS tax calculator shows the refund effect.
An expense is allowable when incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. For this trade the list is dominated by the vehicle, the cleaning plant and consumables.
| Expense | What qualifies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Van and vehicle | Purchase via capital allowances, plus fuel, insurance, road tax, servicing, tyres, MOT | Claim mileage at HMRC rates or actual running costs, not both |
| Pressure and steam systems | Hot/cold pressure washers, steam units, DOFF/TORC machines, generators, bowsers | Capital items, usually full relief via the Annual Investment Allowance |
| Lances, nozzles and hoses | Replacement wear parts, turbo nozzles, surface cleaners | Day-to-day running cost, fully deductible |
| Chemicals and consumables | Graffiti removers, gels, solvents, paint, anti-graffiti coatings, abrasive media, detergents | Fully deductible as used |
| PPE | Respirators and masks, chemical gloves, goggles, overalls, ear defenders, boots | Protective clothing is allowable; everyday clothing is not |
| Access equipment | Ladder, tower, MEWP or platform hire, harnesses | Hire is deductible; bought items via capital allowances |
| Waste disposal | Trade waste, contaminated water capture, controlled-waste carrier costs | Keep transfer notes as evidence |
| Insurance | Public liability, tools/equipment cover, van insurance | Essential and fully allowable |
| Home-office admin | Flat-rate working-from-home allowance or a fair share of costs for quoting and invoicing | Most of the trade is on-site, so this is usually small |
| Phone, accountancy, bank fees | Business mobile, bookkeeping, Self Assessment, business banking | Private use share excluded |
The van and the cleaning plant are capital items, not everyday running costs. You usually claim the full cost in the year of purchase through the Annual Investment Allowance, which can wipe out a large chunk of profit in a year you re-equip, so time big purchases with that in mind. For the van you choose once between the simplified mileage method (a flat rate per business mile) and the actual-cost method (a proportion of fuel, insurance, tax, repairs and capital allowances). A graffiti removal operator covering a city centre with a heavy, kit-laden van and high fuel use often does better on actual costs, but do the sum both ways the first year and stick with your choice for that vehicle.
The private share of your van, fuel and phone must be stripped out. Everyday clothing is never allowable even though the job is filthy; only genuine PPE and branded protective overalls qualify. Parking fines and speeding penalties are not deductible. And travel from home to a regular base is ordinary commuting, though travel between jobs and out to client sites is allowable.
Take a one-van operator doing a mix of council, retail and managing-agent work, with GBP 46,000 of takings for the year.
Income: GBP 46,000 (council framework GBP 20,000, retail and managing agents GBP 18,000, private jobs GBP 8,000)
Allowable expenses:
Taxable profit: GBP 46,000 minus GBP 18,000 = GBP 28,000
Income Tax: GBP 28,000 minus GBP 12,570 = GBP 15,430 at 20% = GBP 3,086
Class 4 NIC: GBP 15,430 at 6% = GBP 926
Total tax and NIC: roughly GBP 4,012 for the year, before Class 2. If part of this work ran through CIS with 20% deducted at source, much of that GBP 4,012 will already have been paid over, so the year-end position is often a refund. Run your own figures through the sole trader tax calculator to sanity-check the numbers.
In a kit-heavy trade like graffiti removal, the biggest tax lever you control is timing your equipment purchases to the Annual Investment Allowance, and keeping every CIS statement so the deductions come back to you.
The practical risk in this trade is not missing expenses; it is losing the paper trail. Cash jobs for householders, mixed CIS and non-CIS invoices, and a glovebox full of fuel and chemical receipts add up to a record-keeping headache. Keep it simple and digital:
Good live records are not just tidy; from April 2026 they become a legal requirement under MTD, so building the habit now pays off twice.
You must register for VAT once taxable turnover exceeds GBP 90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. A solo operator may stay below it for years, but the moment you win a council framework, a retail-park contract or a managing-agent portfolio and perhaps take on a second pair of hands, turnover can climb fast, and it is the rolling 12-month figure that counts, not the tax year. If your clients are mainly VAT-registered businesses, councils or managing agents, they reclaim the VAT you charge, so registration is relatively painless and lets you reclaim VAT on the van, machines, chemicals and PPE. If you work mostly for private householders who cannot reclaim, adding 20% either squeezes your margin or pushes your prices up, so weigh voluntary registration carefully. Note that some construction work between VAT-registered businesses falls under the domestic reverse charge, where your contractor accounts for the VAT instead of you.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment replaces the annual return with quarterly digital submissions and a year-end finalisation. The thresholds are based on gross income, not profit:
Because the test is on turnover, a graffiti removal round with healthy takings but heavy equipment and fuel costs can hit the threshold while profit stays modest, so check your gross figure, not your bottom line. In practice you record each job and each expense digitally as it happens and send HMRC a summary every quarter. The plus side for a mobile trade is that capturing income and receipts on your phone on-site is far easier than reconstructing a shoebox of receipts each January. Our guide to MTD for sole traders walks through the quarterly rhythm.
Not registering for CIS and losing 10%. Unregistered subcontractors suffer 30% deductions instead of 20%. Register and verify to keep the extra 10% in your cash flow.
Throwing away CIS statements. Those statements are your proof of tax already paid. Lose them and you cannot reliably claim the refund you are owed.
Treating the van and machines as everyday costs. Vehicles and plant are capital items claimed through capital allowances, usually the Annual Investment Allowance, not lumped in with fuel and chemicals.
Forgetting the rolling VAT threshold. Turnover is measured over any rolling 12 months. Watch it monthly once contracts scale, or you risk registering late and owing back-VAT.
Mixing private mileage into business costs. If you use the van privately, only the business proportion is allowable; HMRC expects a reasonable split.
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