Van costs, tools and equipment, mileage, allowable expenses, Class 4 NIC, VAT and MTD for Income Tax explained for self-employed mobile tyre fitters.
Mobile tyre fitting is a low-overhead, high-mileage trade with one defining tax feature: the van is the business. You drive to driveways, laybys, fleet yards and breakdowns, carry your machines and stock with you, and turn jobs around fast. That means your costs are concentrated in a few big areas (the vehicle, the fitting equipment and your stock of tyres and consumables) and getting those claims right is what separates a fair tax bill from an inflated one.
This guide is written for the self-employed fitter working as a sole trader: how your profit is taxed, the specific expenses this job lets you claim, the van decision that trips most people up, your National Insurance, when VAT starts to matter, and how Making Tax Digital changes your record-keeping. Capture the numbers as you go and the annual return stops being a January scramble.
As a sole trader you pay Income Tax on profit, which is your total takings minus allowable expenses, not on turnover. For 2025/26 the personal allowance covers the first GBP 12,570, then you pay 20% up to GBP 50,270, 40% to GBP 125,140 and 45% above. The personal allowance tapers away between GBP 100,000 and GBP 125,140, creating an effective 60% band, though few solo fitters reach that. Class 4 National Insurance is 6% on profit between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270 and 2% above, with Class 2 NIC settled through Self Assessment.
Scottish fitters 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 fitters have a C-coded tax code at rates currently matching the rest of the UK. If you also have a PAYE job (many fitters go self-employed after a garage role) your tax code can end up wrong and quietly cost you. Run it through the tax code checker if the numbers look off.
For a mobile fitter the vehicle is both your workshop and your single largest expense, so the way you claim it matters more than anything else on your return. You have two routes and you must pick one per vehicle and stick with it.
Actual costs plus capital allowances. Claim the cost of the van itself, usually in full in the year of purchase through the Annual Investment Allowance, then claim the running costs: fuel, insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, replacement tyres for the van, breakdown cover and signwriting. Where the van doubles as private transport, restrict every claim to the business-use percentage based on a sensible mileage split.
Simplified mileage. Instead of actual costs, claim a flat 45p per business mile for the first 10,000 miles in the tax year and 25p a mile after that. This is simpler and needs only a mileage log, but once you use it for a vehicle you cannot switch to actual costs for that same van, and you cannot also claim the van's purchase price separately.
A high-mileage fitter covering a county in a thirsty, hard-working van usually claims more under actual costs, because fuel, tyres and servicing on a commercial vehicle add up fast and the AIA write-off on the van is generous. A lighter, lower-mileage operator may prefer the simplicity of 45p a mile. Work it out both ways in your first year before you commit. The sole trader tax calculator lets you test how each method changes your profit and tax.
Plenty of fitters begin part-time, doing weekend and evening jobs around a garage shift. The GBP 1,000 trading allowance is built for that very first toe in the water. If your gross self-employed takings are GBP 1,000 or less in a tax year, the income is tax-free and you do not need to register for Self Assessment. Cross GBP 1,000 and you must register and report the full amount.
In practice the allowance rarely helps a real tyre fitter for long, because your van, machines and stock costs almost always exceed GBP 1,000, so claiming actual expenses produces a far lower profit. Once you are over the threshold, total your real costs and deduct those rather than the flat allowance. If tyre fitting is genuinely an occasional side earner alongside other work, our guide to side-hustle income explains how it stacks with your other earnings.
An expense is allowable when incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. For a mobile fitter the list is dominated by the vehicle, the fitting kit and consumable stock.
| Expense | What qualifies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Van and vehicle costs | Purchase (via AIA), fuel, insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, breakdown cover, signwriting | Or claim 45p/25p mileage instead, not both |
| Tyre-fitting machinery | Mobile tyre changer, wheel balancer, bead breaker, compressor, generator, inflation gauge | Usually claimed in full via the Annual Investment Allowance |
| Hand and power tools | Trolley and bottle jacks, axle stands, torque and impact wrenches, air tools, locking-nut sets | Replacement of small tools is a running cost |
| Stock and consumables | Tyres, inner tubes, valves, wheel weights, valve caps, tyre paste, puncture repair kits | Cost of stock used in the year is deductible |
| Protective clothing | Safety boots, gloves, hi-vis, knee pads, ear and eye protection, branded workwear | Everyday clothing is never allowable |
| Waste disposal | Licensed scrap and waste-tyre collection and disposal charges | Keep your waste-carrier paperwork |
| Insurance and licences | Public liability, tools and goods-in-transit cover, motor trade insurance | Business cover only |
| Phone, booking and admin | Mobile phone (business share), booking app, card-reader fees, website | Restrict dual-use items to the business proportion |
| Home-office admin | HMRC flat-rate working-from-home allowance, or a fair share of household running costs | For quoting, invoicing and ordering stock |
| Membership and training | Trade body fees, tyre-fitting and health-and-safety certification, refresher courses | Training into a brand-new trade is not allowable |
| Accountancy and bank fees | Bookkeeping, Self Assessment, business banking | Fully deductible |
The kit that lets you fit roadside (a mobile tyre changer, a wheel balancer, a compressor or generator, jacks and torque tools) is plant and machinery. Under the Annual Investment Allowance you can normally deduct the full cost in the year you buy it rather than spreading it, which is a big help in your start-up year when you are tooling up. Keep every invoice and serial number, and note where second-hand kit was bought from a private seller, because you still claim it but want a record of what you paid.
The private share of dual-use costs (your phone, and the van if it doubles as the family car) must be excluded. The cost of getting to a fixed base you treat as your normal place of work can be ordinary commuting rather than business travel. Fines and parking penalties picked up on jobs are not allowable. Everyday clothes are out even if you only wear them for work; only genuine protective gear and branded workwear qualify. And meals while out on jobs are generally not deductible unless you are away overnight or travelling somewhere genuinely outside your usual pattern.
On top of Income Tax you pay Class 4 NIC at 6% on profit between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270, then 2% above. Class 2 NIC is dealt with through your Self Assessment return and protects your State Pension and benefit entitlements, so it is worth paying even in a low-profit year to keep your record complete.
Record-keeping is where this trade lives or dies, because so much of the work is cash or quick card payments on driveways. Bank every payment, keep a digital note of each job (the customer, the vehicle, what you fitted and the price), and photograph or scan every receipt for fuel, stock and tools as you go. Keep a running mileage log if you are on the simplified method. The fitter who records the GBP 80 cash job in the layby and the bulk-tyre invoice on the same day they happen has nothing to reconstruct in January. To see how takings turn into tax, run your figures through the sole trader tax calculator.
For a mobile fitter the tax you overpay usually comes from the receipt you lost in the van, not the income you forgot. Snap every fuel, stock and tool receipt the moment you get it, and log every cash job the same day.
Take a full-time fitter covering domestic call-outs plus some local fleet work, taking GBP 62,000 in bookings for the year and choosing the actual-cost method for the van.
Turnover: GBP 62,000
Allowable expenses:
Taxable profit: GBP 62,000 minus GBP 36,000 = GBP 26,000
Income Tax: GBP 26,000 minus GBP 12,570 = GBP 13,430 at 20% = GBP 2,686
Class 4 NIC: GBP 13,430 at 6% = GBP 806
Total Income Tax and Class 4 NIC: roughly GBP 3,492 for the year, before any Class 2 NIC. Note that on GBP 62,000 of turnover this fitter is inside MTD for Income Tax from April 2026 even though profit is GBP 26,000, because the test is on gross income. If you also have a second income stream, such as a part-time PAYE job or a rental, model it with the multiple-income tax calculator.
You must register for VAT once taxable turnover exceeds GBP 90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. A domestic-only fitter may stay under it for years, but commercial fleet, dealer and contract work can push a busy operator past GBP 90,000 quicker than expected, especially as the value of tyres passes through your turnover. Once registered you charge 20% VAT on labour and tyres and reclaim VAT on your van, machines, stock and fuel, which suits work for VAT-registered fleets and garages because they reclaim what you charge. For private drivers, though, the 20% is a real price rise they cannot recover, so watch your rolling total and plan ahead rather than tipping over the threshold by accident.
Pure tyre fitting is not normally construction work, so it sits outside the Construction Industry Scheme. But if you take on related labour on building or civil-engineering sites (for example plant tyre work treated as part of site operations, or you diversify into groundworks or site servicing) a contractor may be required to deduct CIS tax at 20% (or 30% if you are not verified) before paying you. Those deductions count as advance payments of your tax and usually produce a Self Assessment refund once your real expenses are taken into account. If any of your work falls under CIS, read our dedicated guide to the CIS subcontractor rules and use the CIS tax calculator to estimate the refund.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment replaces the once-a-year return with quarterly digital submissions and a year-end finalisation. The thresholds are based on gross income, not profit:
For a fitter who runs heavy stock and van costs, the key trap is the gross-income test: you can be well inside MTD on turnover while your profit is modest. The upside is that MTD forces the habit that already serves this trade best, which is recording each job and each fuel, stock and tool receipt as it happens rather than reconstructing a year of driveway call-outs every January. Keep digital records in MTD-compatible software and send HMRC a summary each quarter. Our guide to MTD for sole traders walks through what the quarterly rhythm looks like in practice.
Mixing the van methods. You cannot claim 45p-a-mile mileage and the van's running costs and purchase price. Pick one method per vehicle in year one and stick with it.
Saving tax on turnover instead of profit. With stock and van costs so heavy, setting aside a flat percentage of every payment over-saves and starves your working capital. Base your tax savings on profit.
Losing cash-job records. Driveway jobs paid in cash are still taxable income. Log them the day they happen and bank them so your records are complete.
Forgetting the gross-income MTD test. A modest profit does not exempt you. If turnover tops GBP 50,000 you are in from April 2026 regardless of how thin the margin is.
Claiming everyday clothing. Only genuine protective gear and branded workwear qualify. The jeans and hoodie you fit tyres in are not allowable.
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