Office, property and equipment
You must perform some administrative tasks as a self-employed individual to stay on top of your accounts, spending, and taxes. You then accrue claimable business costs as a result.
 
You can claim for:
 

• Office consumables such as printer paper and ink

• Phone and internet bills plus software subscriptions - such as online accounting

• Use of home allowance for performing administrative tasks from home

  
Travel
All locums incur travel expenses. These may vary from shift to shift and month to month depending on where you are working. The good news is that many of your travel expenses can be claimed back:
 
You can claim for:
 

• Mileage incurred on your personal car while travelling to your locum pharmacy work, to attend your training venue, etc

• Parking costs or bus, train, air or taxi fares

• Hotel rooms and meals on overnight stays

 
You cannot claim for:
 

• Parking or speeding fines

• Clothing expenses

 
Protective / Specialist Clothing
Whilst new clothing isn’t an everyday expense, you do use specialist clothing as part of being a pharmacist. Although a pharmacy may insist that you wear their specially designed safety clothing, you are also free to bring your own.
 
You can claim for:
 

• Protective clothing such as a lab coat or eye safety glasses

 
You cannot claim for:
 

• Ordinary clothing - even if you wear it to work

 
Professional Fees
Remember that super helpful accountant who guided you through the process of becoming a self-employed locum pharmacist? The good news is that they are a legitimate business expense.
 
You can claim for:
 

• Professional indemnity insurance premiums

• Business bank account and credit card charges

• Hiring an accountant

 
You cannot claim for:
 

• Fines for breaking the law

• Loan or hire purchase repayments

 
Marketing, entertainment and subscriptions
There are many other areas of being a pharmacy locum that will generate expenses that can be offset against your tax, these may be promoting your services, journals you subscribe to or even entertaining.
 
You can claim for:
 

• Your pre-registration payments and professional membership dues to organisations like the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the General Pharmaceutical Council.

• Relevant trade publications

• Advertising and website costs

 
You cannot claim for:
 

• Gym membership or payments to political parties

• Buying your pharmacy manager a drink at the pub after your shift has ended

 
The key takeaways from this article are…
 

• All expenses must be operating as a self employed pharmacist and HM Revenue & Customs may ask you to provide evidence of this i.e. you must have actually incurred the expense.

• Whether you prefer to keep a physical copy or a digital copy make sure you keep your receipts as HMRC can request to see them anytime during the 7 years after the expense was incurred.

• Since expenses are subtracted from your annual income and you are only taxed on your profit, your tax bill will be lower with the more expenses you have. However, keep in mind that even while expenses are tax deductible, they still represent a cost deducted from your profits, so only purchase things that you truly require.

 
To keep yourself on the right track don’t forget that all expenses should be discussed with your accountant to ensure that they are valid claims.