Clothing: Wholly and Exclusively for trade purposes
When dealing with self-employment expenses, great care needs to be taken.
An expense needs to have incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the trade in order to be considered allowable. Some expenses by their very nature have a non-trade use and so are disallowed by the Tax Man.
So it is the case with ordinary clothing worn by a trader during the course of their trade,the so-called civilian clothing.
This rule applies even when particular standards of dress are required by the rules of professional bodies.
The cost of clothing that is not part of an everyday wardrobe like for instance protective clothing for a builder or a nurse’s uniform are allowed as trading expenses. The cost of clothing acquired for a film, stage or TV performance incurred by an actor or other entertainers is also allowable. The clothing in this case is called a costume as it is used in a performance.
A well known case with regards to clothing expenditure is the case of Mallalieu v Drummond. The case was concerned with the issue of whether a barrister was entitled to a deduction for expenditure on purchase and laundry of professional clothing.
The barrister acquired and wore particular items of clothing, both in court and to and from the court to her chambers. She did not wear such clothes when she was not at work. Also, her personal wardrobe was made up of very colourful clothes.
The Inspector disallowed the barrister’s expenditure.The test whether her expenditure was ‘ wholly and exclusively’ incurred for the purpose of her profession was subjective.
Also,the General Commissioners considered that when a barrister purchased court clothes their purpose was to enable them both to earn profits in their profession and to be properly clothed, so it had a dual purpose (professional and non professional one at the same time).
Apportionment for business use can only be made when there is a objective benchmark by which any trade element can be distinguished from the non-trade element.
A common example of this approach is the running costs of a car used partly for the purposes of the trade and partly for other purposes.
If you are still confused with regards to what items you are entitled to claim back in your tax return come to Taxfile in one of their offices, either South London or Exeter branch to get help with this matter.