Allowable Expenses for Content Creators
Written and reviewed by the Influencer Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
Your tax bill is worked out on profit, not on what lands in your account, so every legitimate expense you claim is money you keep. Creators tend to under-claim, usually because nobody has told them that half of what they buy for the channel counts.
This is what is allowable, what is not, and the two rules, home working and clothing, where creators most often get it wrong.
The Kit and the Running Costs
The straightforward ones: cameras, lenses, lighting, microphones, a capture card, a computer used for editing, and the props and set pieces you buy for content. Editing and design software, stock music, cloud storage, your scheduling and analytics tools and platform subscriptions used for the business are all allowable too.
Where something is used for both work and personal life, you claim the business proportion. A laptop used 70% for editing and 30% for personal use is a 70% claim. The same apportionment applies to your phone and broadband, which for most creators are a real and defensible part of the cost of the work.
Working From Home
Most creators film and edit from home, and you can claim for that. The simple route is HMRC's flat rate, which is £10, £18 or £26 a month depending on how many hours you work from home, with no records to keep beyond the hours.
The alternative is to work out the actual cost: take your rent or mortgage interest, council tax, heat, light and broadband, and apportion by the rooms used and the time spent. For a creator with a dedicated studio room this often beats the flat rate, but it needs the sums kept properly. We work out which route is bigger for you as part of the return.
The Clothing Rule
This is the one that catches people. Everyday clothing is not an allowable expense, even if you only bought it to wear in a video and never wear it otherwise. The law treats normal clothing as having a dual purpose, warmth and decency, so it is not wholly for the business.
What can be claimed is genuine costume, a uniform with a logo, or protective clothing needed for what you film. A fashion creator cannot claim their wardrobe; a creator who buys a branded set outfit or a costume for a specific character has a stronger case. If in doubt, keep the receipt and the context and let us judge it.
Gifted Products, Travel and the Allowance Trade-off
Travel to shoots, events, brand meetings and collaborations is allowable, as is the cost of a location you hire. Products you are sent are a special case: if they were given in return for promotion they are taxable income, covered in full in the gifted products guide.
One trade-off to remember. If your income is modest you can take the flat £1,000 trading allowance instead of your real expenses, but not both. Claim whichever is larger. Once your genuine costs pass £1,000 a year, which for an equipped creator happens fast, actual expenses win and the record-keeping starts to matter.