If you run your own therapy practice you may travel to see clients, attend training or visit different venues. Knowing which of those journeys HMRC treats as a business trip (and therefore tax‑deductible) can save you money and keep your Self Assessment return compliant.
The Core HMRC Test – “Wholly and Exclusively”
HMRC allows you to deduct travel costs only when the journey is wholly and exclusively for the purpose of your trade. If a trip has any personal element (e.g., popping to the shops on the way to a client), you must be able to split the cost and claim only the business portion.
Business Trips for Therapists
Home visits to clients (including care homes, schools, or private residences)
Travel is necessary to deliver the service; not a regular commute.
Visiting multiple clinic rooms or therapy centres in a day
Attending a CPD workshop, conference, or supervision session
Travel to a networking event or marketing meeting (e.g., meeting a GP referral source)
Travel to collect or deliver equipment (e.g., hiring a treatment table)
Travel to a client’s home for a one‑off assessment
If you travel to the same rented therapy room, clinic, or office every week or on a regular basis, HMRC treats this as a normal commute, ie home to work and is not tax deductible
Keeping the Right Records
HMRC expects you to be able to show that each journey was business‑related. A simple, contemporaneous log works best
Keep the log for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline.
Practical Tips for Therapists
- Mark your regular workplace – if you have a clinic you attend regularly treat journeys to that clinic as commuting (non‑deductible).
- Use a mileage‑tracking app – many free tools
- Separate business and personal cards – makes it easier to see which expenses are purely business.
- Review your travel pattern quarterly – adjust your mileage log and ensure you are not accidentally claiming commuting.
- Keep a “travel folder” (physical or digital) with receipts, tickets, and your mileage log – HMRC may ask to see it during an enquiry.
- Check the latest HMRC rates each April – the mileage rates are updated annually; the current rate is 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles
