Tax claims locum doctors often miss

These come up again and again in conversations with locums a year or two in, usually along the lines of “wait, I could have been claiming that?” A quick rundown of the ones worth double-checking with your accountant.

Professional subscriptions

GMC retention fee, medical indemnity, royal college membership, BMA membership — these are often allowable, and it’s easy to forget you’re even paying some of them since they’re usually annual direct debits you don’t think about day to day.

Journals and CPD

Subscriptions to clinical journals, and costs associated with continuing professional development — courses, conferences, exam fees where relevant — are worth checking against what you’ve actually claimed. People often assume CPD is “just part of the job” rather than an allowable cost.

Equipment

Stethoscopes, diagnostic equipment, anything you’ve personally bought for clinical use rather than relying on what’s provided at each site. Also less obviously: a laptop or tablet used for work, if you’re using it for locum admin, appraisal, or clinical use.

Home office costs

If you do any work from home — admin, remote sessions, appraisal prep, CPD — a proportion of home costs can potentially be claimed. The calculation depends on your specific setup and isn’t something to estimate casually; this is worth getting right with an accountant rather than guessing a number.

Phone and broadband

A business-use proportion of your phone and internet costs, if you genuinely use them for locum work — arranging sessions, calls with practices, admin. Again, proportion matters here, not the whole bill.

Accountancy fees themselves

Slightly circular, but worth saying: the cost of your accountant is itself usually an allowable expense. Don’t forget to include it.

Locum agency or platform fees

If you’re paying a percentage or fixed fee to a booking platform or agency, that’s a cost of earning your income and worth checking is being captured, not just the net amount that lands in your account.

Training courses tied to scope of work

If you’ve taken on a new type of locum work — say, a specific clinic type or an area needing extra accreditation — training costs directly tied to that can sometimes be allowable. Worth flagging the specific course to your accountant rather than assuming either way.

The common thread

Almost everything on this list is missed for the same reason: it didn’t feel like a “locum expense” because it’s paid automatically, or it felt too small to mention, or nobody specifically asked about it. None of these are exotic claims — they’re ordinary costs of doing the work. The fix isn’t cleverness, it’s just asking the question properly once a year rather than assuming you’ve already covered everything.

This is general information, not personal tax advice — whether any of these apply to you depends on your specific circumstances. Check with your accountant rather than assuming.