Submission Date: June 2023
Full question: “Can coaching, training or personal development costs be claimed as an expense through my company?”
With so many different types of training, coaching and personal development currently available this is a great question. Everywhere you look there are adverts for personal and business development and many people want to use these services, but it’s not always obvious if they count as a business expense.
The key here is being able to differentiate between whether the service you are paying for is beneficial to you as a person (for example, a life coach) or to you as a business (for example, a business coach) so that you can improve your skills and knowledge to the benefit of your business.
If you are paying for services that are purely for your business through improvement of your skills and/or enabling better networking, then yes, this counts as a company expense and as such can be claimed. Things aren’t always this clear cut though. If you’re using a life coach and they are advising you on both your business and personal development, you need to attribute how much time is spent on the business side and only that portion of their fee can be claimed as tax deductible.
Needless to say, if they are personal matters and don’t relate to your business at all, then none can be put through.
Any problems working out how much you think you can attribute to business expenses, have a chat with your accountant who’ll be able to advise you and make sure you’re not missing out on something you could claim on. For further reading on company expenses and what you can and can’t put through, see our limited company guide to expenses.
