Claiming Youtube subscription as an expense

dllive

Hi,
Im a web developer. I use Youtube to watch tutorials on web development, design and marketing. I got tired of all the adverts, so bit the bullet and subbed to Youtube. Can I claim it as a business expense? What about if I start using it for podcasts (I currently use spotify for my podcast listening), do I claim for the proportion that I use for business? Also, I work from home. When I meet clients in town or a coffee shop, can I claim for my beverage (usually a bottle of water) and/or sandwich?
Thanks

tacpot12

No. The following is from the link below: "The rules for claiming expenses against your employment income are very strict. The general rule is that they must be incurred ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily’ in the performance of your duties. This means that any person performing your role would have to incur the expenses and that the expenses are incurred while performing your duties rather than putting you in the position where you are able to perform those duties."

What if I incur expenses in relation to my job? | Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (litrg.org.uk)

uknick

Are you an employed or self employed web developer?

dllive

uknick said:

Are you an employed or self employed web developer?

I should have said: self employed.

sanfairyanne

I don't know the answer, but I can tell you that if you use the browser Brave you won't see adverts. I've been using it solely as my YT browser for a long time both on my cell phone and my laptop and it works fine.

mark_cycling00

You probably have a duty to your clients to pay a subscription rather than installing potentially dodgy extensions that can read all the data on your browser. 

So if you weren't working would you buy a subscription? If no then it could be a business expense but you're also benefitting personally so many self employed people would expense a proportion that relates to business use.

With coffees etc. Would you do that anyway even if you weren't meeting clients? If it's also your lunch then it doesn't count because you'd need to have lunch anyway.

These expenses will always raise suspicions but this should not stop you from managing your affairs in an honest and ethical way. 

When I was self employed web developer I tried to expense an official AWS course on how to host apps in Aws. It was rejected because it was classed as learning something new and not something to maintain my current business. 

Expense rules can be pants..

DullGreyGuy

Rules are always open to interpretation and there will always be big grey areas and so as a business person you need to make a decision on how white you want to be. If you are happy living in shades of grey just don't then complain if things go wrong. 

If these were training courses being paid for individually it would come down to if they are continuous professional development in which case they are allowable or if they were giving you new skills to offer new services in which case they aren't allowable. This isn't a course though its just removing adverts from otherwise free courses and no doubt you use YouTube outside of work and so its clearly not going to be purely for the benefit of your business. 

For getting marginal relief on part of £12/month I'm not sure it's worth the risk. 

uknick

You can on;y claim expenses that are "wholly and exclusively" for the business.

If you only watch YouTube for sole trader purposes then you could claim the subscription.  However, I very much doubt that is the case.  Therefore you must deduct your, and anybody else who uses your account, personal viewing percentage.

As said above, normal meals and refreshments can't be claimed as you'd drink and eat anyway.  In addition, you can't claim for entertaining clients.

dllive

Thanks all, very helpful.

I dont use Youtube for entertainment (I use Spotify, or BBC). Having said that, now Im paying for a Youtube sub, I may start to. Ill see how it goes. If I use Youtube 30% of the time (ie: in the evenings) I will claim 70% as a business expense. 

That reminds me, yesterday I subbed to ChatGPT. I was using the free version for work, but the results were pretty poor, so I decided to bite the bullet and see if the paid version was better. Ill be claiming that as an expense. (again, if I find I use it in my personal life I will proportion accordingly).

[Deleted User]

The question is whether the You tube subscription is paid wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade.

It appears the OP pays the subscription because he grew tired of seeing adverts. I'm afraid I don't see any trade purpose.

[Deleted User]

dllive said:

Thanks all, very helpful.

I dont use Youtube for entertainment (I use Spotify, or BBC). Having said that, now Im paying for a Youtube sub, I may start to. Ill see how it goes. If I use Youtube 30% of the time (ie: in the evenings) I will claim 70% as a business expense. 

That reminds me, yesterday I subbed to ChatGPT. I was using the free version for work, but the results were pretty poor, so I decided to bite the bullet and see if the paid version was better. Ill be claiming that as an expense. (again, if I find I use it in my personal life I will proportion accordingly).

Not sure that you have got this. If there is any private element of this subscription it is NOT exclusively for business purposes and not deductible.