Lift heavy, live light! It is a famous quote. Keeping yourself fit is of prime importance. You can help people keep themselves fit by following videos and tutorials available online or otherwise, or you can be a personal trainer. But guess what, you are hired as a personal trainer, but you were unaware of the tax liabilities it brought along for you. This Pandora’s box opened at the time of filing a tax return at the end of the financial year. If you are facing these problems, then this article is for you, encompassing the necessary details of qualifications and experience required and also highlighting tax deductions for personal trainers.

Talk to our best accountants and bookkeepers in the UK at CruseBurke. You will get instant help about who owns a private limited company.

What are the Tax Deductions for Personal Trainers in the UK?

A personal trainer is a professional in creating customised diets and exercise plans for individuals depending upon what their requirements are, how much their body can tolerate, and what their stamina level is. Personal trainers are qualified in their field, and they work for their clients at an individual level.

Personal trainers create a personalised plan, boost the morale of their customers, and guide them on how they can achieve their health and fitness goals. Personal trainers teach their clients how to exercise properly so it helps the body more effectively. Like other professions in the UK, personal trainers need to have certification from a government-certified body like CIMPSA to work legally in the UK.

Clients may hire personal trainers to lose weight, tone their body shape, or gain muscle mass with professional guidance. The job of a personal trainer is to guide the client in the use of proper exercise equipment and the duration of exercise, for example, no reps on equipment per day.

How to Qualify for a Personal Trainer in the UK?

To be a professional trainer in the UK, you need to have professional knowledge. To work as a personal trainer, you need to have a level 2 gym instructing and a level 3 personal training qualification awarded by a government-recognised institute.

To be acknowledged as a personal trainer, level 2 and level 3 qualifications should be approved by the CIMPSA. These qualifications can also be attested to by a CIMSPA-recognised training institute.

In the UK, a personal trainer is expected to earn between £15,000 and £60,000 annually. This varies due to qualifications, skills, work experience, the number of training sessions conducted per week, and job location.

Tax Deductions for Personal Trainers

If you are a self-employed personal trainer in the UK, you need to figure out your taxable income and profits at the end of each financial year and then file your tax return to HMRC. As a self-employed trainer, if you are earning over £1,000, you need to file a tax return according to HMRC set criteria. In the tax return, you should mention all business expenses of the current financial year with fully documented proof. Moreover, you need to file the tax return and pay the due tax before the deadline announced by HMRC to avoid late submission charges.

What are the Costs a Personal Trainer can Claim as Allowable Expenses?

As a personal trainer, below is the list of costs that you can claim while filing a tax return to HMRC:

Office Costs: Includes phone, internet, stationery, and other utility bills. The office rent, national insurance on the property, and even using your home as your office also come under office costs; however, you can only claim on those sections of your house that you are using as your office.

Travel costs: This includes your travel expenses such as fuel, parking lot charges, and vehicle maintenance. Hotel room charges, vehicle breakdown cover, rent-a-car charges, and air or bus fare also come under allowable business expenses. However, you cannot claim the following:

• Non-business driving costs
• Fines charged
• Travel between home and workplace

Clothing expenses: This encompasses the gym’s attire charges, which include uniform and protective gear charges. You cannot claim your daily active wear as an allowable business expense.

Staff costs: Expenses of your employees like their salaries, bonuses, uniforms, staff management costs, training courses you provide for your staff, and employers’ national insurance, etc.

Equipment and goods: Expenses on buying the latest gym equipment. If you are making and selling some kind of products related to your business, that also comes under allowable business expenses, but your personal use products are included in this category.

Financial costs: This involves the national insurance charges and bank fee charges. Charges of the accountant you hire for tax filing and professional national insurance also come under financial costs.

Your fee charges: The amount of fee you charge from your clients and the annual revenue you generate

Marketing: This includes advertising costs, including website maintenance. Business magazine ads or a contract with an advertising company also come under tax deductions for personal trainers. Social media ads and personal training software also come under allowable business expenses.

Training courses: The expenses you encounter while conducting training courses

The Bottom Line

As a personal trainer in the UK, you need to have professional qualifications as well as experience and skills. You need to upgrade your skills to keep yourself updated with modern fitness methods and techniques adopted by personal trainers around the world. The professional qualification as a personal trainer should be recognised by CIMSPA or its recognised institutes. There are certain tax deductions for personal trainers that you can enjoy while working in the UK. The tax deductions include office costs, training costs, marketing costs, national insurance when you are using your home as your office, clothing costs, employee costs, and travel costs. You need to have documented proof of the claim you are making, and you should follow the HMRC deadline to avoid late submission charges. The documentation on your business expenses will help you estimate the correct tax amount that is due to be paid.

Reach out to our intelligent and clever-minded guys to get the answer to your queries in the UK, we will get to your answers quickly. We will help to decide how to deal with your tax implications.

Disclaimer: The information about the tax on tax deductions for personal trainers provided in this blog includes text and graphics of general nature. It does not intend to disregard any of the professional advice.