Professional organisations

Dear agent, To be able to practice my profession (doctor) I have to be registered to my professional organisation. First time , I made a payment to my professional organisation to register first time on 05/12/2019 and on 13/02/2020 for an additional registration stage. Then I paid my annual retention fee to my organisation on 24/11/2020 to be able to practice my profession for the year of 2021 and I paid again on 01/12/2021 to be able to practice my profession for the year of 2022. I have started to work on 31/08/2021 and this is my first tax year (21-22) as a sole-trader. My questions are, can I claim these first registration fees too? Can I claim my previous annual retention fees, even before I have started to work? If I can, how far back can I claim expenses as a sole trader? As you can see, I have to pay on every December for the next year's annual retention fee. According to this, do you advise me to include 2022's annual retention (paid on 12/2021) fee as an expense too in my 21-22 tax year, or do you advise me to include it as an expense to my 22-23 tax year even it is paid on 12/2021 Also, I had to pay indemnity/insurance in January of 2021, before I start to work. Can I claim this an expense too? Kind regards. AK

Hi,

You would need to claim the expenses during the tax year that they occured.

You can claim the insurance as an expense.

Thank you.

Hi,

The insurance paid in February 2021 should be claimed in the 2020 to 2021 tax year.

Thank you.

Hi, Thank you for your answer. My work start date was 31 August 2021. This will be my first tax return as a sole-trader. Regarding my professional organisation's rule and legislation, without of this insurance I cannot keep registered to my professional organisation and it is not allowed to practice my profession. First of all I needed to have this indemnity then to be able to apply for a work. According to that I wonder if I can count it as a pre-trading expense? Thank you.

Hi AK
Pre trading expenses can only be carried forward and set against trading profit once trading has commenced.  
Guidance on pre trading expenses can be found at BIM46351 (Specific deductions: pre-trading expenditure) and helpsheet HS222, should help calculate your taxable profit.  
HS222 How to calculate your taxable profits (2022)
Thankyou.
Regards.