Knowing exactly what you can claim is one of the simplest ways to bring down your tax bill as a doctor. This GP tax deductions complete list for 2026/27 sets out every expense you can legitimately claim against your medical income, whether you are a GP partner, a salaried GP or a locum, with the current rates and the rules that decide who can claim what.

The headline test for the self-employed is that a cost must be incurred wholly and exclusively for your profession. For salaried GPs the bar is tighter: the cost must be incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in carrying out the duties of the employment, and must not have been reimbursed. We flag where the two diverge throughout.

Professional Fees, Indemnity and Subscriptions

Every GP, in every role, can claim the cost of the registrations and memberships needed to practise. These are among the most reliable deductions on the list.

  • GMC annual retention fee: the fee that maintains your registration and licence to practise is tax deductible (restoration fees and any fitness-to-practise penalty are not).
  • Medical defence and indemnity: your MDU, MPS or MDDUS subscription is deductible.
  • BMA membership: deductible, as it appears on HMRC's approved professional bodies list (List 3).
  • Royal College and specialty fees: RCGP and relevant specialty society subscriptions on List 3 are deductible where relevant to your current practice.
  • Clinical journals and approved publications: subscriptions to professional publications you use for your work.

The indemnity nuance every NHS GP should know. Since 1 April 2019, NHS clinical negligence in general practice in England has been covered by the state-backed Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) at no subscription. You do not personally insure your NHS clinical work. Your own paid indemnity (MDU, MPS or MDDUS) now mainly covers private and non-clinical work, regulatory and complaints matters, and Good Samaritan acts, and that subscription remains deductible. For more on which professional costs qualify, see our guide to medical professional expenses and what is claimable.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Training

CPD that maintains or updates the skills you already use in your current practice is deductible. The key word is current: HMRC allows the cost of keeping existing skills up to date, but training that gives you a wholly new qualification or lets you enter a new field can be treated as capital and disallowed.

  • Course and conference fees: clinical updates, appraisal and revalidation preparation, relevant management or IT training.
  • Examination and re-certification fees: where they relate to your existing role.
  • Online learning: BMJ Learning, e-learning for health and similar platforms used for your practice.
  • Reference materials: clinical textbooks, guidelines and software you use in your work.
  • Travel and subsistence: the cost of getting to and staying at qualifying CPD events, where the training is genuinely relevant to your current practice.

Travel and Mileage

Business travel is one of the most valuable but most misunderstood deductions for GPs. The rule that decides everything is the line between commuting and business travel.

Your journey from home to your regular surgery is ordinary commuting and is never deductible, however inconvenient it is. What does qualify is travel in the course of your work once you are at, or between, your places of work.

  • Home visits: mileage from the surgery to a patient's home and back.
  • Travel between sites: journeys between different surgeries or branch sites on the same working day.
  • Hospital and clinic visits: attending hospital clinics, ward rounds or meetings as part of your role.
  • PCN and locality meetings: travel to Primary Care Network and other work meetings away from your base.

For 2026/27, HMRC's approved mileage rate is 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p per mile thereafter. The first-10,000 rate rose from 45p to 55p from 6 April 2026, so on this year's return you use 55p. If you keep your own detailed running costs instead of using the flat rate, you can claim the business proportion of actual motoring costs, but the mileage method is simpler and is what most GPs use. Either way, a contemporaneous mileage log (date, destination, distance and purpose) is essential.

Working From Home

Most GPs do at least some work at home, whether that is admin, on-call triage, appraisal and revalidation, CPD or remote consulting. Where you genuinely use part of your home for work, you can claim a share of the running costs.

  • Simplified flat rate: HMRC's set monthly amount based on the hours you work from home, with no need to apportion bills.
  • Actual costs method: apportion heating, lighting, power, metered water, broadband and (for the self-employed) a reasonable share of other household running costs, by the proportion of your home and time used for work.

Salaried GPs face a stricter test and can usually only claim where working from home is a genuine requirement of the job and the cost is not reimbursed. Our dedicated guide to GP home office expenses and tax relief works through both methods and the apportionment in detail.

Equipment, Instruments and Capital Allowances

Clinical instruments, IT and consulting-room equipment you buy for your work are not claimed as a day-to-day running cost. They are capital items, claimed through capital allowances.

The Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) gives 100% relief on up to £1,000,000 of qualifying plant and machinery in the year of purchase, which comfortably covers the equipment most GPs and locums buy. Qualifying items include:

  • Diagnostic instruments: stethoscopes, otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, blood pressure monitors and similar kit.
  • IT and technology: laptops, tablets and devices used for clinical records, remote consulting and admin.
  • Consulting-room furniture and home-office furniture: desks, chairs and storage used for your work.
  • Clinical software and equipment bought outright for your practice.

Cars are excluded from the AIA and are dealt with under separate capital-allowance rules, which is one reason most doctors use the mileage method above for vehicle costs. Where you use an item for both work and private purposes, you claim only the business proportion. Time larger equipment purchases with care so the relief lands when it is most useful.

Other Allowable Costs

Beyond the headline categories, a number of running costs are deductible for self-employed GPs and partners, and in narrower form for salaried GPs.

  • Accountancy fees: the cost of preparing your accounts and tax return and of related tax advice.
  • Telephone and internet: the business proportion of your phone and broadband.
  • Business bank charges and loan interest: charges on a business account and interest on borrowing taken out for the practice or profession.
  • Locum cover and staff costs: for partners, the cost of locum sessions, practice staff and associated employer costs through the partnership.
  • Protective equipment and consumables: items bought for clinical use.

Partners, Salaried GPs and Locums: Who Claims What

Your role decides both how you report your income and how wide your deductions are.

GP Partners

Partners are self-employed. The partnership files its return and each partner's profit share flows to their personal Self Assessment, where they are taxed on their profit share, not their drawings. Partners have the widest scope: premises costs, staff wages, equipment, accountancy, locum cover and business travel all run through the partnership on the wholly-and-exclusively test. Our complete guide to GP partnership tax covers how the partnership return and profit allocation work.

Salaried GPs

Salaried GPs are employees, taxed under PAYE. Their deductions are limited to personal professional expenses that meet the stricter wholly, exclusively and necessarily test and have not been reimbursed: the GMC fee, indemnity, List 3 subscriptions, relevant CPD and qualifying business travel beyond ordinary commuting. They cannot claim for things the employer should provide, such as basic premises and equipment. The GP partner versus salaried GP tax comparison sets out the practical differences.

Locum GPs

A freelance locum is usually a sole trader and claims on the self-employed wholly-and-exclusively basis: indemnity, GMC and subscriptions, CPD, equipment via AIA, working-from-home costs, accountancy and travel between engagements (but not commuting to a single regular site). For the full picture, see locum doctor expenses and what you can claim.

National Insurance and Self Assessment for the Self-Employed

If you are a self-employed GP or locum, two National Insurance points matter for your return:

  • Class 2: from 6 April 2024 this is no longer a required payment. With profits at or above the Small Profits Threshold you are treated as having paid it and keep your state-pension entitlement, so there is no weekly Class 2 charge. Those with lower profits can still pay voluntary Class 2 to protect their record.
  • Class 4: for 2026/27, 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above £50,270, collected through Self Assessment alongside your income tax.

Self-employed GPs and locums report all of this through Self Assessment, and many will also fall within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax as it is phased in. Pension contributions sit alongside these deductions: see our guides to GP pension contributions and tax relief and the NHS pension annual allowance, which is the area most likely to trip up higher-earning partners and consultants.

What You Cannot Claim

Knowing the limits protects you in an enquiry. The following are not allowable:

  • Ordinary commuting: home to your regular surgery, even on call days.
  • Everyday clothing: ordinary clothes worn for work (genuine specialist protective equipment can qualify).
  • Client and business entertainment: meals and hospitality.
  • Your own private medical treatment: personal healthcare costs.
  • Fines and penalties: parking fines and traffic penalties.
  • Personal life insurance and other private policies.
  • Restoration and fitness-to-practise penalty fees: unlike the annual retention fee, these are not deductible.

Record Keeping

HMRC expects you to be able to evidence every claim. Keep:

  • Receipts and invoices for all costs claimed.
  • A mileage log showing date, destination, distance and business purpose.
  • Bank and card statements evidencing payment.
  • Your diary or appointment records to support travel and home-working claims.

Keeping business and personal spending separate, and using accounting software, makes this far easier and is increasingly important as Making Tax Digital is rolled out.

Getting It Right

This article is general information for UK doctors and is not personal tax advice. The rules turn on your exact role, your mix of NHS and private work, and how your income is structured, and they change from year to year. As accountants who work specifically with GPs, locums and consultants, we help medical clients claim everything they are entitled to while staying firmly within HMRC's rules. If you want a second pair of eyes on your deductions before you file, get in touch.