Tax for photographers and videographers: kit, studio costs and deposits
Reviewed by Rob Webb, practising accountant since 2015 · Last reviewed September 2026 · Figures are for the 2026/27 tax yearReviewed by Rob Webb, practising accountant since 2015 · Last reviewed September 2026 · Figures are for the 2026/27 tax yearEarn money from shoots? Once it's more than £1,000 in a tax year, you need to register with HMRC and file a tax return.
How much tax will you pay? On £30,800 of profit in 2026/27: £3,646 income tax plus £1,093.80 National Insurance, £4,739.80 in total. The common mistake isn't the kit. It's putting a wedding deposit in the wrong tax year.
Want to check your own costs? See what you can claim as a photographer →
If clients pay you for shoots, edits, prints or footage, you are self-employed. That is true whether you shoot two weddings a year or fifty, and whether you call it a business or a side thing.
The test is gross income before costs. Over £1,000 of shoot income in a tax year and you must register and file. That £1,000 is the trading allowance, and below it there is nothing to report.
If your income is a little over £1,000 and you barely spend anything, you can deduct the £1,000 trading allowance instead of claiming expenses. You cannot claim both — and once you own a camera body and two lenses, actual expenses usually give the lower profit. Second-shooting for another photographer changes nothing: you are still self-employed, and the fee is your turnover.
The government has announced that this reporting threshold will rise from £1,000 to £3,000, but no start date has been confirmed on gov.uk. Plan around £1,000.
Here is a working photographer for 2026/27 — weddings, commercial stills and some video. The figures are illustrative.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Wedding and event photography | £29,000 |
| Commercial stills and video work | £15,400 |
| Print, album and licensing sales | £3,600 |
| Turnover | £48,000 |
| Allowable expenses (below) | £17,200 |
| Profit | £30,800 |
| Personal allowance | £12,570 |
| Taxable profit | £18,230 |
| Income tax at 20% | £3,646 |
| Class 4 NI at 6% on £18,230 | £1,093.80 |
| Total to pay by 31 January | £4,739.80 |
The expenses break down as: capital allowances on cameras, lenses and lighting £5,600; editing software subscriptions £780; cloud storage and backup drives £540; second shooters and assistants £3,200; studio hire £2,400; 3,600 business miles at 55p £1,980; public liability and equipment insurance £620; website and portfolio hosting £430; albums, prints and client packaging £1,150; working from home flat rate £216; business share of phone and internet £284.
The profit is above the Small Profits Threshold of £7,105, so Class 2 National Insurance is treated as paid at no cost and the contribution record is protected without a separate charge.
| What you can claim | What to watch |
|---|---|
| Camera bodies, lenses, gimbals, drones, lighting, tripods and computers | Capital items, claimed through capital allowances rather than as an ordinary running cost. Keep the invoice and the date |
| Editing software subscriptions and plug-ins | Adobe, Capture One, DaVinci, noise-reduction and retouching plug-ins are ongoing costs and fully allowable where used for work |
| Cloud storage, NAS drives, backup services and gallery delivery platforms | Allowable. If the same cloud account also holds family photos, claim only the business proportion |
| Stock music, LUTs, presets, fonts and licensed assets | Allowable where bought for client work |
| Second shooters, assistants, retouchers and editors you pay | Allowable. Keep invoices and records of who was paid. If someone works for you regularly on your terms, take advice on whether they are employed |
| Studio hire, or a dedicated studio space | Hired studio time is straightforward. A room at home is not the same thing — see the next row |
| Working from home for editing, culling and admin | Flat rate by hours per month in 2026/27: £10 for 25–50 hours, £18 for 51–100, £26 for 101 or more. Telephone and internet are claimed separately on a business-proportion basis |
| Travel to shoots, venues, recces and client meetings | 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026/27, then 25p. Once you use the flat rate for a vehicle you must stay with it for that vehicle and cannot also claim capital allowances on it |
| Public liability and equipment insurance, and professional indemnity | Allowable. Household contents cover is not, even if the kit sits at home |
| Albums, prints, USBs, packaging and postage to clients | Allowable — these are cost of sale |
| Wedding fairs, portfolio sites, advertising and sample albums | Allowable |
| Clothing for shoots | Ordinary clothing is not allowable, even smart clothes bought only to look right at a wedding |
Weddings are booked a long way ahead. A couple books in October 2026 for a wedding in August 2027 and pays a £600 deposit now. Which tax year is that £600 taxed in?
For most photographers, income is recognised when the work is done, not when the money lands. That means a deposit taken for a shoot that has not happened yet sits as deferred income at the year end and is taxed in the year the shoot takes place. Your bank statement and your taxable turnover will not match, and that is correct.
There is an alternative. Sole traders can choose the cash basis, where you simply count money in and money out. On the cash basis, the £600 deposit is taxed in the year you received it. The cash basis is simpler and suits a lot of photographers, but it treats deposits, unpaid invoices and equipment purchases differently, so it is a decision to make deliberately rather than by accident.
What you must not do is mix the two — count deposits when they arrive but invoices when they are raised. That is where the errors come from. Pick one basis, apply it to everything, and stay consistent year to year.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces one annual return with four quarterly updates plus a final declaration. Whether you are in, and when, depends on qualifying income.
Qualifying income is gross self-employment turnover plus gross property income, added together, before expenses. Employment income, partnership profit shares, dividends and pensions are excluded. The photographer above has qualifying income of £48,000 — the turnover figure, not the £30,800 profit.
At £48,000 our example photographer is over £30,000 and joins from 6 April 2027.
Quarterly updates for standard periods are due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and they are cumulative — each covers from the start of the tax year to the end of that period, not the quarter alone. The final declaration remains due 31 January. Records go in compatible software; with turnover under £90,000 you can categorise them as income and expenses only.
If you shot one paid job last year for £400, you are under the trading allowance and there is nothing to file. If you are salaried in-house and shoot nothing on the side, you almost certainly do not need a return — check HMRC's online tool before paying anybody.
If your bookkeeping is tidy and your costs are few, filing your own return is free and not difficult. Many photographers do exactly that and should keep doing it.
If you are VAT registered, approaching the £90,000 registration threshold, or trading through a limited company, you need broader advice than a filing service gives. We will tell you that rather than take the fee.
When your VAT-taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. That is turnover, not profit, and it is a moving 12 months rather than your accounting year — so check it monthly as you grow.
Cameras are capital items and are relieved through capital allowances rather than as an ordinary expense. In many cases the whole cost can be relieved in the year of purchase, but it depends on your circumstances, so check rather than assume.
You can claim the cost of working from home, most simply through the flat rate of £10, £18 or £26 a month in 2026/27 depending on hours. Claiming a fixed share of the whole house, and using a room exclusively for business, can raise other issues — take advice before going down that route.
Class 4 National Insurance is 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 in 2026/27, and 2% above £50,270. Class 2 is no longer a compulsory weekly charge; at profits of £7,105 or above it is treated as paid at nil cost.
Yes. Property income goes on separate pages and has its own £1,000 property allowance, which is separate from the £1,000 trading allowance. It also counts towards your Making Tax Digital qualifying income, added to your gross shoot turnover.
Filed Tax files Self Assessment returns and Making Tax Digital quarterly updates for photographers and videographers. £25 a month covers all four quarterly updates, the year-end final declaration, unlimited questions and deadline reminders, and the first month is free. Send your figures and we will tell you the number before anything is submitted.
Rob is a Certified Xero Advisor with a BSc from the University of Salford. Last reviewed September 2026 against GOV.UK guidance current at that date. This guide is general information, not personal tax advice. Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year and can change at each Budget — always confirm the current numbers on GOV.UK or ask us to check your situation.