Tax Guide for Locum Vets and Veterinary Consultants

The Accounted Business Team·6 February 2026·6 min read

Working as a Locum Vet? Your Tax Guide for 2025/26

Locum veterinary work offers flexibility and variety, but it also means taking responsibility for your own tax affairs. Whether you cover holiday absences, fill staffing gaps, or work as an independent veterinary consultant, you are likely self-employed and need to file a Self Assessment return.

This guide covers the specific expenses locum vets can claim, how to handle travel between multiple practices, and the key tax rules for the 2025/26 tax year.

Confirming Your Employment Status

Most locum vets are genuinely self-employed. You typically work at multiple practices, choose which bookings to accept, use your own professional judgement, and are paid a daily or hourly rate without employment benefits like sick pay or holiday pay.

However, if you work exclusively at one practice for an extended period, follow their rota, use only their equipment, and are integrated into their team, HMRC could argue you are an employee. The key factors are control (do they tell you how to do the work?), substitution (could you send another vet in your place?), and mutuality of obligation (are they obliged to offer you work, and are you obliged to accept it?).

If you work through a limited company, IR35 may also be relevant. The client practice (if medium or large) must determine whether the engagement falls inside or outside IR35.

RCVS Registration

Annual registration with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is a legal requirement to practise. The RCVS annual renewal fee is a fully deductible business expense. You cannot work without it, and HMRC accepts professional registration fees as allowable.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

The RCVS requires a minimum of 35 hours of CPD per year. The cost of meeting this requirement is tax-deductible, including conference fees and attendance costs, online CPD courses and webinars, journal subscriptions (Veterinary Record, In Practice, BSAVA journals), textbooks and reference materials, and BVA, BSAVA, or specialist division membership fees.

The key test is that the training must relate to your existing profession. A course on advanced small animal surgery, exotic animal medicine, or equine dentistry is deductible. A course on an entirely unrelated field would not be.

Equipment

Items You Provide Yourself

Many locum vets carry their own basic equipment. The following are claimable: stethoscopes, thermometers, ophthalmoscopes, and otoscopes, surgical instrument kits, protective clothing (scrubs, waterproof overalls, wellingtons for farm visits), a laptop or tablet for clinical notes and CPD, and reference apps and software subscriptions (Veterinary Formulary, clinical decision tools).

Items costing under £1,000 are typically claimed as revenue expenses. More expensive equipment qualifies for capital allowances under the Annual Investment Allowance.

Practice-Provided Equipment

Equipment provided by the practice you are working at is not your expense. Only claim items you purchase and own yourself.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional indemnity insurance (also called malpractice insurance or veterinary defence insurance) is essential for locum vets and is fully deductible. Providers include the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) and commercial insurers. Public liability insurance, if you carry it separately, is also claimable.

Travel Between Practices

Travel is often the second-largest expense for locum vets after professional fees.

Mileage

Because you do not have a single permanent workplace, travel from your home to each practice is business travel. This is a significant advantage over employed vets, who cannot claim their commute. Use HMRC's mileage rates — 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p per mile after that. Alternatively, claim actual vehicle costs (fuel, insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, repairs, depreciation) and apportion for business use. Keep a mileage log recording the date, start and end locations, purpose of the journey, and miles driven.

Vehicle Costs for Farm Visits

If you do large animal or farm work, your vehicle costs can be substantial. A 4x4 or utility vehicle used primarily for farm visits qualifies for capital allowances. Running costs — fuel, tyres, servicing, and repairs — are claimable at the business-use proportion.

Overnight Stays

If a locum booking requires an overnight stay — perhaps a practice is too far for a daily commute, or you are covering out-of-hours — the cost of accommodation and reasonable meals is claimable.

Parking

Parking fees at practices, hospitals, or when visiting clients are deductible. Parking fines are never claimable.

Working from Home

If you handle admin, CPD, and correspondence from home, you can claim a proportion of household costs. The simplest method is HMRC's flat rate: £10 per month for 25-50 hours worked from home, £18 for 51-100 hours, or £26 for 101 or more hours. Alternatively, calculate the actual proportion of rent/mortgage interest, council tax, utilities, and broadband attributable to your workspace.

Agency Fees

If you find locum work through an agency, any fees you pay to the agency are deductible. However, many agencies are paid by the practice rather than the vet, in which case there is no expense for you to claim.

DBS Checks

If your work requires a Disclosure and Barring Service check — for example, working in environments with vulnerable people — the cost is deductible.

National Insurance

As a self-employed locum vet, you pay Class 2 NI at £3.45 per week (if profits exceed £6,725) and Class 4 NI at 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above £50,270.

VAT

Veterinary services are standard-rated for VAT purposes. If your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in a rolling 12-month period, you must register for VAT. Locum vets providing services to VAT-registered practices may find that voluntary registration is beneficial, as the practices can reclaim the VAT charged. Discuss this with an accountant.

Pensions

As a self-employed vet, you do not have an employer pension. Contributions to a personal pension or SIPP are tax-relievable, meaning a £100 contribution costs you only £80 (the provider claims the basic rate tax relief). Higher-rate taxpayers claim additional relief through Self Assessment. Building a pension is especially important for locum vets who may not have the workplace pension they would receive as an employed vet.

Record-Keeping

Keep all invoices issued to practices, expense receipts, RCVS and membership receipts, CPD certificates and receipts, insurance documents, mileage logs, and bank statements. HMRC requires records for at least five years after the filing deadline.

Making Tax Digital

From April 2026, self-employed individuals with income above £50,000 must keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC. MTD-compatible software is essential.

Focus on the Animals, Not the Admin

Locum veterinary work means juggling multiple practices, variable income, and a long list of professional expenses. Accounted keeps everything organised — connecting to your bank, categorising your income and expenses, and tracking your mileage and CPD costs. Penny, your AI bookkeeper, automatically identifies practice payments, flags deductible expenses, and keeps your records MTD-ready. Start your free trial with Accounted and let Penny handle the paperwork while you focus on your patients.

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