Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 section 81

Personal security expenses

Section 81 allows individuals who trade alone or in partnership to deduct revenue expenses incurred on personal security measures where there is a special threat arising from their trade.

• A deduction is available where there is a special threat to a trader's personal physical security arising wholly or mainly from the particular trade they carry on
• The expenses must be incurred with the sole object of meeting that threat, and would otherwise fail the "wholly and exclusively" rule because they serve an essentially non-business purpose
• For services, the benefit must wholly or mainly be improved personal security; for assets, the deduction may be full or proportionate depending on whether the asset is intended solely or partly for security use
• The deduction covers only revenue expenditure — parallel rules in section 33 of the Capital Allowances Act 2001 deal with capital expenditure on personal security