Allowable Expenses for Roofers
Written and reviewed by the Roofer Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 29 July 2026.
For a roofer, expenses are not just paperwork, they are the size of your refund. Every legitimate cost you claim lowers the profit you are taxed on, while the CIS deduction was already taken on your full labour, so a complete expense claim is money straight back to you.
This is what a roofer can claim, and the ones most often missed.
The Van, the Tools and the Kit
The core of a roofer's claim: the van and its running costs, fuel, insurance, tax and repairs, or the simplified mileage rate; tools and power tools; the scaffold tower, ladders, roof ladders and access gear; and safety equipment, harnesses, boots, gloves and hard hats. Protective and safety wear is allowable in a way ordinary clothing is not.
Larger items like a scaffold tower or a new van are treated as capital, but they still reduce your tax, usually in full in the year you buy them through the annual investment allowance. Keeping the receipts is the whole game.
Materials, Insurance and Overheads
Materials you buy for jobs, felt, battens, tiles, slates, lead, membrane and fixings, are allowable where you are not separately reimbursed for them. Public liability and tools insurance, trade body membership, your phone, and the cost of quoting and running the business all count too.
If you do your admin and store materials or tools at home, a proportion of the home costs can be claimed, either at the simplified flat rate or by apportioning the actual bills. It is small per month but real over a year.
Why It Drives the Refund
Here is the mechanism that makes this matter more for a roofer than for most trades. The CIS refund is the gap between the 20% taken on your labour and your real tax on profit. Every expense you claim widens that gap, so a complete claim is not tidiness, it is a bigger cheque.
The commonest mistake is under-claiming: forgetting the scaffold hire, the mileage, the protective wear, the phone. We make sure the claim is complete and defensible, which is the core of getting a roofer the refund they are owed.