BIM54040 - Doctors and dentists: treatment of expenses

Hospital medical and dental staff sometimes use their own equipment in connection with professional services outside the scope of their contract of employment. If they do, you should allow the full cost of maintenance and Capital Allowances in arriving at the Schedule D liability provided that the use of such apparatus for the purposes of their employment is insubstantial.

A hospital doctor etc in the National Health Service is reimbursed on a mileage basis for the use of a motor car on official journeys, and in the case of a part-time hospital doctor etc, the mileage allowance includes travelling, up to a distance of ten miles each way, between the private consulting room or residence and the hospital at which the doctor is employed. Such payments fall to be taken into account in determining the charge as employment income. In practice, most payments of mileage allowance in respect of travel between the private consulting room or residence and the hospital are made under deduction of tax.

Following the general practice set out at BIM47651, the costs incurred by self-employed doctors in achieving revalidation under the GMC process are allowable in computing their profits for tax purposes. This process ensures that the doctors keep up to date in their skills/professional knowledge.