--- title: Training costs through the company description: Training costs through the company --- [Skip to content](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/accounting-service/training-costs-through-the-company#main-content) [![image 4](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/hubfs/image%204.svg)](https://www.1stformations.co.uk/) - [Help Centre](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Help Centre](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/) - [Login](https://www.1stformations.co.uk/login/) [Login](https://www.1stformations.co.uk/login/) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Accounting Service](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/accounting-service?hsLang=en-gb) 2. [Personal Tax for Directors](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/accounting-service/personal-tax-for-directors?hsLang=en-gb) 3. [National Insurance and Benefits](https://help.1stformations.co.uk/accounting-service/personal-tax-for-directors?hsLang=en-gb#national-insurance-and-benefits) # Training costs through the company ## What does and does not qualify for tax relief - explained Training that keeps your skills up to date or builds on what you already do in the business is normally a cost the company can claim against its Corporation Tax. If it trains you for a different job or a separate line of work, HMRC treats it as creating something new and lasting, and the cost cannot be claimed as a tax relief. ### What usually qualifies Training that updates or extends skills you already use, for example a software update course, professional development in your field, management or leadership training, or a course such as bookkeeping or digital skills that helps you run the business better. Learning a genuinely new skill can still qualify, as long as it sits within the work your business already does. ### What does not qualify Training to move into a different trade or profession, qualifications with no link to your current business, and personal interest courses unconnected to the work. There is a second catch here too: if the company pays for training that is really for your own benefit rather than the business, not only can it not claim the cost, but you may be personally taxed on it as a perk (a benefit in kind). 💡 **Good to know:** The line between brushing up existing skills and learning a whole new trade is not always obvious, and HMRC looks more carefully at training paid for by companies run by their owners. If a course feels borderline, check with us before you book and we will confirm whether the cost can be claimed. ### Not found what you're looking for? 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