A question that sometimes comes up is whether Massage, Osteopathy and Chiropractic expenses can be claimed by Yoga Teachers?
This question came up in Facebook recently, and generated a vigorous discussion:
It’s not cut and dry.
“HMRC frontline staff would probably say “no”. However that isn’t necessarily definitive, as they are not fully trained in tax law from first principles.
“From first principles I would, subject to the facts, err towards “yes”.
“If there are other non yoga aggravators in your life and affecting your need for osteopathic input, e.g. you are a runner, or did a lot of non yoga sports/physical work, then that may play against a claim.
“OTH it’s credible to argue a number of yoga classes a week stresses your body, especially the curse of demonstration without full warm up and asymmetric practice.”
Ultimately it’s your decision and not your accountants, and you have to defend it if challenged (likelihood low). That’s the rationale of “Self Assessment”.
We’ve produced a short guide to this topic including a link to HMRCs own internal manuals which touch on the issue in passing. Its not definitive, but helps people take a view.