Can I claim website, advertising and marketing costs as a sole trader?

Yes — marketing and advertising costs incurred wholly for your business are fully allowable. This is one of the clearest categories of business expenditure. Allowable costs include: website design and development, domain registration, web hosting, paid advertising (Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram Ads, LinkedIn Ads), printed flyers and brochures, business cards, directory listings, social media marketing tools, PR and press releases, and photography for marketing purposes. If you design your own website or do your own marketing, you cannot claim a notional value for your own time — only out-of-pocket costs are deductible. Initial website setup costs may be capital expenditure if they create a long-lived asset. Ongoing maintenance, updates, and hosting are revenue costs claimable each year.

  • Website hosting, domain, paid ads (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn): fully deductible
  • Print materials, business cards, brochures: allowable
  • Your own time spent on marketing: not claimable (no notional value for self-employed time)
  • Initial website build: may be capital expenditure — claim via AIA
  • Ongoing hosting and maintenance: revenue expense, claim each year

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