Non-Pool
Topic: Any accountants here?

Just wondering if a self employed business person or business owner could legitimately sponsor themselves to play pool in tournaments and claim it as a genuine tax expense?

No joy from my enquiries - a friend who works for HMRC wasn't sure and said, "Good question, one which I have absolutely no idea the answer to I’m afraid. I’d guess that if it was a genuine expense, then it would be possible to claim it as an expense to the business but I’m not 100%".

Hi ct. It is unlikely that HMRC would allow sponsoring yourself via your own business. They would see it as funding your own hobby rather than having a commercial benefit to the business. However, this may be allowed it you could prove that your business benefited financially (sales) from the sponsorship. This means you would have to produce some sort of logo for your shirt/case etc and demonstrate that revenue was gained from the sponsorship.
Also, it would depend on type of business and where you normally carry out your business. e.g. a plumber in Glasgow would be unlikely to gain business advertising in London.
Regards
Craig

You rockstar Craig - I knew there would be an accountant with the lowdown on this - thanks very much mate!