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If you sell your art, even occasionally, you are probably paying more tax than you need to. Not because you are doing anything wrong, but because most artists have no idea how much they are allowed to claim back. Nobody at art school sits you down and explains it. So every year, money that could have gone back into paint, canvas or studio rent quietly goes to the taxman instead.
I first talked about this in a video on Instagram, and it is one of those topics that deserves more room than sixty seconds allows. Here is the fuller version: what you can usually claim, how to think about it, and how to make sure you never hand over more than you owe.
One important note before we start. I am a painter, not an accountant. The exact rules depend on where you live, so treat this as a guide to the right questions, not as tax advice.
When does selling art make you a business?
This is the reframe that changes everything. The moment you start selling your work, in the eyes of the taxman you are running a business. It does not matter whether you sell one painting a year or one a week, whether you have a shop on your website or you just sold a piece to a friend of a friend. Income from selling art is income.
That sounds like bad news, but it is actually the good part. A business gets to subtract its costs before it is taxed. You are not taxed on the price of the painting. You are taxed on what is left after you take away what it cost you to make it and sell it. And almost everything you spend to make and sell your art can count.
Many artists never make this mental shift. They think of their practice as a passion that happens to bring in a bit of money, so they never think of the money going out as business spending. The result is that they declare their sales, ignore their costs, and pay tax on money they never really made.
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: once you sell, start thinking like a business, because the tax system already does.
What art materials and studio costs can I claim?
Start with the obvious one, because it is also the one most artists underestimate. Your materials. Paint, canvas, brushes, ink, clay, paper, mediums, solvents, all of it. If you buy it to make work you sell, it is a cost of your business.
The reason this gets missed is that materials are bought in small amounts, constantly, often in cash or on a personal card. A tube here, a pack of brushes there. None of it feels significant on the day. Added up over twelve months, it usually is.
Next, your studio. If you rent a studio, that rent is a cost of making your work. If you work from home, you may be able to claim a share of your rent, heating and electricity for the space you actually work in. The key words are the space you actually work in. A spare room you paint in every day is very different from the kitchen table you clear once a month, so be honest and sensible about the share you claim.
Practical step: go through your bank statements for the last few months and highlight every art supply purchase and every studio cost. Most artists are surprised by the total.
Can I claim framing, postage and the cost of getting seen?
Making the work is only half the job. Presenting it and getting it to people costs money too, and those costs count.
Framing, packaging and postage are the first group. The frame on a painting you sell, the bubble wrap and boxes, the courier or the post office queue. This is the cost of presenting and sending your work, and it is exactly the kind of spending a business subtracts.
The second group is your website and anything you spend getting seen. Website hosting, your domain, paid ads, business cards, print costs for flyers or postcards. If you spend money so that people can find your work and buy it, that is marketing, and marketing is a business cost.
This is worth remembering when you are deciding what to charge, too. Framing and postage are real costs that eat into every sale, so they belong in your pricing as well as in your tax return. I go into that in more detail in my guide on how to price your art without underselling yourself.
Can artists claim travel, courses and books?
Travel is the cost almost everyone forgets. Trips to exhibitions, art fairs, deliveries to buyers or galleries, and even the run to the art shop for supplies. If the journey is for your art business, it can count.
The same goes for developing your practice. Courses, books and workshops that make you better at what you do are an investment in the business. A life drawing class, a book on colour, a workshop on a new technique, a course on selling your work. These are the kinds of costs that help you make better work and sell more of it.
Again, be sensible. The question to ask of every expense is simple: did I spend this to make or sell my art? If the honest answer is yes, write it down. If it is mostly personal with a vague art connection, leave it out or ask your accountant.
Put all six together, materials, studio, framing and postage, website and marketing, travel, and learning, and every one of them comes off your income before you are taxed. That can mean paying a lot less, or getting money back.
How do I keep track of my expenses as an artist?
Here is the uncomfortable truth. Most artists are not overpaying tax because the rules are against them. They are overpaying because they never track what they spend, so when the time comes they have nothing to claim. The money was spent, the receipt went in the bin, and the claim never happened.
The fix is not complicated, and it does not need fancy software.
- Keep every receipt. Paper ones go in one envelope or box. Digital ones go in one email folder. Do it the day you buy, not at the end of the year.
- Use one account or card for your art. If all your art spending goes through one place, your bank statement does half the bookkeeping for you.
- Keep a simple running list. A spreadsheet with the date, what you bought, the amount and which of the six categories it falls into is enough.
- Log your journeys. Note the date and the reason for each trip as you go. It is almost impossible to reconstruct months later.
- Talk to an accountant. A quick conversation with someone who knows the rules where you live will tell you exactly what you can claim and how. It usually pays for itself many times over.
A few minutes a week is usually all this takes. Treat it as part of your studio routine, like cleaning your brushes.
The money side of being an artist is the part nobody teaches. Pricing, selling, getting paid properly and keeping more of what you earn are all things I cover in my book, VISIBLE, because making good work is only the start of building a career from it.
You work hard for every sale. Do not hand back more of it than you have to. Start keeping your receipts this week, and if you know an artist who does not keep theirs, send them this.
You do not have to wait to be found.
VISIBLE covers the part nobody teaches: how galleries, open calls, pricing, audience and money actually work, and what to do about each one. 234 pages, with twelve worksheets you fill in and use.
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