Registering a trademark for my brand — is that an allowable expense or capital spend?

Your instinct is right: this sits between a day-to-day expense and a long-term investment. A trademark registration that creates or secures a lasting brand asset is generally capital expenditure, not an ordinary revenue expense. You should not simply deduct the whole £1,000 to £1,500 application and advice cost against trading income in the year you pay it, as if it were stationery or advertising.

The reason is the enduring benefit test. Registration gives you a legal right that can last for many years, be renewed, and add value when you expand online. Advice and filing fees incurred to obtain that right are therefore usually part of the capital cost, even though they are paid to advisers rather than for a physical asset. Splitting the invoice into advice and filing fees does not normally change that result.

That does not mean the cost is wasted for tax purposes. For a sole trader, capital costs are not deducted as trading expenses, but they form part of the cost base of the asset. Keep the full breakdown, the registration certificate, and evidence of payment. If you later sell the business or the brand, that documented cost can be relevant to any capital gains calculation. Do not assume an automatic annual write-off: trademarks are not plant or machinery, so ordinary capital allowances do not normally apply in the same way.

Renewal fees are different in principle. A renewal in ten years does not create a new brand; it maintains a right you already own. Maintenance costs of that kind are more often revenue expenditure, deductible if incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade. The exact treatment still depends on whether the payment extends or enhances the right.

Defending the trademark is fact-sensitive. Costs to protect your existing trade, for example stopping someone using a confusingly similar name for the same goods, are often revenue in nature. Costs that secure a new or enlarged right, or create a new asset, are more likely to be capital. Being a sole trader rather than a limited company does matter: a company may fall under the intangible fixed assets regime, whereas you are taxed under income tax and capital gains rules. Record the initial classification before you claim anything, and keep renewals and defence costs in separate headings.