Equipment tax rules for a tree business in the United Kingdom
GOV.UK sets out capital allowances for plant, machinery and business vehicles. This page lists the allowance rates and dates on its pages for equipment such as chippers, vans and climbing gear.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The office is HM Revenue and Customs. The wider comparison is on the equipment tax rules page.
What counts
GOV.UK says equipment, machinery and business vehicles such as vans, lorries and cars count as plant and machinery for capital allowances. It says a sole trader on the cash basis can claim only on business cars.
Rates on the pages
| Allowance | What the page says |
|---|---|
| Annual investment allowance | £1 million from January 1, 2019, claimed only in the period the item was bought, and not on business cars |
| First year allowance, 40 percent | Qualifying plant and machinery bought after January 1, 2026 |
| Full expensing and 50 percent first year allowance | Apply from April 1, 2023 |
| Business cars, main rate | 14 percent writing down allowance; the page notes 18 percent applied before April 2026 |
| Business cars, special rate | 6 percent writing down allowance |
| Zero emission new cars | 100 percent first year allowance |
| Electric cars and charge point equipment | 100 percent first year allowance if bought before April 2027 |
Cars and vans
The business cars page says cars do not qualify for the annual investment allowance. It treats vans, lorries and trucks as not being cars, so they are handled under the plant and machinery rules above.
Where the pages sit
All four pages are on GOV.UK under the capital allowances guide and are published under the Open Government Licence. The guide is the source for every rate in the table. The first year allowance page lists what qualifies and says a claim is not normally available on items bought to lease to others. The annual investment allowance page says a new allowance applies for each accounting period and that it can be claimed only in the period the item was bought. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.