Profit and loss template (UK)

What is inside the P&L template

• 12 months plus YTD: April 2026 to March 2027 columns with a year total column, matching the UK tax year. Rename the headers if your year starts elsewhere.
• UK categories with SA103 mapping: every line is a real HMRC self employment category, and a dedicated column shows which SA103F box it feeds (turnover box 15 through other expenses box 29).
• Gross and net margin rows: gross profit, gross margin %, net profit and net margin % calculate automatically each month and for the year.
• Depreciation note: a cell note reminds you that depreciation (box 28) is not allowable for tax and capital allowances apply instead.
• Worked example: April to June are pre-filled with illustrative figures so you can see how the totals behave before you clear them.

How to use the profit and loss template

• Enter each month's income and costs in the white cells. Use net of VAT figures if you are VAT registered, gross if you are not.
• Watch the gross margin row. If it drifts down over several months, your pricing or your cost of sales has a problem.
• At year end, read each line's year total against its SA103 box number and copy the figures straight onto the self employment pages of your return.
• Sole traders with turnover under the VAT threshold can usually use the shorter SA103S form, where boxes 15 to 29 collapse into fewer totals. The mapping still tells you what belongs where.

Assumes tax year 2026/27. Rates last checked: 15 July 2026.

P&L vs cash flow: which one do you need

A P&L tells you whether the business is profitable. A cash flow forecast tells you whether you can pay the bills next month. They disagree more often than people expect: a profitable business can still run out of cash while it waits for invoices to be paid. Keep both. This template covers the profit side, and the 13-week cash flow forecast template covers the cash side.

How do I create a profit and loss statement in Excel?

List income at the top, then cost of sales, then overheads. Subtract cost of sales from income to get gross profit, then subtract overheads to get net profit. Add a column per month and a year total column using SUM. This free template has all of that built, with UK categories and SA103 mapping.

What should a P&L template include?

Turnover and other income, cost of sales, gross profit, an expense line for each overhead category (staff, premises, travel, office, marketing, finance costs, professional fees), net profit and margin percentages. For UK sole traders it helps if each line maps to an SA103 self assessment box, which this template does.

What is the difference between a profit and loss account and a cash flow forecast?

A P&L records income and costs when they are earned or incurred, so it measures profitability. A cash flow forecast records money when it actually moves through the bank, so it measures whether you can pay your bills. A profitable business with slow-paying customers can still fail on cash flow.

What are the SA103 boxes on a self assessment return?

SA103 is the self employment section of the UK tax return. On the full version (SA103F), box 15 is turnover, box 16 other income, and boxes 17 to 29 are expense categories such as cost of goods (17), wages (19), travel (20), premises (21) and professional fees (27). Mapping your P&L lines to these boxes makes the return a copy-out job.

Is depreciation an allowable expense for UK tax?

No. Depreciation goes in SA103F box 28 but is added back for tax purposes. Instead you claim capital allowances, such as the Annual Investment Allowance, on qualifying equipment. Keep depreciation in your P&L for management purposes but do not expect it to reduce your tax bill directly.

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