Can I claim expenses for business-related stock photos or design assets?

Can I claim expenses for business-related stock photos or design assets?

If you run a business, you’ve probably paid for something visual at some point: a stock photo for your homepage, an icon set for an app, a font family for brand guidelines, a template for a pitch deck, or a bundle of illustrations for social media. These purchases can feel small compared to software subscriptions or advertising budgets, but they add up quickly—especially if you’re producing content regularly.

The practical question is simple: can you claim these costs as a business expense? In many situations, the answer is yes—provided the asset is bought wholly and exclusively for business purposes and you keep sensible records. The more nuanced questions are the interesting ones: what counts as “business-related,” what if you use the asset across multiple projects, what if you buy a lifetime license, is it a revenue expense or a capital expense, what about subscriptions, what if you’re VAT-registered, and what if you occasionally use the same assets personally?

This article breaks down how business-related stock photos and design assets typically fit into expense claims, what to watch out for, and how to document purchases so you can justify them confidently if asked. (As always, local rules differ by country and your business structure, so treat this as practical guidance and align it with your local tax requirements or your accountant’s advice.)

What counts as “stock photos” and “design assets” for expense purposes?

Before you decide how to treat these costs, it helps to define what we mean by “stock photos” and “design assets.” In business terms, these are usually intangible items you purchase or license to support branding, marketing, product design, or content creation.

Common examples include:

Stock photos and video: One-off image licenses, video clips, editorial images, background footage, or a subscription plan that gives you monthly downloads.

Illustrations and icon sets: Vector icons, illustration packs, sticker packs, SVG bundles, UI icon libraries, or brand-specific graphic elements.

Fonts and typography licenses: Single-user font licenses, multi-seat licenses for a team, webfont licenses, app embedding licenses, or extended licenses covering broader distribution.

Templates: Website themes, landing page templates, slide templates, brochure layouts, email templates, social media packs, Canva templates, and similar items.

3D assets and motion graphics: 3D models, textures, LUTs, animation presets, After Effects templates, and transitions.

Design UI kits and components: Figma UI kits, design systems, component libraries, wireframe packs, mockup scenes, and device mockups.

Brand assets from contractors: Logo design packages, custom icon sets, brand patterns, and illustration systems commissioned from a designer (these aren’t “stock,” but they’re still design assets and need similar thinking).

All of these are “business inputs” that support how you present, market, and sometimes deliver your product or service. The tax treatment usually depends less on the artistic nature of the asset and more on the business reason for buying it, how long you expect it to be useful, and what your rights are (license vs ownership).

The core principle: business purpose and “wholly and exclusively”

Most tax systems revolve around a simple concept: an expense is generally deductible if it’s incurred for the purpose of running the business. The common phrasing is that the expense must be “wholly and exclusively” for business. That doesn’t mean the expense has to be perfect or that the outcome has to be successful; it means your intention and use should be business-driven.

So, if you buy stock photos for a client project, a marketing campaign, your website, packaging, a product listing, or a paid newsletter, you have a strong business rationale. On the other hand, if you buy a photo subscription because you also want nice wallpapers for your personal devices, the business portion may still be deductible, but you should separate and apportion it rather than claiming the whole cost automatically.

In practice, the “business purpose” test becomes much easier when you can answer three questions clearly:

1) Why did you buy it? For a specific campaign, a client deliverable, a product launch, or brand updates.

2) Where did you use it? On your website, ad creatives, packaging, app UI, social posts, or in client work.

3) How does it support revenue? It helps you sell, deliver, or promote the product or service.

If you can answer those in plain language and have documentation, you’re usually in good shape.

Expense vs capital: why it matters for design assets

One of the most confusing parts is whether a stock photo or design asset is a normal running cost (a revenue expense) or something you should treat as a longer-term investment (a capital expense). This matters because capital items may be handled differently—sometimes deducted over time, sometimes recorded as an asset on the balance sheet, depending on your accounting rules and business size.

Revenue expense usually means the cost is part of ordinary trading and is consumed in the course of generating revenue—like advertising materials, content creation, or client deliverables. Many stock photo purchases fall into this category, especially if they’re for time-bound campaigns or specific pieces of content.

Capital expense generally refers to something that provides benefit over a longer period and is more like building a business asset—such as purchasing intellectual property outright, acquiring a significant brand identity package, or buying a perpetual license that will be used for years across the business.

Where do stock photos and design assets land? Often, they’re revenue expenses, especially when you’re buying a license to use an image in marketing materials or on a webpage. But there are edge cases:

Perpetual or lifetime licenses: If you buy a “lifetime” license to an extensive design system or a font family used across all brand touchpoints, you might treat it as a longer-term intangible asset depending on your accounting approach and local rules.

Large one-off brand creation: If you commission a full brand identity system—logo, iconography, patterns, typography, and guidelines—some businesses treat that as capital because it underpins the business for years, while others treat it as a professional service/marketing expense. The “right” approach varies with local regulations and materiality (how big the cost is relative to your business).

Assets embedded into a product: If you buy design assets that become part of what you sell (for example, icons inside a software product, or textures inside a game), you might treat them as part of product development costs. Depending on your accounting standards and whether the costs are significant, this can affect classification.

The pragmatic approach many small businesses use is: treat small, routine asset purchases as revenue expenses; treat large, enduring purchases with multi-year value more carefully (possibly capitalizing or amortizing). If you’re uncertain, consistency matters: apply the same logic year to year and document the reasoning.

Licenses: you’re usually buying rights, not “owning” the art

With stock photos and most design marketplaces, you typically don’t purchase the underlying copyright—you purchase a license to use the asset under certain terms. From a tax perspective, that’s still a legitimate business cost, but the type of license can influence how long the benefit lasts and how you should document it.

Common licensing models include:

Standard license: Usually covers typical business use—websites, social posts, presentations, and sometimes limited print runs.

Extended license: May allow higher print volumes, resale in certain contexts, or broader distribution. Often more expensive.

Subscription download rights: You pay monthly/annually and can download assets while subscribed. Some subscriptions allow continued usage of downloaded assets even after cancellation, while others have more conditions.

Seat-based licenses: Especially for fonts or UI kits—how many people in your business can use the asset.

Embedding or distribution licenses: Relevant to apps, eBooks, video games, or other distributed products where the asset is included in a file customers receive.

From a claim perspective, the key is not to get lost in legal nuance; it’s to keep enough evidence that you bought legitimate rights for a business use. Saving the license terms at purchase time is wise because marketplaces change terms, products are updated, and your memory fades. Keep a PDF or screenshot of the license description for significant purchases, especially fonts and assets embedded into products.

Subscriptions vs one-off purchases

A big practical difference is whether you pay per asset (one-off) or via a subscription model. Accounting treatment is often simpler with subscriptions: they are usually treated like a software or service subscription—an ongoing operating expense—because you’re paying for ongoing access or ongoing download entitlements.

One-off purchases are also commonly treated as operating expenses, especially when they relate to specific campaigns or deliverables. But when one-off purchases are large and provide multi-year benefit (a premium font license, a large design library, a perpetual license to a comprehensive template system), you may consider whether it should be treated differently.

To keep it practical, here’s a common way businesses separate them:

Subscription payments: Usually expensed as incurred (monthly/annually). If you pay annually upfront, you may allocate it across the year depending on your accounting method.

Small one-off downloads: Expensed when bought.

Significant one-off licenses or commissioned asset packages: Consider materiality and expected useful life; ask your accountant if it should be capitalized or amortized under your rules.

The point isn’t to make your bookkeeping complicated; it’s to be consistent and reasonable.

What if you use the same assets for multiple clients or campaigns?

This is common for designers, marketers, and agencies. You might buy an icon pack and use it across multiple client projects, or buy a font license that becomes part of your studio toolkit. That’s still business-related, but you need to watch the licensing terms (some licenses are per client, per end product, or forbid use in client deliverables without an extended license).

As far as expense claims go, the fact that an asset supports many projects usually strengthens the business rationale—it’s part of your operating toolkit. The main considerations become:

License compliance: Ensure the license covers agency/client use. If the license requires each client to have their own license, you might either rebill the cost to the client or ensure the client purchases it directly.

Cost allocation: In pure bookkeeping terms, you can record it as a general business expense, or allocate it to specific projects if you track job costing. Either approach can be acceptable; choose based on how you manage profitability and invoices.

Consistency: If you always treat “studio toolkit assets” as overhead expenses, keep doing that. If you treat “client-specific assets” as cost of sales and pass them through, keep doing that too.

Rebilling clients: is it still deductible?

If you buy a stock photo for a client project and then charge the client for it—either as a line item or bundled into your fee—you’re still usually incurring a business expense. The reimbursement becomes business income (or offsets the expense, depending on how you record it), but the underlying cost doesn’t suddenly become “personal.”

The cleanest approach is often:

1) Record the purchase as an expense with the receipt.

2) Record the client charge as income (or as a reimbursed expense line, depending on your accounting method).

3) Keep proof of how you billed it (invoice copy) and which project it related to.

Where people get into trouble is when the asset license is not actually transferable or does not cover the client’s intended use. That’s more of a legal/compliance issue than a tax issue, but it can become a financial risk. If a license requires the client to be the license holder, you can still claim your expense—but it may not be the right business practice to purchase it under your account if the client needs to own the license.

Personal use: apportionment and common sense

Sometimes a purchase is mixed-use. You might subscribe to a stock photo service and occasionally download personal images, or you might buy a template bundle and use one template for a personal event invite. In those cases, you should consider apportionment—claiming only the business portion.

How do you apportion something intangible like stock assets? You typically use a fair method that you can explain. For example:

Usage-based split: If you downloaded 50 assets in a year and 45 were business-related, you might claim 90% of the subscription cost.

Time-based split: If the subscription was primarily for business but used personally for one month, you might claim 11/12 of the annual cost.

Separate accounts: Many people avoid the headache by maintaining a business-only account and using separate payment methods. This is often the easiest solution if you want to keep claims clean.

The key is: don’t over-claim. If there is meaningful personal use, don’t ignore it. Most issues arise not because someone claimed stock photos, but because the claim appears inflated or unsupported.

Where do these costs show up in your books?

Depending on your accounting categories, stock photos and design assets might appear under one of these headings:

Advertising and marketing: Assets used for campaigns, social content, website visuals, and promotional materials.

Website costs: Themes, web templates, web fonts, UI kits used for site design.

Software and subscriptions: Stock subscriptions, template subscriptions, and design libraries paid monthly/annually.

Cost of goods sold / cost of sales: If you’re producing client work and the asset is directly attributable to delivering that project, some businesses categorize it here.

Professional services: If a designer creates bespoke assets for you, you may record it as design services (or marketing).

Intangible assets (capitalized): For larger, long-lived items that you treat as assets rather than immediate expenses, depending on your accounting approach.

There isn’t one universally correct category. What matters is that the categorization is reasonable and consistent, and that you can explain why the cost supports your business.

Recordkeeping: what you should save (and what people forget)

Design asset purchases are notorious for weak documentation. People buy a $39 icon pack at midnight, the receipt goes to a personal inbox, and the download page disappears three years later. Then, if you ever need to substantiate the expense, you’re stuck with a bank line that says something vague like “CREATIVE MARKET” and no clear evidence of what you bought.

To make these claims robust, keep the following:

1) Invoice or receipt: Ideally showing supplier name, date, amount, currency, and tax/VAT if applicable.

2) Description of the asset: The product name and what it is (e.g., “Stock photo license – ‘Team meeting’ image” or “Figma UI kit license”). Many receipts are too generic—save the order confirmation page or itemized email as well.

3) License terms (especially for fonts and embedded assets): Save a copy at time of purchase. A screenshot is better than nothing.

4) Proof of business use: Not always required, but helpful if the expense is questioned. This could be a link to the webpage where the image appears, a copy of the ad creative, a screenshot of the asset used in a client deliverable, or the project name in your internal records.

5) Payment evidence: Bank transaction or card statement line that matches the invoice amount and date.

In a tidy bookkeeping flow, you attach the invoice and a note to the transaction in your accounting software. If you don’t use accounting software, store receipts in a dedicated cloud folder by year and vendor, and rename files with a consistent format (date_vendor_amount_description).

Common scenarios and how they’re usually treated

Let’s take a few real-world examples and how businesses typically handle them.

Scenario 1: You buy a single stock photo for your website homepage

This is usually a straightforward business expense. It supports marketing and branding, and it’s directly connected to the business. Record the cost under marketing or website expenses, keep the receipt, and optionally keep a screenshot of the page where it’s used.

Scenario 2: You pay for a monthly stock subscription

This is typically treated as an operating expense like any subscription. If you pay annually upfront, you may spread it across the year depending on your accounting rules and methods. Keep the subscription invoices and document that the service is used for business content creation.

Scenario 3: You buy an extended license for a product packaging image

Still likely deductible as a business expense, but the extended license may be more expensive and could have longer-term benefit if the packaging stays in the market for years. Most small businesses still expense it, but if it’s a large cost and central to your product’s branding, consider whether capital treatment is appropriate under your local rules.

Scenario 4: You buy a font family used across brand guidelines, website, and documents

Fonts can be a grey area because they often provide multi-year value. Many businesses expense them as a normal cost of branding and operations. If the cost is substantial, your accountant may advise treating it as an intangible asset. Regardless of treatment, keep the license terms and ensure it covers your actual usage (web/app embedding can be separate).

Scenario 5: You buy a bundle of templates and use them for clients

Deductible if it supports your business work, but check the license: some template licenses are personal, some are commercial, some require extended licenses for client deliverables or resale. From a tax standpoint, you can still claim the cost, but you should avoid buying something you aren’t allowed to use commercially.

Scenario 6: You commission a designer to create bespoke illustrations for your product

This is generally deductible as a business cost. Whether it’s treated as a revenue expense or capital depends on cost and expected life. The contract should clarify ownership or licensing, deliverables, and usage rights. Keep invoices, contract, and deliverables list.

VAT and sales tax considerations (general guidance)

Tax on digital goods and services can be tricky. In many countries, whether you can reclaim VAT (or claim input tax) depends on whether you’re VAT-registered and whether the supplier charged VAT correctly based on your status and location. Some marketplaces add VAT automatically, some treat the supply differently, and cross-border digital services can follow special rules.

Without getting overly technical, a few practical tips help:

Keep VAT invoices where available: If VAT is charged and you’re eligible to reclaim it, you’ll need proper documentation.

Check the supplier details: For significant spending, make sure the invoice shows the supplier’s tax information and your business details where required.

Be careful with marketplace receipts: Some receipts are not full tax invoices. If you’re reclaiming VAT, ensure the documentation meets your local requirements.

Separate business subscriptions: This reduces the risk of reclaiming VAT on partly personal use.

If VAT matters to your business, it’s worth setting up vendor profiles in your accounting system and verifying how each platform bills you, especially if you buy from international marketplaces.

What about “free” stock assets?

Free assets can still be “business resources,” but you can’t claim an expense if you didn’t incur a cost. However, there are two things to keep in mind:

1) “Free” doesn’t mean unrestricted. Many free stock sites require attribution, forbid commercial use, or have restrictions that matter for business. Even if it’s free, you should keep evidence of the license terms at the time you downloaded it.

2) Your time isn’t usually a deductible expense. If you spend hours sourcing free images, that time is real—but you generally can’t “expense” your own time as a cost in the way you can expense a paid license.

Free assets can be a good starting point, but businesses often move toward paid libraries for better rights clarity, higher quality, and reduced legal risk.

Red flags that can cause trouble

Most businesses can claim these costs without issue, but certain patterns tend to attract questions or create risk:

Claiming large amounts with vague records: If you have dozens of transactions with no receipts or descriptions, it’s harder to justify.

Mixing personal and business usage without apportioning: Claiming 100% of a subscription that’s clearly mixed-use can backfire.

Using personal marketplace accounts: This isn’t automatically disallowed, but it increases the chance that receipts are missing or licenses are in the wrong name.

Confusing “license for use” with “ownership”: For example, embedding assets into a product without the correct license can become expensive if you have to replace them later or face a claim.

Buying assets unrelated to your trade: If you run a consultancy and buy a huge library of 3D game assets with no clear business use, it may be questioned.

The solution to all of these is simple: keep clear records and make purchases aligned with your business activities.

Practical tips to make claiming easy

If you want your expense claims to be painless, set up a process that makes documentation automatic rather than a chore.

Use a dedicated business payment method: A business card or bank account makes it easy to track and reduces accidental personal spending.

Create a “Digital Assets” folder: Store receipts, invoices, and license PDFs/screenshots in one place. Organize by year and vendor.

Annotate transactions: Add a note in your accounting software such as “Homepage hero image for product X” or “Icon set for client Y app.” These notes are gold later.

Save license proof at purchase time: Especially for fonts, templates, and anything you embed in distributed products.

Be consistent with categories: Decide where these expenses go (marketing, website, subscriptions, cost of sales) and stick to it.

Separate client-specific assets: If you commonly rebill, keep those costs tagged to projects so it’s clear why the purchase happened.

So, can you claim them?

In most ordinary business situations, yes: stock photos and design assets purchased for business-related work are typically claimable expenses. They support marketing, branding, content creation, and deliverables—core activities for many businesses. The strongest claims are the ones that are cleanly documented, clearly business-related, and consistent in how they’re categorized.

If you want a quick “sanity check,” here’s a simple checklist you can apply before claiming:

Business purpose: Is this asset used to market, sell, or deliver your business product/service?

Evidence: Do you have a receipt/invoice and a description of what you bought?

License coverage: Does the license allow the way you’re using it (commercial, client work, embedding, print volume)?

Mixed use: If you also used it personally, have you apportioned fairly?

Classification: Is it a routine operating cost, or a significant long-term asset that might need different treatment?

If you can tick those boxes, you’re generally on solid ground.

Final thoughts

Design isn’t fluff; it’s often a core part of how a business communicates value and wins customers. Stock photos, fonts, templates, and other design assets are legitimate inputs—just like hosting, software, and advertising spend. Claiming them is usually straightforward when you treat them like any other business cost: buy them for clear business reasons, keep proper documentation, and respect the licensing terms.

If you’re ever unsure—particularly when costs are large, assets are embedded into products, or licensing is complex—bring the invoice and the license terms to your accountant. A five-minute conversation can save you from misclassification, over-claiming, or future rework.