Almost £250 million of expenses are not being claimed by micro-businesses in the UK each year because business owners don’t think they’re worth claiming.

The quarter of a billion pounds equates to £216 for each of the UK’s 5 million micro-businesses employing nine people or fewer and refers to expenses with an individual value of £10 or less.

Nearly a quarter (22%) of micro-business owners surveyed said they did not think it was worth claiming expenses with a value of £10 or less.

The overall figure for unclaimed small expenses could be even higher for micro-business owners, however, since 14% of these owners said they would not bother claiming for individual expenses worth £5 or less.

Only 39% of the business owners surveyed said they always claimed back all the expenses they incurred in running their businesses. Incredibly, 5% said they don’t claim any expenses at all.

Whether it’s the cost of stationery, postage, travel expenses for a short trip or any other legitimate expense, small business owners, micro-businesses and sole traders should make sure they record and claim for every expense incurred in running their businesses.

Keeping meticulous records for small-value expenses can seem like a chore, but all these expenses can soon add up to hundreds or even thousands of pounds. The annual worth of small expenses will, of course, vary wildly depending on the size and nature of the business, but most businesses will be able to reduce their tax bills.

Making use of technology in accountancy can help streamline the record-keeping process, cutting down on the time it takes to log and record expenses and other key data. Logging expenses as a matter of course, either in real-time as they are incurred or “catching up” on a weekly or monthly basis, can help make sure you don’t miss out on all the legitimate tax relief you are entitled to.

Very few businesses would ignore a single expense claim of more than £200, and a combination of small individual claims could be worth the same.