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Usually yes. A van is plant and machinery, so the annual investment allowance gives 100% relief on the cost in the year of purchase, and the allowance is £1,000,000 for both 2025-26 and 2026-27. A company buying a new and unused van can alternatively use full expensing, which is uncapped and now permanent. From 1 January 2026 there is also a new 40% first-year allowance on main-rate plant and machinery available to unincorporated businesses as well as companies, though second-hand assets and cars are excluded from it. If you use the cash basis as a sole trader, the van is simply deducted as an allowable expense instead, because cars are the only item on which capital allowances are still claimed.
A van is plant and machinery, and the Annual Investment Allowance gives full relief on qualifying plant in the year of purchase up to the annual limit. For most trade businesses buying one or two vehicles a year, that means the whole cost comes off the profit in the year you buy it.
Two conditions catch people. The vehicle has to count as a van for capital allowances purposes, and any private use restricts the claim proportionately.
Taking full relief in year one is not automatically the best answer. It is worth the most in a year when your profits are highest, and a claim that pushes profit below your personal allowance wastes part of the relief. Where the purchase falls near a year end, the date it is brought into use can be worth more than the allowance you choose.
This question is part of Vans, tools and capital allowances, which covers the whole area.
Send us three months of payment and deduction statements. We will tell you what is wrong, what it is costing, and whether gross payment status would fix it.