Everything to help you run the money side of your business, practical how-to guides and plain-English articles on tax, VAT and bookkeeping, all in one place.
Turning an idea into a registered business is mostly a series of practical steps. This checklist walks you through them, from choosing a structure to opening a business bank account.
Read guide →The structure you choose shapes your tax, admin and personal risk. This guide compares sole trader and limited company in plain English so you can decide what fits.
Read guide →If you work for yourself, you need to tell HMRC. This guide explains when and how to register for Self Assessment, and what you will need.
Read guide →The right software saves hours and keeps you compliant. This guide covers what to look for, from Making Tax Digital support to bank feeds and ease of use.
Read guide →VAT registration becomes compulsory once you cross the threshold, but you can also register voluntarily. This guide explains the £90,000 rule, how to register, and what changes afterwards.
Read guide →Self Assessment is how the self-employed report income and pay tax. This guide covers who needs to file, the deadlines, payments on account, and how to avoid a nasty surprise in January.
Read guide →Making Tax Digital changes how you keep records and file with HMRC. This guide explains where it already applies, the income thresholds for MTD for Income Tax, and how to get ready.
Read guide →Claiming the right expenses lowers your tax bill legitimately. This guide explains HMRC's 'wholly and exclusively' test, common allowable costs, and what you cannot claim.
Read guide →Bookkeeping is simply keeping an accurate record of money in and out. This guide covers the core ideas, income, expenses, categories and reconciliation, without the jargon.
Read guide →Bank reconciliation makes sure your books match reality. This guide walks through the process step by step and shows how a bank feed makes it painless.
Read guide →A clear invoice gets you paid faster. This guide covers what an invoice must include, the extra rules for VAT, and simple ways to reduce late payment.
Read guide →Good records protect you at tax time and beyond. This guide explains what to keep, how long to keep it, and why digital records are now the norm.
Read guide →Profit is not the same as cash, and cash is what keeps the lights on. This guide covers practical ways to see, forecast and protect your cash flow.
Read guide →Late payment is one of the biggest cash-flow headaches for small businesses. This guide gives you a calm, systematic way to get paid without damaging relationships.
Read guide →Price too low and you work for nothing; too high and you lose sales. This guide covers cost-based and value-based pricing, margins, and how to test a price.
Read guide →Margins tell you how much of each sale you actually keep. This guide explains gross and net margin, how to calculate them, and what healthy looks like.
Read guide →Accounting software is a tool that records your business's money and turns it into invoices, VAT returns and reports, automatically. This guide explains what it does, who needs it, and why it has largely replaced spreadsheets.
Read guide →New to accounting software? This step-by-step guide walks you through setup, connecting your bank, recording income and expenses, reconciling, and running your first reports, no jargon.
Read guide →Not sure whether accounting software is worth it for your business? This guide helps you decide, based on your size, whether you're VAT registered, and Making Tax Digital.
Read guide →Invoicing, bank feeds, reconciliation, VAT, reporting, the feature lists can be baffling. This guide explains what each common accounting software feature actually does and why it matters.
Read guide →Should you use cloud (online) accounting software or a desktop program installed on one computer? This guide compares the two so you can choose with confidence.
Read guide →Sole traders and freelancers have simpler needs than big companies, but the right software still saves hours and keeps you ready for tax. This guide covers what to look for.
Read guide →A plain-English guide to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and VAT in the UK. Who it affects, the key dates, and what to do to get ready.
Read article →Find out if Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to you, the £50,000, £30,000 and £20,000 thresholds, the dates, and how the income test works.
Read article →A plain-English guide to Making Tax Digital for VAT. Who it applies to, the £90,000 registration threshold, digital record rules, and how to file.
Read article →MTD for Income Tax is expanding to more people as the threshold falls to £20,000 by 2028. Here's the direction of travel and what it means for you.
Read article →A simple guide to tax for UK content creators. What counts as income, what you can claim, when to register, and how much to set aside.
Read article →Confused by bookkeeping words? A plain-English guide to debits, credits, VAT, reconciliation and more, for people who never trained in accounting.
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