Generally speaking, FreshBooks offers our favorite software for service-based businesses that collect most of their revenue through invoices. But FreshBooks falls short in some fundamental areas, so a software choice like Zoho Books or Xero could work better for you. To make working from the train, dinner table or nightstand easier, MYOB has apps designed for expense management and invoicing that work with your software. Sole proprietor accounting software isn’t just a key part of your business.

TaxSlayer 2025 (Tax Year Preview

More complex companies can add advanced tools such as mileage and time tracking, projects and proposals, and reports. There are a variety of QuickBooks products specifically designed for sole traders and freelancers, such as QuickBooks Self-Employed and QuickBooks Online Simple Start. These products provide comprehensive accounting tools and systems for tracking income and expenses, creating invoices, and more. Additionally, some products such as QuickBooks Online offer a mobile app that allows you to access your data and manage your finances on sole trader accounting the go.

Choosing an Accounting Software for Your Sole Trader Business

• Go above this, and you’ll need to start paying £33 per month (exc VAT) for the Grow plan.
• You can also view each account’s online register, which contains transactions that have cleared your bank and arrived in your accounting app (along with those you’ve entered manually).
• With a real-time overview of your income and expenses, and your tax set aside, you’ll feel more organised than ever when it comes to your finances—so you can make business decisions with confidence.
• The hope is to make it easier for individuals and businesses to get their taxes right and minimise time spent chasing mistakes regarding misfiling and claim rebates.
• Like other QuickBooks products, QuickBooks Self-Employed has a highly user-friendly dashboard and low learning curve, so you won’t struggle to dive into finances for the first time.

The software is easy enough to learn if you are an inexperienced bookkeeper but still gives you enough retained earnings advanced features if your needs are more demanding. Because it’s so flexible and user-friendly, it appeals to a wide variety of business types. Countingup lets you view your ingoing and outgoing payments, business reports, invoice statuses, direct debits, tax estimates and more in one app. This means you get instant visibility over your business performance as soon as you log in.

Best accounting software if you’re a sole trader

FreshBooks offers simple cloud-based accounting software to help sole traders work faster and smarter. Let FreshBooks look after the financial health of your business so you can focus on delivering top-quality service to your clients. Get started today to send invoices, track expenses and accept online payments so you get your hard-earned money faster. With award-winning customer service, help is always just a quick email or phone call away.

Freshbooks offers some of the best invoice and estimate creation tools around, and all its plans include advanced features like time tracking, mileage tracking, and MTD VAT support. As long as you can stay within the five billable clients per month limit (or can afford to upgrade), then it could be the perfect self-employed accounting software for your business. If you sell handmade products on Etsy or plumbing supplies out of your home, try Xero. It’s one of the only accounting software providers to offer inventory tracking with each plan.

Let FreshBooks online payments look after it for you.

Sole traders can connect their personal bank or current accounts to Coconut and begin to separate their business and personal transactions. 📍 Banking – Securely retrieve transactions from both your PayPal and bank accounts and quickly reconcile your balances. Reckon One is a simple and cost-effective Australian accounting software. 📍 Expenses and receipts – Connect your bank account or credit card and get insights on how profitable you are.

QuickBooks Online Advanced

Xero and Zoho Books go further by letting you create more advanced forms, like credit notes, purchase orders, sales receipts, and statements. All you have to do is fill in the blanks and select from lists of variables like customers and items. Accounting can be complicated, and your work must always be accurate to avoid problems with customers and vendors, income taxes, and reports. The companies that make small business accounting software have worked hard to make it as simple and pleasant as possible.

at FreshBooks

• If you want to spend more time focusing on your business and not your accounting, Coconut is for you.
• If you eventually expand your business to include a bookkeeper or business partner, Wave is just as free for four users as it is for one.
• And you won’t pay anything more than standard transaction fees.
• FreshBooks helps you wow clients with invoices that are every bit as professional as you are.

It might sound like a basic point, but this is important, given that you’ll be checking your accounting software a lot as you run your self-employed business. Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a strong option if you’re less confident with accounting software. Everything is arranged clearly and logically, plus you get Sage’s excellent help and support if you run into any issues. FreshBooks also stands out with impressive client interaction tools, making it an excellent choice if you’re keen to leave a great impression on your clients. Although, FreshBooks doesn’t provide the same breadth of features for extensive business scaling as Xero, making Xero more suitable if you’re planning for fast growth. FreshBooks has reasonable pricing and its invoicing and client management tools are especially sharp.

Why You Should Import Transactions and Bank Balances

If you’re out and about a lot, sometimes it can feel like you have no fixed workplace. Wherever there’s an internet connection, you can get to your accounts and issue or pay invoices. GoCardless integrates with all apps on this list bookkeeping and payroll services alongside numerous major accounting partners, allowing users to raise and reconcile invoices automatically.