Knowledge hub

Tax-wise, it’s not all bad news, thanks to “allowable expenses”. Your annual tax bill would be much higher without them. As the name suggests, they’re business expenses that HMRC allows you to claim against your income. Claiming all of your allowable expenses helps to lower your profits and minimise your tax bill.

Late payment can cause serious cash flow issues and otherwise good customers can be bad when it comes to paying you on time. We explain how to detail with overdue invoice payments.

If you want to succeed in business, you’ve got to differentiate yourself. That also applies to accountancy firms, of course. So, how can you set your accountancy firm apart?

Made any New Year’s resolutions this year? The tradition stretches back 4,000 years, when the ancient Babylonians celebrated their new year with a 12-day festival called Akitu during which they would make resolutions to try to please their gods.

Invoices, they’re all the same, right? Well, no, they’re not. There are several types of invoice and they each serve a different purpose. Here’s some of the most common types of invoice and why you might send or receive one.

The post-Autumn Budget 2024 headlines were dominated by news of inheritance tax and capital gains tax changes, the increase to employers’ NICs and confirmation that VAT will indeed be introduced on private school fees.

A customer might well ask you to send them a new, updated invoice, which can also steal your time, when your day is busy enough. It’s best to know exactly what you need to include in your customer invoices and use a fool-proof system that prevents any essential information from being left out.

Many UK small businesses (reportedly more than half) are now using accounting software. If you’re an accountant, having your sole trader, freelancer and small private landlord clients using accounting software makes your life far easier.

Accountants often choose complex software for larger clients, but smaller businesses like freelancers and landlords need simpler solutions. Overly complicated tools waste time on training and support. Find out how Coconut can help.

Cash is king. You’ve probably heard that before, but what does it mean? Well, although price and profit are very important, they’re not as vital as cash, the lifeblood of all businesses.

MTD for ITSA will be introduced in phases. Sole traders, freelancers and landlords with a gross income of more than £50,000 will be first affected. They’ll need to comply with MTD for ITSA requirements from 6 April 2026, but they’ll need to get ready long before then. Read our blog to find out more.

Choosing an accountant is a key decision. Find the right accountant and they’ll make your life easier, while helping you to maximise your income and minimise your tax bills.

There are a few important ways that you can help your sole trader clients to save time and money and become more successful. Why wouldn’t they love you for that?

When you become a sole trader, you’ll also need to register for Self Assessment and comply with its requirements. Here are the answers to 15 Self Assessment frequently asked questions.

“The key thing for all accountants is time saving and efficiency, because there are never enough hours in a day I think any accountant who looks into Coconut will realise the potential time saving is massive.”

Are you ready for Making Tax Digital, or still figuring out what that means? This post contains everything you need to know to prepare for the new system and simplify your tax admin—so you can focus on the stuff that really matters.

What key 2024-25 tax dates should you be telling your small business, sole trader, freelancer and landlord clients? Find out in our blog.

Against a backdrop of eye-watering price increases across the board, like everyone else, accountants are experiencing cash-flow pressures. Their small business, landlord and personal clients are also having to deal with significant price hikes, of course, which makes it difficult for accountants to increase their fees and grow their own firm.

Finding out that you haven’t got enough money to pay your tax bill is the stuff of nightmares for sole traders and freelancers. Even if you can borrow from others to pay your tax bill, you’re reluctant to, because paying it back can be a real struggle. But there again, going forward, how do you earn enough to cover your living costs and pay the tax you owe? Technology can also really help to ensure that you gain peace of mind from knowing you’ve put enough away to pay your tax bill.

Redundancy leaves many people feeling stuck and unsure what to do next. Instead of waiting for a new opportunity, why not create one? That's what John did.

Self Assessment tax returns are a key task in every sole trader's to-do list. In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about completing your tax return for HMRC, so you know exactly what income you need to declare.

It’s important to try to find ways to make your life easier and save time during your working day so that you can enjoy a healthier work-life balance and spend more time with your loved ones. So, what could make your life easier and save you time?

Adding real value to the relationships you have with your small-landlord clients can be a good way to ensure their loyalty. They might also be more willing to leave positive reviews about you online and recommend you to others. So, how could you add value to your relationships with your small-landlord clients?

Freelancers lack the support structure to guide us through the complexity of retirement saving. This article takes the mystery out of sole-trader pensions.

"What’s your rate?" It's a question freelancers get asked every day, but a surprisingly hard one to answer; there are many factors to consider when deciding how much to charge for your services, and many different ways to do so. Whether you're new to freelancing or have been in the game for a while, here are some of the top tips we've learned.

Despite your best intentions, you may not have completed your Self Assessment tax return yet. That’s fine… Kind of... Until you realise that the online-filing deadline is midnight on the 31 of January. Gulp. Not long now. Double gulp. You begin to sweat and feel a bit sick as a horrible sense of panic sets in. So, what should you do about it?

Winning new clients is sure a sign not only that your services continue to appeal and meet market demand, but possibly also that your existing clients are saying nice things about you or that the way you’re marketing your business is working well. Happy days. Read our blog on how to streamline your client onboarding process.

Coconut is an easy-to-use accounting software solution that enables sole traders and landlords to conveniently record their income, track their expenses (so they don’t forget to reclaim any), manage their invoicing and work out how much to set aside for tax. Coconut gives your clients far greater control over their cash flow and finances, which brings peace of mind. If your sole trader and landlord clients use Coconut, it also saves you time, effort and hassle, of course. It’s a classic win-win. Well, things are about to get even better thanks to the integration of Coconut and GoSimpleTax.

The weeks leading up to Christmas is a hectic period for many small businesses, sole traders and freelancers. Not only are there the usual jobs to complete, but Christmas also means there are many other things to take care of before you can shut down, have some well-earned time off and munch away on far too many festive mince pies.

January can be a nightmare month for small-business accountants. The reason? Battling the looming end-of-month Self Assessment online-filing deadline, of course. And despite sending email reminders to your small-business clients, appealing for them to send the information you need to complete their Self assessment tax return, they leave it until January. Of course they do. They do every year.

Whether you’re just starting out or your business is more established and you’re considering switching banks, here are five key things to consider when weighing up which business bank account is right for you.

If your accountancy firm is to grow, obviously, it will need to attract more clients (probably, many more). And no matter what you do for them, some will go elsewhere or decide to do their own accounting and tax returns. Customer churn is a challenge for all accountancy firms. So what can you do to attract more clients?

We know that doing your Self Assessment can be a bit overwhelming. But it doesn't have to be that way. This guide will show you how to use the Coconut app to find the key numbers you need to fill in your tax return.

If you’re thinking of going freelance, whether full time or part time, here are seven important things that you should know…

No one starts a career in accounting to spend their days entering receipts…but that doesn’t stop some clients presenting you with a shoebox full of them when it’s time to do their tax return. Find out how Coconut will help you power through that particularly tedious task in no time.

Many thousands of sole traders all over the UK use the Coconut accounting app. Some of your sole trader clients might already be among them, but if not – how could using Coconut benefit them and you?

If you're new to Self Assessment, you might be surprised to see a 'payment on account' on your tax bill. This is an advance payment for next year's tax—and it can come as a surprise for new sole traders. Read our guide for everything you need to know.

Work can be stressful. And the added responsibility and pressure that comes from working for yourself often generates additional stress. Find out how to minimise stress.

So you've decided to become self-employed—great news! Here's what you need to know about registering as a sole trader with HMRC.

We've answered all your frequently asked questions regarding the GoSimpleTax acquisition of Coconut. You can meet the GoSimpleTax team and find out everything you need to know.

Calling all accountants and bookkeepers! Coconut’s software is now HMRC-recognised for handling MTD ITSA digital record-keeping and quarterly submissions requirements, and our Pilot Programme is now open.

Whilst the tax return for work you’re doing now may not be due for months, the beginning of the new tax year is the perfect time to build good tax habits. So, in this blog, we’ve outlined four ways you can make this tax year the easiest yet.

The start of a new tax year is a big day in the self-employed calendar. So, in this blog, you'll find six key things you can do to ensure that the 2023/24 tax year is smooth sailing for your business.

If you're a VAT-registered freelancer, you need to sign up for Making Tax Digital for VAT by April 2022. And all individuals earning more than £50,000 from self-employment or property will have to sign up for MTD for Income Tax by 2026—read our guide to find out what you need to know.

From Self Assessment deadlines to payment on account dates, we’ve listed all of the key tax dates that you need to bear in mind when you're self-employed as a sole trader. Pop them in your diary to ensure you're always on top of your finances!

When working with small clients, you may find yourself chasing receipts or manually entering data into spreadsheets. And as you well know, these aren’t the areas where accountants can add the most value. Here’s how tech could help you eliminate up to 80% of that work, provide more value to clients, and maximise your margins.

Technology has the potential to drastically improve the way the accounting profession works with smaller clients. Below, we explore some of the wider benefits of sole trader digitisation, and why we should be thinking about it now—Making Tax Digital, or no Making Tax Digital.

HMRC's trading allowance could give you tax relief on income from self-employment and ‘side hustles’— but is it always a good idea to use it? Find out everything you need to know in this helpful guide.

Filling in your Self Assessment tax return for the first time? Don't panic! Instead, take a deep breath, and then follow our step-by-step guide to find out everything you need to know to fill out your form online or on paper. You've got this!

‍In December 2022, HMRC announced that it will be delaying the introduction of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) until April 2026, and that it will also be changing the income thresholds for eligibility. 

Confused about whether you need to file a Self Assessment tax return this year? You're not alone. HMRC has specific rules for each different situation, and it can quickly get confusing. Read on for our full guide to who needs to file a return.

On 17th November 2022, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt made his Autumn Statement to the House of Commons. In this article, we’ve summarised everything you need to know about how it will affect you (or your clients) as a sole trader or landlord.

In his first major announcement since taking office, the new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has today announced an array of changes to tax and duties in his ‘mini-budget’. But what do the changes mean for sole traders and unincorporated landlords?

Under the Construction Industry Scheme, subcontractors have a portion of their earnings deducted and sent directly to HMRC as an advance payment towards their tax bill. But the scheme can make keeping track of finances tricky for both subcontractors and their accountants—read on for more info about CIS and how Coconut can help.

Ensuring that our software is MTD-compliant ahead of time is our primary focus at Coconut, but it’s also critical that we keep our Partner Firms up-to-date with what we’re working on and why. Read on to find our what we're doing to ensure that our accounting and tax software is ready for this major change to millions of taxpayers’ processes.

A huge proportion of unincorporated landlords own fewer than 5 properties, but aren’t serviced properly by the accounting software industry. With MTD ITSA on the horizon, this is an issue that needs resolving. In this guide, we discuss the accounting challenges of ‘non-professional’ landlords, and how accountants & bookkeepers can overcome them ahead of the 2026 deadline.

What is the UK's 'Rent a Room' Scheme, who can make the most of it, and do you have to declare the rental income on your tax return? We've summarised the key points in this article.

We’re delighted to announce that Coconut’s simple accounting and tax software for sole traders and accountants now supports subcontractors on the Construction Industry Scheme—taking us yet another step closer to ensuring that our software supports the whole of the UK’s sole trader community ready for Making Tax Digital.

We commissioned Opinium to survey 500 UK sole traders to better understand their views on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, how prepared they are for the changes, and what action they expect to take to become compliant with the rules. The results revealed an incredible opportunity for the accounting industry.

We recently announced that all Coconut current accounts will be closing on 30th June 2022. Read on to find out more about what this change to our service means, why we’re doing it, and what it means for the future of Coconut.

For the new tax year, we’ve decided to make some key changes to our Tax tab—which we hope will make it significantly easier for you to find out how much of your earnings you should set aside for tax.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will change how sole traders keep records and declare their income from April 2026. That might seem a long way off, but it's important to be prepared—here's our guide to everything you need to know.

Do you know when you need to be signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax? This post contains all the important dates you need for your diary so you can be prepared well ahead of time.

Making Tax Digital for VAT will change the way freelancers keep VAT records and submit VAT returns to HMRC—but there's no need to panic! Here's everything you need to know to make sure you're prepared and ready to tackle MTD with confidence.

Sole traders: make “January panic” a thing of the past with our quick-start guide to doing your Self Assessment tax return. We've broken the process down into five manageable chunks—so you can tick that job off your to-do list in no time.

On March 23rd 2022, the Chancellor delivered the Spring Statement to Parliament. In this blog, we’ve listed what was announced, and how each measure will impact self-employed people operating as sole traders in the year ahead.

If you're self-employed as a sole trader, here’s a summary of the key self-employed tax allowances, income tax and VAT rates, and National Insurance Contributions you need to know for the 2022/23 tax year.

The UK government has outlined plans to increase National Insurance contributions in the 2022/23 tax year, as part of the new Health and Social Care Levy. Below, we've summarised what these changes involve, and how they will affect you as a self-employed person.

The extended tax season is over and so for accountants that means we’re gathering our thoughts and making our plans for 2022. What’s different this year is that it’s the last year before MTD ITSA really kicks in which will dramatically change how we work with sole traders. Read on below to learn how Coconut will support our Accountant Partners through this change.

Up until March 2020, Nancy was Deputy Head of Wardrobe for the Book of Mormon. But then her hard-earned career came to a halt when Covid-19 hit. In this edition of Community Spotlight, we spoke to Nancy about how she adapted to a tough situation, and used her skill, initiative, and courage to start her own business.

In this edition of Community Spotlight, we spoke to self-taught jeweller, Esh: a self-taught, freelance jeweller building a more fulfilling career for herself; one that can fit around her life and potential health concerns in the long-term.

In this edition of Community Spotlight, we spoke to SQSP Queen, Katy. As is so often the case, going freelance has allowed Katy to live the life that she has always wanted: by the sea, doing a job she loves, on her terms.

“I had an argument with my wife and went to Italy for 5 years” is the perfect example of an excuse that HMRC *won’t* accept for a late tax return. So what does count as a reasonable excuse? And is it ever okay not to submit a tax return? We explain all in this blog.

Payments on account are designed to spread the cost of the upcoming year’s tax bill, but the assumptions used to work out your payments might not be quite right if your income has changed between tax years.

To ensure that all of the information in your Coconut tax return summary is right, it’s important to take the time to check that all of your transactions are categorised correctly. This helps us determine which transactions fall into income or expenses.

Adjustments in Coconut are a way for you to account for any income or expenses that you haven’t already captured in your transactions. This could be extra income outside of your Coconut account, cash expenses, or work from home (WFH) allowance and mileage.

Once you’ve got your income, expenses and any other allowances and adjustments organised in Coconut, you’re ready to fill in your tax return. You'll most likely be completing your Self Assessment online through the Government Gateway—so this article lays out what you can expect from the process.

When you’re a sole trader, you can deduct a wide range of business-related costs from your taxable profit. Here’s a handy list of the most common things which count as "allowable expenses".

If you have a student loan or income from other sources, such as employment salary or rental income, this may affect what you’ll need to pay or the tax rate applied to your self-employment income. Here's what you need to know.

When you’re self-employed and VAT-registered, you can choose between the standard or flat rate VAT schemes. Here’s what you need to know about both.

Coconut 2.0 signals a big shift in our business strategy—one that we think has the potential to revolutionise the working lives of self-employed people. But as well as all of the new things we’re working on, there are also a few things we won’t be doing in the future; most notably, opening new bank accounts. Here’s why we’ve made that decision, and what it means for the future.

2021 will be a year that we’ll remember at Coconut for a while. This year saw a big change in our business come to fruition.

The desktop version of our mobile app is live! Coconut Web gives you access to the transaction history of any bank accounts you’ve linked up to Coconut, and allows you to complete your key bookkeeping tasks, all within your browser. Give it a try now!

What's the difference between BACS, CHAPS, and Faster Payments? Here's what you need to know about all three types of bank transfer, and why we use Faster Payments at Coconut.

The barefoot accountant provides accountancy services to creative sole traders who just want to be fabulously creative and not worry about the boring stuff. Operating from a shop front in Hertfordshire, the firm delivers personalised tax and accountancy services in a relaxed and judgement-free zone.

Join us on 15th December to find out how Coconut has evolved over the past 12 months, what our plans are for the future, and how “Coconut 2.0” will make it easier than ever for self-employed people—and their accountants—to manage their finances.

Imagine if clients and you could un-muddle business and personal without having to open a new bank account?

When Coconut first launched in 2018, we offered a product that combined an accounting product with a business current account. We’ve now stopped opening new accounts, so that we can focus on making our bookkeeping and tax app for freelancers the best it possibly can be.

Sole traders: read on to find a list of the UK's Personal Allowance, income tax and National Insurance rates for the 2021/22 tax year.

We want to help you protect yourself against Covid-19 fraud. Here’s what you need to be aware of and what to watch out for.

The SEISS has been extended until September, and there has been one significant change for the better. The grant has been extended to ~600,000 people who were previously excluded by including those who filed a 2019/20 Self-Assessment tax return by midnight 2nd March.

The SEISS has been extended until September, and there has been one significant change for the better. The grant has been extended to ~600,000 people who were previously excluded by including those who filed a 2019/20 Self-Assessment tax return by midnight 2nd March.

Saving can often be an afterthought when you're freelancing and have a fluctuating income. But it doesn't have to be—discover some money saving habits in this article.

For Paul, Covid-19 has brought many collaborations that will help his business to boom once the pandemic is over. Find out how he's adapted in this interview.

With January around the corner, here are some tips for everyone in the self-employed and freelance community to prepare for a deal or no deal brexit.

Freelancing can be really liberating and often helps people to take control of their careers. But how does that work if you start freelancing at the very beginning of your career? Find out by taking a look at Ben's story.

Self employed people come across plenty of challenges when they're building a business from the ground up. Find out how to overcome them in our latest blog.

With November's lockdown already upon us, we've put together a list of the latest government updates to make sure you can navigate your way through it.

We asked 500 self-employed people how they feel about saving for tax - take a look at the results and see how Coconut can help you to save for tax soon.