Money — records for sole traders and landlords

The ninety-second workflow

Six things you'll do, in the order you'll do them. Set-up takes about ninety seconds; after that it's a minute or two a week.

1. 1

   Tell us what you do

   Pick self-employed, landlord — or both — and name the business or property. That is the whole set-up; there is no chart of accounts to build.

   On screen: Two buttons, "I'm self-employed" and "I'm a landlord", then one box: "Business name — e.g. Jane's Consulting" or "Property name — e.g. 12 High Street". A landlord can mark a property rent-a-room eligible or jointly owned with an ownership share.

2. 2

   Record it — or import it

   Type what happened and the amount (money in positive, money out negative) and Money picks the HMRC category from the description. Or paste a bank-statement CSV — date, description, amount — and press Import & categorise: every row lands already categorised, and duplicates are skipped and counted, so re-importing a statement never doubles anything.

   On screen: One entry line: date, "Description — we'll pick the category", "£ in, −£ out" and "Category: pick for me". Beneath it, "Import a bank statement (CSV)" with a paste box and the Import & categorise button.

3. 3

   Check the categories

   Every entry carries a labelled HMRC category from the list for its kind of business — plain-English labels, not HMRC's internal keys — so the figures already sit where the tax return needs them. Search the ledger, filter by category or direction, open any entry and change its category, amount, date or description.

   On screen: The ledger: Description, Category, Amount, Actions, with a search box and category filter above. Clicking an entry opens a drawer with a category picker that also offers "Pick for me from the description".

4. 4

   Attach the receipt

   Put a photo or PDF (up to 20 MB) on any expense. The entry shows a paperclip; open, replace or remove the receipt whenever you like. Everything HMRC could ask for stays attached to the figure it supports.

   On screen: "Attach receipt" on the entry line and in the drawer; a 📎 marks entries that have one, and "Receipt attached" appears in the ledger.

5. 5

   Watch the quarter

   Making Tax Digital means a cumulative update to HMRC every quarter — 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May for a standard year. Each business shows its next update due date with the running totals for the period, so nothing sneaks up on you.

   On screen: A stat card, "Next MTD update due", beside "Income this tax year" and "Profit so far" — updating the moment a figure lands.

6. 6

   Know your year-end number

   The estimate recalculates on every entry: income tax, Class 4 National Insurance, the 20% mortgage-interest credit for landlords, payments on account, and one figure to put aside by 31 January. When the year closes, the year-end adjustments — private use, the trading and property allowances, the annual investment allowance — are the step before your tax return.

   On screen: The estimate panel: Income tax, Class 4 NIC, Mortgage interest credit and "Put aside by 31 Jan" — always current, never a surprise.

Live today — and what's still coming

We'd rather you knew before subscribing. Everything on the left works now; the right-hand column is built or planned but not yet switched on.

Supported

Money is built for straightforward sole traders and landlords. If your affairs are more involved, we'll say so rather than guess.

Not supported — yet or at all