Making Tax Digital · Sole traders
Built around the everyday work of a sole trader
ONLY£15A MONTHA useful accounting tool should make the next task clear: record the money, check what it represents and understand what needs submitting.
A useful accounting tool should make the next task clear: record the money, check what it represents and understand what needs submitting. Some sole traders need invoicing, payroll and detailed reporting. Others need a focused bookkeeping and MTD routine. The right choice follows the work.
Simplicity should preserve the important decisions
Hiding unnecessary menus can help. Hiding the business, period or tax treatment cannot. A straightforward interface still needs to distinguish private spending, refunds, loans and separate income sources.
Look for plain descriptions, a clear review stage and a way to correct an entry. You should be able to see why a total changed and what was sent to HMRC. Those are practical controls, even when the screen itself looks simple.
Avona's published pricing page describes an entry-level bookkeeping and MTD product and a higher tier with additional accounting functions. That is a better basis for a decision than assuming every feature costs £15 or that every broader platform is unsuitable.
Test a real task
Try importing a familiar week, correcting one category and tracing a summary figure to the records. The useful question is whether you can complete that sequence confidently. A promise of two-minute compliance cannot account for missing records or a complicated tax question.
Worked comparison: two equally valid needs
| Business | Useful priority |
|---|---|
| Mobile repairer with straightforward receipts | Easy capture, review and quarterly reporting |
| Consultant with unpaid client invoices | Invoicing, debtor information and payment tracking |
| Landlord with foreign rentals | Supported property records and annual-return coverage |
A smaller menu is valuable only if it still covers the business. A larger product can be good value where its extra functions solve real work.
Choose software by the work it needs to do
Start with your actual income sources and records. A sole trade, a UK property business and foreign property can involve different requirements. A product suitable for one set of circumstances is not automatically suitable for every annual-return item you might have.
HMRC's software guidance allows different approaches, including software connected to existing spreadsheets. Check the complete workflow: importing or recording transactions, reviewing the quarterly summary, submitting it, making corrections and completing the annual return.
Try a representative sample that includes a refund, a private transaction, a cash item and an awkward bank description. Ask how the system handles a missing period and how you export records if you leave. These questions are more informative than a long feature list.
Software support and professional tax advice are different services. Confirm who answers each kind of question, when help is available and what the quoted fee covers. Avona.app's entry-level self-service price is £15/month; professional services and additional product capabilities should be checked against the current scope rather than assumed to be included.
A review that checks more than the total
Start with coverage: the correct person, business and period, plus all relevant accounts and cash records. Then look at completeness. A feed can be connected today while still missing an earlier week. Confirm the earliest and latest transactions against the source.
Next, inspect unusual items. Large transfers, loan receipts, refunds, net settlements and private purchases often need more context than a bank description provides. Check for duplicate imports where a statement overlaps a live feed. An automatic warning is useful evidence to investigate, not proof that the entry must be removed.
Finally, review category totals. A category unexpectedly showing zero, a large increase or a negative amount deserves an explanation. You do not have to make every annual tax adjustment at this stage, but you should understand the records behind the summary you approve.
HMRC explains what quarterly updates contain. Keep the approved version and the resulting acknowledgement together. If something later changes, correct the source record and use the software's supported update process so you can explain which figures are current.
Where this fits into Making Tax Digital
For 2026/27, the first mandatory phase generally covers individuals whose combined qualifying self-employment and property income was more than £50,000 in 2024/25, subject to exemptions. Qualifying income normally means income before expenses. It is a different figure from taxable profit. Check the qualifying-income rules.
Once within MTD, keep the required digital records and send quarterly summaries for each relevant business. The summaries are cumulative from the start of the reporting year. They do not contain your entire personal tax position, and sending one does not itself create a quarterly tax-payment demand.
HMRC does not require accounting or tax adjustments before each quarterly update. Those adjustments and the other information needed for the annual return still have to be completed at the appropriate stage. Keep a review list so a matter deferred until year end is not forgotten. Read HMRC's quarterly-update guidance.
Software can organise the information, but the business facts remain essential. Review the figures you approve rather than assuming that a successful import has also settled every tax question.
Choose for the routine you will maintain
Ask what is included, what requires another service and how you get help. Trial the awkward transactions as well as the easy ones. The best sign of simplicity is that you understand the figures and know what to do next.
Take the next step
Avona.app offers a self-service route from £15/month. Bring your records together, review the figures and choose a workflow that fits your business. For professional help, discuss the scope and total price of Avona Concierge, managed by chartered accountants, before choosing a service.