Ask HN: Sole Trader accounting

5 points·perspective··4 comments

I'm in the UK and will soon be setting up as a sole trader to legitimately manage the freelance work I do outside of my day job. Can anyone recommend an accounts package or software for the bookkeeping? At the moment my options seem to be Excel (and I'm not sure what I need to store) or GNUCash (which seems more for personal accounting). Any suggestions welcome, I just don't want to get fined a year down the line!

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I use FreeAgentCentral it is a web app, uk based very good, deals with VAT etc etc correctly and can do your tax return online

Wow, that looks pretty slick, and the pricing seems reasonable too. How long have you used it for? Ever had any big problems with it?

Sage Line 50 is the standard package for most small business'.

How much are you willing to spend?

I don't have all that much money to play with at this point, so really I'm looking for something cheap

Interestingly, I write software for Sage Line 50 as part of my day job, and can get bleeding edge developer editions, unlimited license keys etc. It is a bit overboard for what I want to do though - and FreeAgentCentral suggested above seems to do all of the accounting stuff, plus some smart project/time management features which IMO make it worth £15/month - although in the fullness of time this will no doubt be the more expensive option.

Great suggestion though, I hadn't actually thought of that! (Couldn't see the wood for the trees I suppose :)

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