Intuit has announced the launch of QuickBooks Sole Trader in the UK market. The solution was first launched in the US in February this year. It is called QuickBooks Solopreneur for the US market. However, the solution has undergone extensive localisation for the UK market since then. It therefore made sense to rename the product.
The Sole Trader software solution is a comprehensive cloud-based tax and accounts solution that will meet the needs of sole traders across several industries in the UK. It supports landlords with single property income and construction businesses with income under £90,000. The solution has several features powered by AI and is priced for that market.
QuickBooks Sole Trader is available for £5 per month for the first sixth months and £10 per month after that. For VAT-registered companies, there is QuickBooks Simple Start. This starts at £7 per month for the first sixth months and £10 per month after that. Simple Start includes several VAT capabilities, including the ability to submit VAT to HMRC.
Underpinning QuickBooks Sole Trader is the Intuit Business Platform, a cloud-based solution that has supported SMEs for years and has AI embedded throughout. Sole Traders will now be able to benefit from some of the relevant AI-powered to help run their business.
The solution will increase administration efficiency and enable sole traders to free up time to earn revenue. It enables sole traders to manage receipts, mileage, expenses, bank transactions, invoices, and tax calculations in a single place. For people on the move, the mobile application gives them a modern user experience for these features.
Why this matters
From April 2026, self-employed individuals earning more than 50,000 a year will have to maintain digital records. The original deadline was delayed from April 2024, and it does not look as though it will be delayed again.
For those earning between 30,000 and 50,000, the deadline for digital records is April 2027. In addition, those keeping individual records will have to provide quarterly updates on their income and expenditure to HMRC through MTD-compatible software. QuickBooks Sole Trader can provide this functionality. It will ensure that the digital accounting powered by AI is in line with HMRC guidelines. Thus enabling them to better manage expenses and income, with the ability to reconcile bank transactions, generate tax estimates and submit updates.
In addition, the government announced in the recent budget that it intends to extend the requirement to sign up for MTD for ITSA to those with eligible incomes greater than £20,000. However, no set date has been given for when this will be rolled out.
The government expects “780,000 people with business or property income over £50,000 will join the MTD for ITSA service in from April 2026 with a further 970,000 joining from April 2027.”
Intuit estimates that there are 2.8 million sole traders and landlords who are set to be affected by MTD for Income Tax. In comparison, ByteStart estimates there are a total of 3.1m sole traders, 2.1 active limited companies and 356,000 standard partnerships.
Nick Williams, Product Director at Intuit QuickBooks, says, “Sole traders are amongst the largest community that do not use accounting software, yet they must create an accurate income tax self-assessment every year and prepare for MTD, which will involve quarterly submissions. QuickBooks has been helping small and medium businesses prepare for MTD since 2018 and our new Sole Trader offering provides clear value for both individuals and their accounting professionals, helping them work together to meet tax obligations, manage money, save time, and grow.”
What is in Sole Trader
QuickBooks Sole Trader provides a complete set of functionality with services that will support the implementation. The benefits include:
AI-Driven Automation:
AI helps by automatically separating personal and business bank transactions, categorising business and personal expenses, and estimating income tax while connecting multiple bank accounts.
Mobile & Cloud Access:
The QuickBooks mobile application is available on iOS and Android. It allows users to manage receipts, track mileage, and create invoices on the go.
Built for Sole Traders in construction:
It is designed to meet the needs of sole traders, including construction industry CIS capabilities for subcontractors and support for managing property income for single-property-owner landlords. The platform simplifies construction industry deductions and property income management while offering a scalable platform for growth. Note that the basic plan only includes the ability to track CIS as a subcontractor.
Built for single property owners:
It is designed to meet the needs of sole traders, including those managing property income for single property owner landlords. The platform simplifies property income management while offering a scalable platform for growth.
MTD for Income Tax Ready (coming soon):
Stay ahead of tax changes and prepare for quarterly submissions and year-end tax filing through HMRC-recognised software.
Accountant Collaboration:
Connect QuickBooks Sole Trader with an accounting professional at no extra charge to ensure accuracy and receive professional support. Accounting professionals can extract data and reconcile it for account production through QuickBooks Online Accountant.
Built for Growth:
The platform features a simple user interface, keeping the complexity of bookkeeping hidden but making it visible for accounting professionals. This ensures that sole traders can easily navigate the system. At the same time, the sophisticated QuickBooks Online backend allows businesses to effortlessly scale and integrate additional capabilities on Intuit’s business platform as they grow.
Support Services:
All plans include free email, online and phone support. The Simple Start plan includes an onboarding session.
Emma Longley, owner of ECL Coaching, a Kent-based leadership coaching consultancy, comments, “I was looking for software to help set up my business. This is my first foray into being self-employed. I know nothing about accountancy and have never used any software of this kind before. Money was coming in so I was trying to keep track of everything in a spreadsheet, but I didn’t know how to organise it.
“I recently commissioned an accountant, so I wanted to find a system that they could access easily too. QuickBooks Sole Trader has helped me organise and get into good habits. It’s simple, straightforward and easy to use, connects with my personal and business bank accounts and gives me prompts suggesting how transactions should be categorised. I love that it’s modern AI technology, but with a really easy display and built-in guidance, that will grow with me.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
This is the latest version of QuickBooks Accounting software for MSMEs. It launched QuickBooks self-employed in 2015 and has a very easy upgrade path through its more advanced solution. Sole Trader’s Simple Start option also includes the ability to add employees to the payroll from £/month.
Businesses will need to carefully consider what administration challenges they have against what each QuickBooks solution has available. Importantly, QuickBooks can support a business that has the intention to grow without the huge upgrade and reinstall cost that they might incur if they selected a dedicated sole trader solution.
Key to this launch is the price point which is impressively low for the value that it delivers and the upgrade capability it offers.
