QuickBooks Sole Trader

QuickBooks Sole Trader is Intuit's answer to the same problem Sage built Sole Trader for: several million self employed people in the UK are being moved onto quarterly digital reporting for Income Tax, and most of them have never used accounting software. This is the stripped back version of QuickBooks aimed at exactly that person.

What it does well

Mileage tracking is the standout and it is better than most rivals. The mobile app detects trips automatically and lets you swipe to classify them as business or personal. For a tradesperson, a driving instructor or anyone else clocking serious mileage, the tax relief recovered typically exceeds the subscription several times over, and that is a rare thing to be able to say about software.

Receipt capture is quick and the categorisation is drawn from the same engine that powers the full product, so it improves as you use it. The Self Assessment view maps your income and expenses to the boxes on the return, which turns a January panic into something closer to a review.

At £108 a year excluding VAT on the annual plan, it sits at the affordable end for what it does, and there is a 30 day free trial.

Where it falls short

It is genuinely limited, and that is the design. There is no double entry ledger, no VAT return, no payroll and no balance sheet. The moment you register for VAT or incorporate, you are moving to Simple Start or higher, and you should check how cleanly your history comes with you before you commit two years of records.

Unlike Sage, Intuit does not offer a free tier for non VAT registered sole traders. If cost is the deciding factor and your affairs are simple, that comparison is worth making directly.

The AI features carry a BETA label and a monthly query limit, so treat them as a bonus rather than a reason to buy.

The UK detail that matters

This is built for the UK Self Assessment regime and Intuit lists it as HMRC recognised for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Quarterly updates, the tax estimate and the year end position are the whole point of the product. Prices exclude VAT at 20 percent.

Who should buy it

Self employed people with significant business mileage, where the automatic trip tracking alone justifies the cost. If you do not drive much for work, compare it against Sage Sole Trader, which has a free tier for non VAT registered traders and covers the same compliance obligation.