Bookkeeping for sole traders

You did not become a plumber, a designer, a driving instructor or a consultant because you wanted a second unpaid job doing paperwork on Sunday nights. Yet that is what bookkeeping becomes for most sole traders: a guilt pile that grows all year and detonates in January.

We built Elizabeth Bookkeeping to take that job off you without taking the control away from you.

How it works

You send things as they happen. Photograph a receipt, forward an invoice from your email, upload a bank statement. No sorting, no spreadsheets, no "I'll deal with it at the weekend".

The books build themselves — under supervision. Our working model is simple and we apply it to every single entry: AI drafts. AgentLedger validates. People approve. The AI reads the document and proposes the double-entry bookkeeping; AgentLedger, our ledger engine, mechanically checks that the entry balances and lands in real accounts; and a person approves, corrects or queries it in line with the review plan agreed for your account. Nothing stands in your books on the software's say-so alone.

You see where you stand, all year. Income, expenses, profit so far, who owes you money — visible whenever you want to look, not reconstructed once a year.

Who this suits

The service is built for working sole traders of every kind: tradespeople juggling merchant receipts and CIS statements, drivers and couriers with mileage to log, creatives and consultants invoicing a handful of clients, market traders and makers with stock to track. If your records currently live in a glove box, an email inbox and a drawer, you are exactly who we had in mind.

What that gives you at tax time

Because the records are complete and continuous, Self Assessment stops being archaeology: your figures are ready to review rather than assemble. Expense categories are claimed consistently — travel, use of home, tools and materials, insurance, phone — each one a human-approved entry with its evidence attached.

It also means you are already standing where HMRC is pointing. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax brings digital records and quarterly updates to sole traders with gross income over £50,000 from April 2026 (over £30,000 from April 2027). Records kept our way are digital from the moment they arrive, so MTD becomes a formality rather than a scramble.

What it costs

Sole trader circumstances vary too much for one honest flat price — a cash-based window cleaner and a CIS subcontractor with three income streams are different jobs. So we quote individually: tell us about the business, and we will confirm exactly what we would do and exactly what it would cost, in writing, before you commit to anything.

What happens when you ask for details

1. You tell us about the business. A few plain questions — what you do, roughly how many transactions a month, what tax obligations you have. No documents needed at this stage.
2. We confirm scope and price. You get it in writing: what is included, what is not, and the exact price for your situation.
3. You decide. No payment is taken at this stage, and sending an enquiry commits you to nothing — an enquiry is not an acceptance, by you or by us.

Ask for Details