Do I need an accountant as a sole trader?

No, you don't have to have one. Plenty of sole traders do their own Self Assessment and manage fine. But a good accountant often pays for themselves by saving you tax, time and mistakes. Whether it's worth it comes down to how complicated your money is, how much time you've got, and how comfortable you are with the numbers.

Here's the honest version, with no sales pitch.

What an accountant actually does

A decent accountant does more than fill in a form once a year. They can:

• Sort your Self Assessment tax return and file it on time

• Make sure you claim every expense you're allowed to

• Keep you the right side of HMRC and the rules

• Tell you what to put by for tax so there's no nasty January shock

• Give you a steer on whether to stay a sole trader or go limited

• Handle VAT if you're registered

The bit people underrate is the tax they save you. Loads of sole traders miss expenses they could claim, use of home, mileage, tools, protective gear, part of the phone bill. A good accountant knows what's allowed and often claws back more than their fee costs you.

What you can do yourself

You can do the lot yourself, and for a simple setup it's very doable.

If you're a straightforward sole trader, one income, no VAT, not many expenses, Self Assessment isn't the beast people think. You register with HMRC, keep your records through the year, and file online. HMRC's own guidance walks you through it and it's free.

The catch is always the same: records. If you keep clean records as you go, doing your own return is a couple of tidy evenings. If you shove receipts in the glovebox and face a shoebox every January, it's a nightmare, and that's when mistakes creep in.

Roughly what it costs

For a sole trader, an accountant to do your annual Self Assessment and accounts typically runs somewhere from about £150 to £400 a year, depending on how messy things are and where you are. Add VAT returns or bookkeeping and it climbs.

Weigh it against what you get back. If they save you a few hundred quid in tax and a weekend of your life, and stop you fumbling a return and copping a penalty, it's easily worth it. If your affairs are dead simple and you're happy with the numbers, that money might be better in your pocket.

There's no medal for paying for one, and no shame in doing it yourself. It's just what suits your situation.

Good digital records make either route cheaper

Here's the thing that matters most, whichever way you go.

If your records are tidy and digital, doing it yourself is quick and doing it with an accountant is cheap. Accountants often charge by how much sorting your books need. Hand them a clean set of records and the bill's smaller. Hand them a carrier bag of faded receipts and you're paying them to do detective work.

So keep it simple all year:

• Log your income and expenses as they happen, not in a panic later

• Snap and keep every receipt, don't rely on the paper lasting

• Track your mileage as you go

• Set aside your tax money as it comes in

Do that and the yearly return, DIY or not, stops being a dreaded chore.

MTD means tidy records matter even more

There's a change coming you'll want to be ready for. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax means sole traders over certain income thresholds will need to keep digital records and send HMRC updates through the year using compatible software, instead of one return every January.

It's being brought in in stages, so check gov.uk for when it hits your income level. But the direction is clear. The days of a shoebox and a spreadsheet in January are ending. Keeping proper digital records isn't just tidier now, it's going to be the rules.

The good news: if you're already logging things digitally as you go, MTD is barely a change for you. The people it'll hurt are the ones still doing it all last minute on paper.

FAQ

Is it a legal requirement to have an accountant? No. You can legally do your own Self Assessment. An accountant is a choice, not a rule.

When's it really worth paying for one? When your money gets complicated, you register for VAT, you're weighing up going limited, or you just haven't got the time or the head for it. Also worth it if they're saving you more tax than they cost.

Can I switch to doing it myself later? Yes. Loads of people use an accountant while they find their feet, then take it on themselves once they're confident and their records are tidy.

What records do I need to keep either way? Your income, your business expenses with receipts, your mileage, and anything else HMRC might want to see. Keep it digital and keep it as you go.

Making the records bit easy

Whether you get an accountant or go it alone, it all rests on decent records. That's the part TradePilot takes off your plate.

It keeps your invoices, expenses and mileage tidy on your phone as you work, so your figures are ready whenever you need them, MTD included. It's the simple, all-in-one app for quoting, invoicing and chasing payment, built for sole traders, and it keeps your books straight while it's at it.

The app's not live yet. Join the waiting list for early access and we'll let you know the moment you can jump in.