Cloud Accounting Software
FreeAgent Accountants in York
FreeAgent is the cloud accounting platform we recommend for sole traders, freelancers, and small limited companies. It puts invoicing, expenses, MTD, bank reconciliation, VAT, and Self Assessment into one clean dashboard without requiring an accountancy background. The tax estimate visible at all times is the feature clients talk about most: no guessing what you owe HMRC in January.
In a nutshell: We’re FreeAgent-certified accountants. We set it up, configure it for the way your business works, and manage it on your behalf, or train you to handle the day-to-day yourself while we take care of the year-end.
What FreeAgent does
FreeAgent is a full cloud accounting platform designed with smaller businesses and sole traders in mind:
- Bank feeds - transactions are imported directly from your bank, matched against invoices, and categorised automatically. Reconciliation is quick rather than a manual exercise.
- Invoicing - raise, send, and track invoices from within FreeAgent, with automated payment reminders for overdue accounts.
- Expense recording - capture and categorise expenses, including mileage logging for sole traders who claim the approved mileage rate.
- Payroll - FreeAgent has a simple payroll offering - great for director only payroll.
- Tax estimate - FreeAgent calculates your estimated tax liability in real time as the year progresses. You always know roughly what you owe before the Self Assessment deadline arrives.
- VAT returns - MTD for VAT is built in. Returns are prepared from the live records and filed directly to HMRC.
- MTD for Income Tax - for sole traders and landlords, FreeAgent is HMRC approved and really simple to use. It has a dedicated Landlord offering.
- Corporation Tax - FreeAgent provides a corporation tax estimate throughout the year.
- Time recording & Project Accounting - A bonus feature if you record time for your invoicing, or like to know if your customer projects are profitable.
For clients who use us for Sole Trader Accounts or Personal Tax Return preparation, FreeAgent is the data source that makes the process smooth at both ends.
Why FreeAgent suits sole traders and small businesses
FreeAgent was built with self-employed people and small businesses in mind. It doesn’t have the breadth of Xero’s ecosystem, but for many businesses that breadth is unnecessary. What FreeAgent does exceptionally well is present a clear, accessible picture of income, expenses, VAT position, and tax estimate to someone who isn’t a bookkeeper.
The mobile app is well-rated and genuinely usable for recording expenses and sending invoices on the go. For tradespeople, freelancers, driving instructors, and sole-practitioner consultants who keep their own records, FreeAgent is the platform most likely to be used day to day.
FreeAgent is also free for NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Mettle business banking customers, which removes the subscription cost entirely for eligible clients.
For limited companies with more complex needs — multiple income streams, payroll, management accounts, add-on tools - Xero is usually the better choice.
Making Tax Digital and FreeAgent
FreeAgent is fully MTD-compatible for VAT. For Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, which applies to sole traders and landlords above the qualifying income threshold from April 2026, FreeAgent supports the quarterly digital update and final declaration workflow. It’s one of the most MTD-ready platforms for the self-employed, and for clients approaching the income threshold, getting onto FreeAgent now means the MTD obligation lands without disruption.
What we do in FreeAgent for clients
Depending on what you need, we can handle:
- Setup and migration - configuring FreeAgent from scratch, connecting bank feeds, setting up the chart of accounts, VAT settings, and Self Assessment preferences correctly.
- Ongoing bookkeeping - bank reconciliation, expense coding, invoice management. See Bookkeeping for the full service.
- VAT returns - prepared from the live FreeAgent data and filed via MTD. See VAT.
- MTD for Income Tax - we can prepare or review your quarterly MTD returns for you.
- Training - if you’d prefer to run FreeAgent yourself with us taking the year-end, we get you set up and confident on the platform in a couple of sessions. See Software Training.
Frequently asked questions
The subscription has a monthly cost - current pricing at freeagent.com. However, FreeAgent is free for NatWest, RBS, and Mettle business banking customers, which covers a significant proportion of small business owners. Ask us if you’re eligible.
FreeAgent is simpler, more accessible, and particularly well-suited to sole traders and small limited companies. Xero has a broader ecosystem of add-ons and integrations and is typically the better fit for growing limited companies with employees, more complex reporting needs, or specific third-party integrations. Both are fully MTD-compliant. We’ll recommend the right one for your situation when you get in touch.
Yes. FreeAgent’s MTD for VAT submission is direct - returns are filed through FreeAgent to HMRC without bridging software. The MTD for Income Tax (quarterly updates) capability is also included for sole traders and landlords who come into scope from April 2026.
Yes. We do a FreeAgent health check for new clients - reviewing the bank feed connections, checking VAT settings, looking at the categorisation of past transactions, and making sure the records are in a state that produces accurate reporting. From there, we either take over the ongoing bookkeeping or train you on maintaining it yourself.
Ready to get FreeAgent working properly for your business?
Three ways to start. Whichever’s easiest.
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