accounting software for Sole Trader

marley123

Hi All,

I will be contracting to a co. & want to set up as a sole trader. Is there any accounting software that I can use for tax etc ?

bruce wayne

there are lots, do you want cloud based or installed ?

some cloud based
www.xero.com
www.freeagent.com
www.kashflow.com
www.usebullit.com (New Irish based - still in beta though)

I'm sure there are more

marley123

Am looking for a "Cloud" one that will work out tax I need to pay? Any idea ? need an irish based one

stiffy

Hi Marley,

A friend of mine recommended Express Invoice. I just started using the free version. I have no problems with it and its fairly simple to use (so far). I think in the paid version you can setup web access.

Hope it helps

bruce wayne

give www.usebullit.com a look, they are Irish and their taxation side of things looks pretty good, including a tax schedule to tell you when returns should be made and creation of ROS files for uploading.

take a look they have a demo company for you play with, see what you think

Eoin

I know a cloud based one that's designed for Irish sole traders, but I'm connected to the company. PM me if you want the link.

rolion

http://www.virtualaccountant.ie/

Herbalist

Some good suggestions above. If you are a sole trader and looking for accounts you will need something to track income and expenditure, bank accounts and reconcilliation, invoices, vat, aged debtors and creditors reports and your financial repororts (P & L, Balance Sheet, TRial Balance). This will allow you to stay on top of your business and cahsflow and to run your own reports at any time. Looking after the bulk of this yourself also may reduce accountant fees as they have less to do with the data you give to them at their end.

If you want a cloud based accounting package Sage One Accounts may suit. It is cloud based and will look after all the basics including calculating what vat you need to pay. You set up your vat rates and then when you enter your customer and supplier invoices it will calculate the vat for you from that. You can get a free trial at www.sageone.ie

I am connected to the company.

Fries-With-That

bruce wayne wrote: »

give www.usebullit.com a look, they are Irish and their taxation side of things looks pretty good, including a tax schedule to tell you when returns should be made and creation of ROS files for uploading.

take a look they have a demo company for you play with, see what you think

Thanks for this link.

www.usebullet.com is proper link otherwise you get an error page and a redirect which takes 3-5 seconds to take you to the website.

Site looks good and I may settle on that one when I dip my toe into the small business world in march.

Kristopherus

Here is a lovely little Excel program that ideally suited to small cash-based businesses. If you are starting out the one bit of advice you should heed is KISS. Most commercial accounting programs are bloated up with every bell & whistle you could find, and you certainly will not use. Below is a link to that Excel program. I have no connection with mytax, except as a user of their program. They are not my avccountants. It now costs €14.95. I got it when it was free:)

http://www.mytax.ie/excel-bookkeeping-spreadsheet/

MOH

I tried a few last year and ended up settling for GnuCash. It's a bit American in terminology sometimes, but in terms of basic bookkeeping I found it the most straightforward to use. That said, it may not provide all the functionality you need.