For sole traders - such as Pilates instructors, dog walkers, photographers and handymen - who travel to work and operate on a cash basis. This tool tracks your income, mileage and other business expenses and works out your monthly and yearly profit, along with many other insights and reference to Self Assessment.
Show an example to see how it works:
This planner is for sole traders (self-employed individuals), not limited companies. It uses the cash basis (count money in and out when it's received or paid), Class 4 NI, and HMRC simplified mileage. It is not tax advice; check with HMRC or an accountant.
Tax isn't a business cost, so it doesn't change your profit or expenses. Setting some money aside for tax makes sure you have enough to pay when you do your Self Assessment.
| Name | Category | Colour |
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Add the clients or places you visit regularly, each with a colour - they show as a coloured dropdown everywhere. One-off ones you type in via the "+ One-off…" option in any dropdown. Give each an optional category (Client, Venue, Place - or make up your own) to filter a long list.
| Date | How charged | Description | Client / place | Rate £ | Qty | Paid by | Amount £ |
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Regular or repeating income (weekly classes, retainers, memberships)? Add it under Recurring income & costs instead.
Mixed payments (some paid card, some cash)? Add two lines - one for the card takings, one for the cash - using the duplicate button (⧉). The card/online fee then only applies to the card line.
| Type | Category / client | Description | Every | From | To | Amount £ | Missed | Times | Total |
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Regular income, a hall you rent, a monthly subscription. Recurring travel/mileage goes in the Travel & mileage section just below. Log any missed weeks under Missed.
Add each vehicle and pick simplified mileage or actual running costs - one method per car. Capital allowances apply to cars only (vans and other kit are deducted in full under Other expenses). The cost you enter is added to your Assets automatically.
🚩 Simplified mileage: HMRC's rate is 45p/mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p - the 10,000 count resets on 6 April each year. If you claim mileage you can't also claim fuel or running costs for the same vehicle.
| From | To | Distance (miles) | Every | From date | To date | Missed | Times | Miles |
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| Date | From | To | Distance (miles) | Trips | Total miles |
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| Date | Venue / room | Sessions | Cost each £ | Total £ |
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| Date | Category | Description | Amount £ |
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Categories match the Self Assessment expense boxes, so your dashboard totals line up with your tax return. Only claim the business share.
Export a CSV statement from your bank and drop it in. It's read in your browser - nothing is uploaded. Tick the business transactions, check the suggested category, and add them. Anything that already matches a logged entry - by exact amount and a nearby date (within about 10 days, so a bank "pending" delay won't double-count) - is flagged and left unticked so you don't double up. You can add several statements one after another.
| Which regular route / cost | Date | Reason |
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Each entry removes one occurrence from that regular route or cost.
| Item | Bought | Cost £ | Depr %/yr | Value now £ | Or type value £ |
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A record of what your business owns - van, tools, laptop - useful for insurance and knowing what your business is worth. "Value now" depreciates automatically at the %/year you set (reducing-balance) - or type your own figure in the last column to override it. This is purely for your net-worth picture and never changes your tax: on the cash basis, kit you buy is claimed as an expense when you pay for it (log that under Expenses); cars use mileage instead.
These feed into the estimate below. Pension payments widen your basic-rate band; a brought-forward loss reduces taxable profit; the £1,000 trading allowance can replace your expenses when that's better. CIS tax a contractor already deducted comes off your final bill. Use of home can be a simplified flat rate (£10-£26/month by hours) instead of working out actual costs. Class 2 NI is treated as paid automatically once profit tops about £6,845; below that you can pay it voluntarily to protect your State Pension.
| Date / week | What for | Hours |
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Log the hours you actually worked (incl. travel & set-up) - each row can be a day or a whole week. Your real hourly rate uses the total. Tip: use the duplicate button (⧉) to copy a row.
These feed the Real hourly rate, break-even/goal and year-on-year lines in your numbers below.
Your recurring income & costs, spread across the weeks. Changing an amount updates your totals (changed ones are highlighted) - handy for costs like fuel that vary. The tick is just to mark it done; it doesn't change any numbers. Today is highlighted.
| Date | What | Type | Amount £ | Done |
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Unlock the full dashboard: monthly & yearly totals, by client/place, your Self-Assessment box totals, business vs your pay, charts, CSV export, and the tax / VAT / reinvest / draw split. One-off unlock via Ko-fi.
Unlock on Ko-fi| Month | Income | Expenses | Profit | Your pay | Pay to date |
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| Type | Income | % |
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| Box | Total |
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| Name | Income | Direct costs | After direct |
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| Category | Total | % |
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Bars = monthly net = income minus expenses each month (green surplus, red deficit). The line running balance adds them up across the year. By default this is before your own pay. Tick after your pay to also subtract what you pay yourself to see what's left in the business. Tax & NI is not displayed in this graph and still needs to be accounted for. Untick a series to focus on one. Untick Separate axes to plot both on the same scale.
Cumulative (year-to-date) income and expenses for each Making Tax Digital quarter. Based on your dated income, expenses, mileage, venue and recurring items. Year-end adjustments (use-of-home, capital allowances, losses, the trading allowance) go on the final declaration, not the quarterly updates.
Also from Fawnly: Invoice & quote maker - make, send & track invoices →
Cash basis counts money when it is taken out or received. Traditional (accruals) counts it when it is earned or owed (the day you invoice, the day a bill arrives). This tool uses the cash basis. Since 6 April 2024 cash basis is the default for sole traders. If you invoice and get paid weeks later, carry stock or use proper accounting software this tool is not for you.
A Profit & Loss (or "income statement") shows your income minus expenses over a period. A balance sheet is a snapshot of what you own (assets) and owe (liabilities) at a point in time. As a cash-basis sole trader you don't need a balance sheet for tax - the P&L is what matters. This tool gives you the P&L.
If an earlier year made a loss (expenses more than income), you can carry it forward and set it against this year's profit to reduce your tax. It doesn't change this year's P&L. Enter it under "Tax return extras" and you'll see it applied in the "For your tax return" box.
These are HMRC's simplified expenses flat monthly rates for working from home, set by how many hours a month you work there: £10 for 25-50 hours, £18 for 51-100 hours, and £26 for 101 hours or more. If you work less than 25 hours a month from home you can't use the flat rate (claim £0, or work out the actual business share of your bills and log under expenses). This rate saves you splitting household bills by room and time.
HMRC's simplified rate: 45p per business mile for your first 10,000 miles in the tax year, then 25p. The 10,000 count resets on 6 April each year. If you claim mileage, you can't also claim fuel or running costs for that vehicle.
For each vehicle you claim either HMRC's simplified mileage (45p/25p) or the business-use % of its actual running costs (fuel, insurance, tax, servicing, repairs). You cannot claim both for the same vehicle, and once you pick a method you keep it for that vehicle. On the actual-costs route you can also claim capital allowances, but only on cars. Vans and other equipment don't use capital allowances on the cash basis; you deduct their full cost the year you buy them, under Other expenses.
HMRC's simplified mileage rates aren't just for cars. For business travel on your own bicycle you can claim 20p a mile, and on a motorcycle 24p a mile. There is no drop after 10,000 miles (cars and vans are 45p then 25p). Similar to claiming for cars, it's one method or the other: the flat mileage rate or your actual running costs, never both. If you cycle or ride a motorbike for work, total those miles separately (miles × 20p or 24p) and enter the amount under Expenses as a travel cost.
A few things differ. You generally can't claim capital allowances on the cash basis except for cars - other equipment (tools, a laptop, a van) is simply deducted in full in the year you pay for it, under other expenses. Losses can be carried forward against future profits of the same trade (though relief against other income is more limited than on accruals). HMRC's simplified expenses (mileage at 45p/25p and the flat-rate use-of-home) work in both modes.
Tag each income line, trip and venue with a client / place, and the "Income by client / place" chart shows what each one brings in.
Processing fees are a business expense under Bank & financial charges on your Self-Assessment. Set your card and online fee % in setup and mark income as paid by card/online; the fee is worked out and added for you.
Business journeys are allowable - driving to clients, jobs, temporary sites, and between workplaces. But being self-employed doesn't make every trip claimable: travel from home to a regular, predictable place of work can be treated as ordinary commuting and disallowed, just as it is for employees (HMRC won this argument in the Samadian case). Rules of thumb: trips to varied clients or venues, or to temporary sites, are fine; driving to the same fixed base every day (one gym, one rented chair or unit) may count as a commute; and if your home is genuinely your business base, journeys out from it are allowable. The tool counts whatever miles you log as business miles, so it's up to you to leave out any pure commuting. If in doubt, keep records and check with an accountant.
It's an automatic estimate of what your kit is worth today, reduced by the %/year you set. It's purely for your own net-worth and insurance picture and does not affect your tax.
Tax and National Insurance are due on your profit, not on what you pay yourself. The dashboard estimates a monthly amount to set aside - based on your months so far, scaled to a full year - so the January bill isn't a shock.
The 5th of October after your first tax year you must register as self-employed with HMRC. The 31st of January you must file your online return and pay the tax for the year that ended the previous 5 April (so 2026/27 is due 31 Jan 2028). If your bill is over £1,000, you'll also make payments on account. VAT registration becomes compulsory once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 months.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is HMRC's new system that replaces the once-a-year Self-Assessment with quarterly digital updates sent from compatible software, plus a final year-end declaration. It's being phased in by income level: from April 2026 if your self-employment and property income together are over £50,000; from April 2027 if over £30,000; and from April 2028 if over £20,000. Below those figures you carry on with the normal annual return for now. If it applies to you, you'll need to keep digital records and file every quarter (roughly 7 Aug, 7 Nov, 7 Feb and 7 May). This tool isn't MTD filing software - you'd submit through an HMRC-recognised app or your accountant.
Your tax year runs from the 6th of April to the 5th of April, but you don't pay the tax on it until the 31st of January after that year ends. So, tax on 2026/27 (which ended 5 April 2027) isn't due until 31 January 2028. The safest habit is to save a bit every month as you earn, into a separate pot, so the bill is already covered by January. Set a "start saving from" date and target in Setup and the tool works out the monthly amount.
You're taxed on your business profit, whatever you pay yourself. Your "pay" is money you draw from after-tax profit (drawings) - it's not a deductible salary and doesn't lower your tax.
Turnover is your total income. Profit is turnover minus allowable expenses. Taxable profit is that profit after adjustments (losses brought forward, the £1,000 trading allowance, VAT).
Once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 months; below that it's optional. The tool flags it as you get close.
They are advanced payments towards next year's tax bill (HMRC assumes next year will be similar to this year). It starts if your self-assessment tax bill was over £1,000. This tends to be the case when profit is over ~£16.4k. Class 2 NI and student loan aren't included in payments on account, but Class 4 NI is.
Pay your Self Assessment tax bill
Payments on account
Understand your Self Assessment bill
Self Assessment tax returns
Register as a sole trader
HMRC: set up as a sole trader
This tool also comes as two formatted Excel workbooks - the full planner, and an MTD version with a quarterly-summary tab. Both are included with your Ko-fi unlock of this tool - you'll get the download links with your code.
Unlock on Ko-fi - includes both workbooks →General information to help you plan, not financial or tax advice. Figures are estimates on the cash basis for a sole trader; check HMRC and your own records for Self Assessment. Stored only in your browser on this device.