Free tools to make tax easier

What each tool is for

Six things, each built to answer one question quickly. None of them asks for your email first.

Tax calculators. Work out roughly what you will owe before the bill arrives. Useful at two moments in particular: when you are deciding how much to set aside each month, and when you are weighing up whether to take a payment this side of 5 April or the other.

What can I claim. The question we are asked more than any other. It walks through the categories that apply to your situation rather than giving you a generic list, which matters because the answer for a tradesperson and the answer for a consultant have very little in common.

Making Tax Digital checker. Tells you whether you are in the regime and from when. Worth using even if you think you know, because the test is on qualifying income, which is turnover before expenses from self employment and property combined. A landlord with £28,000 of rent and £25,000 of consultancy is already in it.

Free checklists. What to gather before a tax return, a set of company accounts or a VAT return. Most of the pain in these jobs is hunting for documents, and a list turns a weekend into an afternoon.

Key tax deadlines. Every date that matters in one calendar, including the ones people forget: the 5 October registration deadline, payments on account on 31 July, the 14 day confirmation statement window, and the quarterly Making Tax Digital dates of 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May.

CIS refund check. If you are a subcontractor with 20% taken off your labour, you are very likely due money back. This gives you an idea of how much before you start the claim.

The four dates worth putting in your calendar today

• 5 October following the tax year you started trading. The deadline to register for Self Assessment. Your reference then takes about 15 days to arrive by post.
• 31 January. Online return and the balancing payment, plus the first payment on account if your bill is over £1,000.
• 31 July. The second payment on account.
• 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May if you are in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

Three numbers behind most of the tools

£1,000. The trading allowance. Below that in gross side income you generally need not tell HMRC at all. Above it you either deduct the allowance or claim your actual expenses, not both.

£90,000. The VAT registration threshold, measured on a rolling 12 months and checked monthly rather than at your year end.

£50,000. The qualifying income level that brought the first group into Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on 6 April 2026. It falls to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

Where a calculator stops being enough

These tools give you a good answer to a clear question. They are not a substitute for advice when the question is not clear, and it is worth knowing where that line sits.

If you have more than one income source, property, capital gains, crypto, income from abroad, or a company where salary and dividends interact, the arithmetic is the easy part and the structure is the hard part. Same if your income is near £100,000, where the personal allowance taper creates a 60% effective rate and the right move is often a pension contribution rather than a calculation.

If a tool here gives you an answer that surprises you, that is usually the moment to ask rather than to accept it.

All of our free tools are built to help UK sole traders, landlords, contractors and small businesses stay organised and a step ahead of HMRC, with no sign up and nothing to pay. Pick a tool below to get started.

• Fifteen UK tax calculators in one
• What can I claim, a guided expense checker
• Making Tax Digital readiness checker
• Free downloadable tax checklists
• The UK tax deadline centre
• More than sixty free UK tax guides