Clear Books is the ledger for a UK sole trader, landlord, or small company. You record income and expenses, send invoices, and file to HMRC from this file. Paid plans add bank feeds and bill and receipt capture. MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates are on the free sole trader and property plans. MTD VAT submissions are on Sole Trader Plus and on the Medium and Large organisation plans. The site has said it is UK software since 2008.

Xero and QuickBooks Online are the ledgers many accountants already know. Kick is a US replacement ledger. Dext, Hubdoc, and Veryfi capture documents and publish them into Xero or QuickBooks Online. Nanonets and DocuClipper extract invoices or statements for those same files. Clear Books is the books, not a capture add-on. Invoices, bank matching, VAT, CIS, and dividends live here, with hard plan gates. A US shop will not find 1099s in this file.

People who stay want UK support and one file that can start as a free MTD Income Tax record for a simple sole trader or a single property, then add invoicing and bank feeds. You can invite an accountant on the free plans. Limited companies, partnerships, and charities move to the organisation plans when they need journals, user permissions, dividends, and the fuller report set.

Sole Trader Free, Property Free, and Foreign Property Free cover HMRC-recognised MTD Income Tax quarterly updates and year-end filing, with no transaction cap, and you can invite an accountant. MTD VAT, the flat-rate scheme, and domestic reverse charge start on Sole Trader Plus. On organisation plans, MTD VAT submissions start on Medium. Small does not include them.

File MTD from the plan that includes it

Sole Trader and the organisation plans create and email invoices, including recurring invoices and reminders. Stripe and GoCardless are on the feature list for card and direct debit. Instant Bank Payments is an optional open-banking add-on. The pricing page does not show that add-on's price.

Invoice and collect in the same file

Paid sole trader and property plans include automated bank feeds and bill and receipt scanning. Organisation plans include a bank feed with automated matching on Small and up. The feature list also names an Auto Code pass over bank lines. The bank-feed provider is not named.

Match a bank feed and capture bills

Medium adds purchase orders, CIS reporting and submissions, and budgets, plus MTD VAT. Large adds project accounting, multi-currency with XE.com rates unless you override them, employee expense claims, mileage, and fixed assets. Stock tracking is marked on Small, Medium, and Large.

Step up for VAT, CIS, projects, and currency

The feature list says you can pay bills and payroll from Clear Books through Revolut Business. Payroll is a separate add-on with RTI submissions to HMRC and a 30-day trial. Its price is not on the pricing page. Auto Bills is included on paid sole trader and property plans and listed as an add-on on Small, Medium, and Large.

Pay bills or run payroll as add-ons

Organisation plans include journals, an audit log, user permissions, and period locks. Reports include profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, and trial balance, with CSV or PDF export. The accountant works in this file. There is no QuickBooks Online or Xero sync on the pages opened.

Lock a period and hand the file to an accountant

Clear Books is a UK ledger. Free MTD Income Tax plans exist. Paid plans start at £5/mo plus VAT. VAT filing is not on every plan.

Clear Books Review: UK Ledger, MTD Plans, and VAT Gates

Clear Books

Sole Trader Free

Sole Trader

Sole Trader Plus

Property Free

Property

Foreign Property Free

Foreign Property

Small

Medium

Large

Patriot Software offers accounting and payroll solutions designed specifically for small businesses. Their platform is known for its ease of use and affordability, providing tools for invoicing, financial reporting, and payroll management all under one login. Users can access the software securely from any device with internet connectivity, making it convenient for business owners on the go.

Bookkeeping and accounting software

Clear Books

Patriot Software