FreeAgent

You are a sole trader who banks with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle. Those business accounts include FreeAgent at no extra cost, so if you already bank there, use it.

It suits you if you want to file Self Assessment from the same app that holds the books.

A typical user sells clothes or collectables on Vinted and eBay, pays the payouts into a NatWest Group business account, and wants the tax return done in the same place.

FreeAgent covers invoicing, expense tracking, bank feeds, VAT, Self Assessment and Making Tax Digital submissions. For Mettle customers, FreeAgent's terms require at least one transaction a month through the account.

Without a qualifying bank account, FreeAgent is a paid subscription; its site lists the current price.

It also reads receipts you photograph and pulls the amount and date from them, which saves typing for each packaging order.

Open the qualifying business account, then claim FreeAgent through the bank's offer. Connect the bank feed and add categories for stock, postage, packaging and platform fees.

Upload receipts for mailers and stock as you buy them. FreeAgent builds a running tax estimate from your records, which tells you how much to set aside each month.

Set up the bank feed first, then backfill the current tax year from your statements, so the tax estimate covers your full year to date.

Sage has a free plan for non-VAT sole traders who bank elsewhere.

Xero and QuickBooks suit a business that has grown into VAT, staff or a limited company, for a monthly fee.

Pick FreeAgent over Sage if you already bank with one of the qualifying banks, since you get the full product at no cost; pick Sage if you'd rather keep your current bank.