Cafés · Trades · Delivery · Shops · Small manufacturers

Accounting for sole traders who run a real business

Staff on the payroll, VAT, subcontractors, a busy till: your accounting is as demanding as any limited company's. We keep your books, run your payroll and returns, and file your Self Assessment or Making Tax Digital updates, so you can get on with running the business.

Estimate my monthly fee How it works

£250a month · not VAT registered

£450a month · VAT registered

Minimum monthly fees, including VAT

Kairos-K accountants reviewing a client's monthly figures

Who this is for

Sole traders with a full-scale business

Trading as a sole trader at this size is perfectly normal in the UK. It just means your accounting needs the same care as a company's.

Cafés and restaurants

Staff rotas, card takings, tips and VAT on food and drink.

Builders and trades

Subcontractors under CIS, materials, vans and monthly returns.

Delivery and logistics

Drivers, fuel, vehicles and fast-moving cash flow.

Shops and trading

Stock, suppliers, card machines and VAT on every sale.

Small manufacturers

Materials, equipment and staff on the payroll.

Any busy sole trader

With employees, VAT registration or a large turnover.

Sole trader or limited company

Almost everything is the same

Your day-to-day obligations match a company's. Only the way your profit is taxed is different.

Exactly as for a limited company

Bookkeeping and bank reconciliation
VAT registration and returns
Monthly payroll and PAYE for your staff
CIS returns for subcontractors
Workplace pension submissions

Different for a sole trader

No Corporation Tax return or statutory accounts
Your profit is taxed through Self Assessment
Or quarterly Making Tax Digital updates and a final declaration, over the threshold

Cafés, bars and restaurants

Get tips right from day one

Since October 2024 employers must pass every tip on to their staff, fairly and in full. How you do it decides how much tax goes with it.

Handled wrongly

Tips run through the till as takings can attract VAT, and paid through ordinary wages they attract employer's National Insurance. Your team receives less, and you pay more.

Handled properly

A tronc scheme, separate tips software and the right payroll reporting. Tips can then be free of National Insurance and outside VAT, and your team keeps more of what customers leave.

£120to set up your tips scheme, oncefrom £60a month for tips reporting

Our view

Why your accountant should keep the books

Many owners try to post their own payroll and VAT to save money. It rarely works out that way.

Doing it yourself

Evenings spent on bookkeeping instead of the business
Payroll and VAT errors that are easy to make
Hours of corrections, charged on top
Rules that change every year

Leaving it to us

Books posted right the first time
Every change in the rules followed for you
Returns checked and sent to you for approval
Your time spent on what earns you money

“Leave the books to us and spend your time doing what you do best. We will be with you at every step.”

Larysa Brovchuk, founder of Kairos-K

How we start

Set up properly, then a calm monthly routine

We think about payroll, VAT, CIS and tips at the start, so nothing has to be unpicked later.

1
Consultation
We look at how your business runs: staff, sales, suppliers, VAT and any tips.
2
The right set-up
Registrations for VAT, PAYE, CIS and pensions, and a tips scheme if you need one.
3
Software
We connect the software you need and check that it records everything correctly.
4
Tax reporting
Self Assessment or Making Tax Digital, set up to suit the way you trade.
5
Every month
Books posted, payroll run, VAT and CIS prepared and sent to you for approval.
6
Year end
Your return or final declaration from figures we already know, with no surprises.

Add-on · Growth support

We help your business grow, not just file

Thinking about a new line, a second site or a limited company? Or has the business stalled? Growth support adds a monthly management report and a strategy session to your accounting.

Sole trader accounting

from £250 a month

Books kept every month
VAT, payroll, CIS and tips
Self Assessment or Making Tax Digital returns

Add-on

+ Growth support

+£360 a month

Monthly management report: profit, cash and costs
A strategy session every month
New ideas checked for tax, country and market risks
When to move to a limited company, worked out with real numbers

Annual agreement · paid monthly

Estimate your monthly fee

The same fair formula as for our limited companies, with your Self Assessment or Making Tax Digital returns instead of Corporation Tax. Minimum £250 a month, or £450 if VAT registered, all including VAT.

Bookkeeping Kairos-K posts every transaction

How do you report to HMRC? Annual Self Assessment Making Tax Digital (quarterly)

Bank transactions a month 60

A transaction is every line on your statements, money in and money out: bank, card, Wise, PayPal, Stripe and marketplace payouts. Not sure? A typical small business with 2–3 card payments a day has around 50–80 transactions a month across all accounts.

Is your business VAT registered? No Yes

People on payrollemployees, and directors of a company

CIS subcontractorspaid each month

Tips scheme for staff (tronc): monthly tips reporting from £60, set-up £120 once Add Growth support: monthly management report and strategy session

Your estimated monthly fee, including VAT £250

This is an estimate based on your answers. Your accountant will confirm the exact fee in a free 15-minute Zoom meeting, once we have looked at your records.

Book a free Zoom meeting

Setting up a tips scheme costs £120 once. Registrations and specialist consultations are quoted separately before we start.

Questions

Sole trader questions

Scroll over them, use the arrows or select a question.

Yes. Many cafés, builders, delivery firms and shops in the UK trade as sole traders, with staff, VAT and a large turnover. Your obligations are much the same as a company's: VAT returns, payroll, CIS and pensions. The difference is that your profit is taxed through Self Assessment, or Making Tax Digital, instead of Corporation Tax.

Sometimes it saves tax, sometimes it does not, and it brings extra filing and director's duties. We look at your figures at the consultation and tell you honestly whether incorporating makes sense for you now.

Since October 2024 employers must pass all tips to their workers, fairly and in full. Paid through a properly run tronc, tips can be free of National Insurance and outside the scope of VAT. Handled wrongly, they can attract VAT and employer's National Insurance. We set up the right scheme, the software and the payroll reporting from the start: £120 to set up, then tips reporting from £60 a month.

You can, but for a busy business it rarely saves money. Payroll and VAT entries are easy to get wrong, and correcting someone else's records takes us longer than posting them in the first place, so you pay twice. Let us keep the books, and spend that time running your business.

If your turnover, together with any rental income, is over £50,000 (from April 2026), you report quarterly under Making Tax Digital. The threshold falls to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028. The calculator includes the quarterly updates if you choose MTD.

Bookkeeping and bank reconciliation, VAT returns, payroll and PAYE, CIS returns, pension submissions where you need them, and your Self Assessment return or Making Tax Digital updates. Specialist consultations and one-off services, such as registrations, are quoted separately.

You chat with us in your client portal and can call us during business hours: an accountant or our administrator answers. When something goes wrong in the middle of a busy week, you do not wait weeks for a reply.

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Start with a consultation

Tell us how your business runs

We come back with a plan and a fixed monthly fee within one business day.

Get a quote

Guides

Read before you decide

Plain-English guides by our accountants on the questions clients ask us about this service.

Self Assessment