A leading online accounting software provider, has developed the
app – called Earnest – after being tasked by HM Revenue & Customs to create
a free resource allowing self-employed workers and very small businesses
across the country to keep track of their income and expenses and estimate
the amount of tax that they owe.
Under HMRC guidelines, many micro-business owners and self-employed people
only have to file three-line accounts: recording income, expenditure and
profit for the year. However, many of these people still find it difficult
to manage their accounts – which prompted HMRC to request software companies
to develop an app that would provide assistance.
FreeAgent has designed Earnest to be an easy-to-use, intuitive app that
provides very small business owners with simple information and
record-keeping functions that they require. Currently available to download
in the iTunes App Store, Earnest enables users to easily track their income
and expenses on their iPhone, and it is the only free app currently
available under the HMRC initiative that also forecasts their tax
commitments.
Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent, said: “HMRC challenged the
software industry to create an easy-to-use-app that would help self-employed
people and very small businesses keep track of their finances, and we’ve
designed Earnest to do exactly that. It’s a simple, intuitive app that lets
them monitor their cash flow, input expenses and see how much tax is owed –
and we think it’s going to be an invaluable tool for small business
record-keeping.
“Our hope is that very small businesses will receive the support they
require from Earnest – and as they grow and start to require more in-depth
features for their finances, their experience with the app will encourage
them to ‘trade up’ to use FreeAgent. We’re essentially trying to create a
hassle-free journey that small and early-stage businesses can follow when it
comes to managing their finances and bookkeeping.”
The Earnest app enables users to:
– Record income and expenses
– See their bottom line profit or loss
– Get estimates on how much tax they owe
– See upcoming tax deadlines and dates with a “Tax To-do” list
– Capture and store image receipts using their iPhone camera
– Create alerts to remind them of important tax dates and as they near the
VAT Threshold
– Categorise transactions by payment method
– Record cash and non-cash transactions
– Add notes to entries
– Record CIS deductions made on income
– Back up their data by email