Xero Blog

It was so exciting to be back on stage at Xerocon London this morning for the first time in nearly three years. I’ve really missed the opportunity to connect in person with our amazing accounting, bookkeeping and app partner communities — especially on such a large scale.

I was also really excited about one of the reasons I was on stage — to unveil the early release of Xero Go, a new mobile app we’ve developed to help ease the burden of financial admin for sole traders in the UK.

Along with helping sole traders streamline the manual, time-consuming elements of online accounting while being self-employed, Xero Go will empower them with the tools they need to meet digital record keeping requirements as part of the upcoming overhaul of the UK tax system: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA). 

Meanwhile, accountants and bookkeepers servicing sole traders can meet increased reporting requirements efficiently, thanks to the digitisation of expense records and income data provided by Xero Go. This means less time spent manually inputting expense data and chasing up clients for missing financial information.

Our teams have been working hard behind the scenes on Xero Go for some time now, and it’s great to launch the early release in the UK with more features coming soon. The mobile app, which is complemented by an advisor-facing Xero Go partner plan, is now available for UK subscribers to download on iOS and Android.

Giving sole traders the tools they need at their fingertips

At Xero, we believe businesses of all sizes should have access to accounting technology, and that’s really been the driving force behind Xero Go. With around 2.6 million sole traders in the UK navigating self-employment, managing finances needs to be easy and accessible. Xero Go subscribers have all the tools they need at their fingertips.

• Expenses: Sole traders can record expenses anywhere, any time, using the Quickscan feature, powered by machine learning. Quickscan extracts expense information from receipts, imports them into Xero Go and auto-suggests tax categories to save you time when tax coding
• Invoices: Users can create, send and track customised invoices on the go. They can set up auto-reminders for late payments, and even add a Stripe ‘pay now’ button to get paid faster using Apple or Google Pay
• Dashboard: Sole traders can keep a finger on the pulse of their finances in one place. See unpaid or overdue invoices, track who has and hasn’t paid, view profit and loss by month, and gain insights such as top expenses for the month

Navigating MTD for ITSA

It can be difficult for sole traders to stay on top of complex accounting and regulatory changes while they’re busy running a business — especially with the introduction of increased reporting requirements that will come with MTD for ITSA from April 2024. 

Self-employed individuals and landlords earning more than £10,000 per annum will be required to:

• keep digital records of their income and expenses
• send quarterly summary updates to HMRC, via MTD-compliant software
• Send an End of Period Statement and Final Declaration, via MTD-compliant software

Xero Go will give sole traders who are impacted by this legislation one easy tool to record expenses and manage income digitally, while on the go. This means records can be digitally stored throughout the year and are available in one place, reducing the need for you to chase up missing information at tax time. 

A comprehensive partner plan

The Xero Go partner plan is a separate product that has been specifically designed for accountants and bookkeepers. All financial data from Xero Go feeds into the Xero Go partner plan. 

This gives you everything you need to service your self-employed customers and make sure the books are up to date throughout the year and at tax time. It’s about helping your clients stay compliant and giving you more time back in your day, so you can provide more high-value services to your clients.

Try Xero Go now if you’re in the UK

Xero Go is now available for UK subscribers on iOS and Android. The app is free to download with a paid add-on invoicing feature, which includes the ability to add Stripe payments to invoices.

We can’t wait for you and your sole trader clients to try it out and start experiencing the benefits of an easy-to use, accurate accounting tool on the go.