If you are self-employed or a Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) contractor, sorting your transactions into the right categories ensures your records match HMRC requirements and keeps your tax estimates accurate. The app automatically organises your items into five core areas: assets, equity, income, expenses, and liabilities. This guide outlines every available category so you can confidently manage your business bookkeeping directly in the app. đ
Let's break down the categories by their accounting type.
Income
Income tracks the money your business brings in:
Sales: Money received from your clients or customers who have purchased products or services from your business.
Other income: Income not included in sales, such as interest payments from bank accounts.
Expenses
Expenses are your day-to-day business running costs. Note: Certain categories are not eligible for tax relief from HMRC, meaning they cannot be used to lower your tax bill.
Admin: Stationery and other office costs.
Advertising: Advertising and marketing costs.
Bad debt: Money owed to your business that will not be paid back or recovered.
CIS subcontractors: Payments made to subcontractors under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). Note: This category is available specifically for registered CIS contractors.
Entertaining: Business entertainment costs.
Equipment depreciation: The reduction in value of equipment owned by your business, such as a computer or mobile device. Note: This expense is not eligible for tax relief.
Financial charges: Fees and charges from financial providers. This includes bank charges, your monthly plan, and transaction fees.
Interest paid: Interest owed or paid on amounts due to suppliers or providers, including loans, mortgages, or late payments.
Other costs: A fallback category to use only when you cannot find a more precise option for your business spending.
Premises costs: Costs related to your business premises, such as rent, business rates, or utilities.
Professional fees: Costs for professional services, including accountant, solicitor, or mortgage broker fees, or filing fees to Companies House.
Purchases: Goods you purchase and intend to sell to your customers.
Repairs: Repairs, maintenance, and renewals of property or equipment for your business.
Staff: Wages or salary paid to staff or employees, excluding external contractor costs.
Tax cost: General cost of taxes.
Travel: Travel expenses for business, including fuel, train, taxi, or flight costs.
Uncategorised: A temporary slot for costs where a category has not been found yet. Uncategorised items make your reports and tax estimates in the app less accurate, so be sure to update them quickly to stay on top of your bookkeeping.
Assets
Assets are things your business owns, or money and items temporarily held by the business:
Equipment: The cost of purchasing equipment to be used by your business, such as a computer or mobile device.
Equipment accumulated depreciation: The total reduction in the value of equipment owned by your business, calculated from when your business first owned it up to a given date.
Trade debtors: The value of sales invoices you have issued but have not yet been paid for by your customers.
Cash: The total amount of funds currently held in your business account balance.
Petty cash: Money owned by your business that you keep in physical form as cash in hand.
Prepayments: Something you have paid for in advance where you have not yet received the product or service. Once you receive it, you or your accountant should update this category.
Accrued income: Income which has been earned by your business but has not yet been officially received.
Personal use: Goods or services consumed personally rather than for the running of the business.
Suspense: A temporary storage category used when there is uncertainty about where a transaction should be recorded.
Liabilities
Liabilities represent money that your business owes to other people or organisations:
Trade creditors: The value of bills or purchase invoices you have received from suppliers but have not yet paid.
Accruals: The value of services or products your business has received but which you have not yet paid for.
Income in advance: Income the business has received where you have not yet provided the underlying goods or services to the customer.
VAT: The amount of Value Added Tax your business owes or pays to HMRC, or VAT amounts reclaimed from them.
Tax liability: The amount your business pays to HMRC for tax and National Insurance.
Loan: Money your business borrows, such as a business loan from a bank.
Equity
Equity represents your personal financial stake and value within the business:
My investment: Money that you have personally invested into your business.
Pay me: Money you draw from the business to pay to yourself.
Retained earnings: The cumulative profit or loss made by your business since the day you started.
Quick tips for managing categories
If you ever want to check the meaning of a category while sorting your transactions, simply tap the info icon (âšī¸) next to it inside the app's category picker. đą
If you still cannot find the exact option you need for your self-employed setup, you can share your feedback and let us know what is missing by completing our quick suggestions form here. đ