Drop in what you have.
Bank statements as PDF, CSV or Excel. Receipt photos. Invoice exports. Marketplace files from eBay, Amazon and PayPal.
- Receipt and invoice OCR
- Bank PDFs converted properly
- Payout files split into sales, fees and refunds
For freelancers & sole traders · The IQ Suite · Live
A finance desk for people who work alone.
The suite reconciles paid work, finds missing payments, codes expenses and turns messy bank exports into records your accountant can actually use. And the flagship, IQ Books, is a complete accounting platform that keeps the books itself: statements in, coded and reconciled books out, with a live P&L so you know what you actually made.
£0
To start, no card required
8
Coding phases behind every suggestion
44
LedgerIQ analysis modules
You
Confirm every entry
HMRC context
Quarterly digital reporting for Income Tax is live in phases: qualifying income over £50,000 from April 2026, £30,000 from 2027, £20,000 from 2028.
GOV.UK guidance
The practical burden
HMRC describes quarterly updates as light-touch income-and-expense updates. The real work is keeping digital records current enough to submit through recognised software.
HMRC update
Late payment
IPSE reports 60% of self-employed people have experienced delayed payment; Xero reported in March 2026 that half of UK small-business payments were late.
IPSE report
§ 01 · The difference
Same admin.
You stop doing it.
Here is the freelance month, done the usual way, and done through the suite.
A spreadsheet and a shoebox
With The IQ Suite
Coding the spending
× An evening lost to bank downloads
✓ Coded before you open the file
Chasing invoices
× Rereading statements to see who paid
✓ Paid, part-paid and missing, listed
Receipts
× A drawer of paper for January-you
✓ Snap it; a draft bill lands with the scan
VAT, if registered
× A guess on every line
✓ Classified and flagged for review
Quarterly digital records
× A scramble through downloads
✓ A review of work already kept current
Knowing what you made
× The bank balance, hopefully
✓ A live P&L and 44 analysis modules
What it costs
× Your billable evenings
✓ Free to start, then £5 a month
Already on Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or Pandle? Keep it: CodeIQ posts straight to it. Or start fresh in IQ Books and skip the software shopping entirely.
§ 02 · The workflow
One subscription, four jobs the solo business actually needs.
Freelancers do not need enterprise finance theatre. They need the bank matched, the expenses coded, the records kept digitally and the numbers explained, without losing billable time.
Prove what has been paid.
ReconcileIQ matches receipts to invoices, surfaces the unpaid and part-paid, and keeps the evidence for the chase.
- Invoice-to-payment matching
- Unexplained deposits flagged
- Exports for your accountant
Turn spending into books.
The eight-phase pipeline suggests accounts, VAT treatment and matches, with a reason on every row. You confirm; it learns.
- Confidence scoring
- Learns your corrections
- Posts to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or Pandle
Read the business you built.
LedgerIQ turns the books into margin, cash flow, seasonality and runway, in plain English, before a decision becomes urgent.
- 44 analysis modules
- Trend, anomaly and forecast views
- PDF reports for lenders or advisers
§ 03 · Live feeds
The bank turns up on its own, already coded.
Connect the account once and stop remembering to download a statement. The work that is left is the part that actually needs you.
Connect once at the bank.
Open banking consent through BankSync, the service the feed runs on. New lines arrive coded by CodeIQ, with a health check against the bank’s own balance so a gap shows itself.
- Consent at the bank, renewed about every six months
- Roughly the last two to three months on a new connection, so a statement still covers the history
- The feed plan is taken with BankSync directly; coding stays 4 credits a line
Nothing posts by surprise.
Auto-post is off until you turn it on, and then only at 90% or 95% confidence. Switching it on never posts the backlog, and every line it did put through is listed for a glance.
- Transfers, invoice matches, splits and reverse-charge VAT never post themselves
- A transfer whose other leg has not arrived is held for seven days, not guessed
- Anything held says why it is held
eBay, Stripe and PayPal money.
If you sell on eBay or take card payments, that money is the messy part. It arrives split the way a bookkeeper would split it. The eBay balance connects directly: payouts post as settlement journals, with the sale, the fee and the postage each in the right place and the VAT in the right period.
- Ten separate fee types, not one “fees” bucket
- Postage split by VAT treatment, so the reclaim is not quietly binned
- Funds still on hold sit as a debtor, not a cost
§ 04 · Quarterly digital tax, without pretending
It prepares the record. It is not your tax agent.
The dangerous part of quarterly digital reporting is not one quarterly button. It is months of uncleared receipts, mixed personal spending, unreviewed VAT and invoice income that never got tied back to the bank.
Keep digital records current.
Bank movement becomes a reviewed, categorised record as the months pass, instead of a year-end archaeology project.
File from the same books.
IQ Books files the quarterly update to HMRC from the records it has already kept, so the submission is a review, not a rebuild.
Make each quarter smaller.
When income, expenses and unmatched items are visible every month, the quarter is a review of known work rather than a scramble.
§ 05 · The tools
One platform that keeps the books, and the tools around it.
IQ Books · The flagship · Free to start
The accounting platform that does the bookkeeping itself.
A complete double-entry platform sized for one person. Drop in your bank statements and get back coded, reconciled books. Invoice clients with pay links and recurring invoices through your own Stripe account, snap receipts into draft bills, and watch a live P&L instead of guessing from the bank balance. Hold the space bar and ask RiQ out loud; it pulls the figure or raises the invoice and answers back.
- Free tier: one organisation, cash accounting, 1,000 one-off credits, no card
- The bank coded and reconciled before you look at it
- Invoices, pay links, reminders and recurring billing via your own Stripe
- VAT handled when you are registered, ready for the return
- Invite your accountant free from Settings, then Members
- The web app works in any phone browser today
Prove what was paid.
Upload bank data and invoice exports to match receipts, isolate underpayments and build a defensible trail for the situations where the bank feed, invoice list and spreadsheet all disagree.
- CSV, Excel and PDF statement support
- Invoice-to-payment matching mode
- Unmatched payments surfaced for review
Turn spending into books.
The eight-phase pipeline suggests accounts, VAT treatment and invoice matches before anything is posted. You still review the work; the coding no longer starts from a blank spreadsheet.
- Confidence scoring and method labels
- Receipt and invoice OCR
- Posts to Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Pandle
- eBay, Amazon and PayPal settlements, without a separate sync subscription
Understand the business.
Upload a general ledger export and get plain-English analysis: margin, cash flow, expense drift, seasonality and financial health, before a decision becomes urgent.
- 44 financial analysis modules
- Profit, cash-flow and balance sheet views
- PDF reports for lenders and advisers
§ 06 · Where it helps
Built around the way freelance income really arrives.
Project deposits, retained clients, subscriptions, card fees, marketplace payouts and mixed receipts all create reconciliation work. Each problem has a home.
Retainers, deposits and partial payments.
Match client receipts against invoice exports, isolate underpayments and keep the evidence for the month-end conversation. Recurring invoices can charge, receipt and allocate themselves through your own Stripe account.
Project income without spreadsheet drift.
Keep irregular project payments tied to the bank, with expense categories visible before tax season instead of reconstructed during it.
Fees, refunds and payouts split properly.
Merchant parsing for eBay, Amazon and PayPal separates sales, fees, shipping and refunds instead of treating every payout as simple income.
VAT reviewed before it becomes a return problem.
VAT treatment is classified as the books are kept and exceptions are surfaced for review, giving you and your accountant a clean starting point for the return.
§ 07 · Pricing for solo operators
Start free.
Stay cheap.
Every plan includes the full suite. The difference is the monthly credit allowance and how much of IQ Books is unlocked. Credits refresh each month and unused credits do not carry over.
Start free
£0 / forever
1,000 one-off credits · no card
- One IQ Books organisation, cash accounting
- Full ReconcileIQ, CodeIQ and LedgerIQ
- Try the whole workflow on a real month
Starter · the freelancer plan
£5 / month
5,000 credits / month
- One IQ Books organisation, full accounting: invoicing, bills and the rest
- Every integration, every tool
- Sized for a solo book kept current every month
Accountant
£15 / month
25,000 credits / month
- Five IQ Books organisations
- Headroom for heavy months, VAT work and marketplace data
- For freelancers with multiple income streams or entities
On paid tiers, pay-as-you-go keeps you from being blocked mid-task, capped by a monthly limit you set. Formal tax submissions and advice remain with your accountant or HMRC-compatible software. Full detail on the pricing page.
§ 08 · Questions freelancers ask
The boundaries matter.
Good freelancer finance software should be useful without making claims it cannot support. These are the important lines.
Can my bank connect directly instead of me uploading statements?
Yes. Your bank connects once through BankSync, an open banking service, and new lines land already coded by CodeIQ, with transfers between your own accounts paired up and anything uncertain held with a stated reason. Nothing posts by itself unless you switch auto-post on. The feed costs nothing from us: you take a small monthly plan with BankSync, and coding is the usual 4 credits a line.
Do I need accounting software already?
No. IQ Books is a complete accounting platform, free to start, so the suite works on its own. If you already use Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or Pandle, CodeIQ can post to it, and ReconcileIQ and LedgerIQ work from plain CSV, Excel and PDF exports.
Is IQ Books free for a sole trader?
The free tier includes one IQ Books organisation with cash accounting and 1,000 one-off credits, with no card required. Bank statements in, coded and reconciled books out. Invoicing, bills, stock and the rest of full accounting unlock on any paid plan, from £5 a month.
Will it submit my quarterly tax updates?
Yes, from IQ Books. Bank movement is reconciled, expenses coded and VAT reviewed as the quarter runs, and the quarterly update files to HMRC under Making Tax Digital on your confirmation. The year-end declaration stays with you or your accountant.
Can it handle one-person businesses?
Yes. It is built for them. The free tier and the £5 Starter plan are sized for solo volumes while still including the full suite, so you never need a practice plan just to get the useful tools.
Does it automate everything?
It prepares the work and flags what it is unsure of; you confirm. The eight-phase coding pipeline matches, suggests, scores and explains every row, and nothing invents a figure to force a balance. You review exceptions before relying on the numbers.
Can my accountant see the books?
Yes. Invite them from Settings, then Members, in your IQ Books organisation. Their seat costs nothing: they register a free account and get the live trial balance, profit and loss and the ledger behind every figure.
Next step
Give your freelance books a monthly close.
Upload the bank, reconcile paid work, let the coding come to you and keep a clean record before the quarter or year-end deadline arrives. Less admin theatre. More controlled books.