Set up your business
Your name, logo, VAT, bank details, regular costs and insurance - one question at a time. Skip anything you like.
Customer
Job
Status updates automatically after invoicing and payment. Cancelled and Lost remain manual overrides.
Scope of works
Itemised breakdown
- Price eachan amount, like 125, or a markup on what it cost you, like 25%
- What it cost youwhat you actually paid - choose Includes VAT paid if there was VAT on it
Payment
Payment schedule
Notes / terms
Tax summary
How it’s worked out
Outstanding invoices
Paid receipts
Expenses
Record what the business buys and spends - supplier, category, receipt photo and payment status - as well as ongoing overheads. One-off items are charged once. Recurring items repeat monthly until their end month.
Edit expense
Supplier details (address, phone, email, VAT number)
Refunds
Money the supplier gave back on this expense - returned goods, an overcharge corrected, a warranty claim. Reduces the net cost and any VAT reclaimed above.
Mileage
+ Log a trip
Allowance uses HMRC's simplified mileage rates: cars and vans 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year, then 25p; motorcycles 24p; bicycles 20p. Only business journeys count - not your normal commute to a permanent workplace. If you claim mileage this way for a vehicle, you can't also claim its fuel, running costs or capital allowances, so don't also enter that vehicle in the Asset Register or its fuel as expenses. Rates are HMRC's at the time of writing - check gov.uk before filing. The log is included in the Accountant's Package; it does not change the profit figures in Records.
CIS
For builders and trades. If your customers deduct tax from your payments, or you deduct it from subcontractors you pay, this page keeps it straight and feeds every report.
Your CIS setup
Rates: 20% if you are registered for CIS, 30% if not, 0% with gross payment status. The deduction is worked out on the invoice less VAT and materials the subcontractor paid for directly. It is tax already paid, not a cost.
Deducted from you
You deduct from subcontractors
Drawings
Money you take out of the business for yourself (drawings), and your own money you put in (personal contributions). Neither is income or a business expense - tax is charged on the business's profit, not on what you draw - so this never changes your profit figures. It's a record for your capital account. Written for a sole trader or partner: if you run a limited company, money taken out is dealt with as wages, dividends or a director's loan instead - ask your accountant.
+ Record a transaction
If you paid a business cost from your own pocket, record that cost in Expenses as normal (that's what makes it deductible) and record the same amount here as a personal contribution, so your capital account balances.
By tax year
Included in the Accountant's Package. Entries can be matched to bank statement lines in Reconcile.
Edit
Money owed
Debtors are customers who owe you (unpaid invoices, after receipts and credit notes). Creditors are suppliers you owe (expenses marked Unpaid). Pick any date to see the position on that day - your accountant will usually want the tax year end. Set a due date on unpaid bills in Expenses to get proper ageing.
Chase first
Included in the Accountant's Package as at the tax year end. Cash-basis sole traders don't usually need this for their tax return, but it's the quickest way to see who to chase and what you need to pay. Amounts here can differ from Records if you look at an earlier date, because Records shows today's position.
Calendar
Tap a free time on a day to book it. Visits that overlap are outlined in red.
Shaded days and small markers are key dates worked out from your data - bills with a due date, invoices, open quotes, VAT returns and Self Assessment deadlines, and the end of the 14-day cancellation period after a quote is accepted. Tap the coloured labels above the calendar to show or hide each type. Tap a day to see the detail.
Reminders: this app can't alert you while it's closed, so use "Add upcoming to phone calendar" (or the button on a single event) to put events in your phone's own calendar, which will remind you 30 minutes before timed visits. Events already added to your phone aren't updated if you change them here - add them again after changing.
New event
Making Tax Digital
Keeps your records the way Making Tax Digital needs and works out the figures. It doesn't file anything with HMRC yet.
It keeps your records in the digital form MTD needs, and works out the figures HMRC asks for - the nine-box VAT return and the cumulative Income Tax quarterly update - showing exactly what feeds each one.
It does not file anything with HMRC yet. HMRC only accepts MTD submissions from software it has recognised and that is connected to its systems. Until this app is, file the figures through your accountant or HMRC-recognised bridging software, then record the filing here. The HMRC connection below works with HMRC's test service (sandbox) so the direct link can be tried out; nothing sent there counts as filed.
Your setup
Use the scheme you are registered for with HMRC. Most businesses are on standard accounting. The flat rate scheme isn't supported.
Kept on this device only. Software needs it to sign you up.
Readiness
Data checks
Do I need to join?
How your expenses are grouped for HMRC
Your expense categories are matched to HMRC's headings. Change a heading here if your accountant groups something differently.
Change history
Every change to your records is logged here, and the log can't be edited.
Every time an invoice, receipt, credit note, expense, asset, drawing, filing or key setting is created, changed or deleted, a line is added here with the time, what changed and the amounts before and after. Lines can't be edited or removed in the app, and each one is chained to the line before it, so any tampering shows up when you verify.
Orders
What you keep on the van: fittings, sealant, cable. Use something on a job and it comes off the list; add it to a quote or invoice with "+ From van stock". Anything at or below its reorder level goes on the shopping list.
Tools
Your finished before-and-after pictures, to show customers or post. Make one from a job's page: Jobs › the job › Before & after.
Private working notes for a job. Give the note a job title and, when you type that title as the Job title of a new quote, the note appears at the bottom of the quote screen to build the quote from. It is never shown on a quote, a preview or a PDF. Paste in a calculator result copied with its materials and those become items on the job's quote, with the price left blank. Convert to quote starts that quote for you.
New job note
Photos are shrunk to save space and kept with the note on this device and in your backups. Like the note, they stay private, unless you tap "Use on quote" under a photo on the quote screen to make it the quote's picture.
Saved job notes
Links to the UK laws, regulations, standards and official guidance for each trade. Pick a trade; the whole UK list shows by default, or narrow it to one nation, since Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own building rules. Links open the official pages and need an internet connection. Always check you are reading the current edition. This is a signpost, not legal advice.
Quick trade calculators. Results are a guide: check manufacturer data and current regulations before relying on them.
Time
Earned per hour = what the job brought in (before VAT) minus its material and other costs, divided by the hours you logged. It tells you which kinds of work really pay.
Insurance & certificates
Forecast
What your bank balance is likely to do over the coming weeks, built from your unpaid invoices, accepted jobs, bills, regular costs, orders and VAT. It's a guide - the quality of the answer depends on the dates and amounts you've entered.
Assumptions - change these to see what happens
Bank reconciliation
Import your real bank statement and match it against what the app already knows - receipts, paid expenses and expense refunds - to catch anything missing or wrongly recorded. Nothing here connects to your bank automatically; it works entirely from a CSV you export yourself.
+ Import a bank statement (CSV)
Paste the contents of a CSV exported from your bank, or choose the file. The first row should be a header row with Date, Description and Amount (or separate Debit/Credit) columns.
+ Add a statement line by hand
Find transactions for a job
Choose a job to see what was bought for it, which items still need a receipt, and the unmatched money-out lines between its first invoice and the customer's final receipt.
Not yet on a statement
Receipts, paid expenses and refunds with no matching bank line - worth double-checking these actually happened.
Reports
Money in and profit
Directory
Customers are added automatically when you save a quote. Tap a customer to view their totals, jobs and linked documents.
+ Add customer
Jobs
More
Contact details
New invoices for this customer are due this many days after the invoice date. Changes here update the Directory only - existing quotes, invoices and receipts keep the details they were issued with.
Statement
Every invoice, payment and credit note for this customer with a running balance, as a PDF to send them. Handy when they owe on more than one job, or ask what they owe.
Scheduled visits
Work commencement statement
Send this if you're starting work before or without a quote, so the customer can expressly consent to starting before the 14-day cancellation period ends. Once confirmed, it's attached automatically to this customer's next quote - no extra step needed there.
Document history
Terms
Core is always available and can be edited but not deleted. Add job-specific terms below, then attach them to a quote when you create it.
+ Add job-specific terms
Edit terms
Tokens fill in automatically wherever this is attached: {{business_name}}, {{business_address}}, {{business_email}}, {{business_phone}}.
Quote styles
Choose how your quotes look to customers. Every style uses your logo, business details and brand colours. Tap a style to see it full size.
Templates
Save a quote's scope, items, payment terms, notes and terms & conditions as a reusable template from the create-quote screen, then load it back into any new quote. Job title is used as the template name.
Price book
Lines you charge for again and again. Pick them on a quote with "+ From price book", or start typing a description and choose it. Prices are also learnt from the quotes and invoices you save (the last price you used); prices you add or edit here are kept as you set them.
Template
Scope of works
Itemised breakdown
Payment terms
Notes
Terms & conditions
Assets
Capital purchases - equipment, vehicles, machinery - get tax relief differently to everyday expenses. Most small purchases qualify for 100% relief in the year of purchase (Annual Investment Allowance); anything else is claimed as a percentage each year, with the unclaimed balance carried forward. This register tracks that per asset - see the note on each asset's schedule for how it compares to HMRC's pooled calculation.
+ Add asset
Edit asset
Disposal
Fill this in once the asset is sold, scrapped or given away. Leave blank while you still own it.
Allowance schedule
Settings
Business details
Paste a direct image link, then press Embed Logo From URL.
This stores the logo inside the app so preview, print, PDF and Share all use the same embedded image.
At the top of each screen the icon is small, so a whole logo with lettering is often too small to read. Automatic picks the symbol out of your logo (a badge, a roof, a first letter); if it picks the wrong part, choose your whole logo or a separate picture instead.
Colour scheme
Dark mode changes the app only. Documents, the preview, printing and PDFs always stay light.
Makes the app's screens bigger and easier to read on site. Documents and PDFs are not affected.
Choose the two colours used throughout the app and on documents. The primary colour controls headings, buttons and section bars. The secondary colour controls highlights and total strips.
Bank details
Invoice payments
A quote you've sent with no answer after this many days shows on Today with a ready-written follow-up message (up to three times). 0 turns this off.
Where customers leave a review - for Google, open your Business Profile and choose "Ask for reviews" to copy the link. When a job is paid in full, Today offers to ask the customer for a review.
Used only on overdue notices to business customers. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act lets you add interest at 8% above the base rate in force on 30 June or 31 December before the debt became overdue, plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100. Check the rate on the Bank of England website.
New invoices use the default number of days. You can change an individual invoice's due date in its editor.
Pay by card
Paste a payment link from your own card payment account and invoices get a "Pay by card" link and a QR code customers can scan from a printed copy. TBOS never handles the money: payments go straight to that account.
SumUp: in the SumUp app, tap Payment links, then Create payment link. A reusable link suits most invoices; for an exact amount, make a one-off link and paste it into that invoice instead. PayPal.me links get the amount owed added automatically. Stripe payment links and others work too.
Overdue invoices
An overdue invoice gets a "Send overdue reminder" button. It sends the invoice with your polite statement in a box at the top and a new date to pay by. Once that has gone, the button becomes "Send final notice", with your final statement. You can change the number of days each time before sending.
VAT
New quotes use these settings when created; each document then keeps its own VAT treatment permanently, even if you change these settings later. Net, VAT and Gross are shown on quotes, invoices and receipts. VAT period start only needs one date from any VAT quarter you've filed (or your registration date) - the app works out the current quarter from it. Direct job costs and overheads can each record reclaimable input VAT.
Making Tax Digital - My Tax Digital files
Choose the same mode you have set on My Tax Digital (Business Income, then your income source, then settings). The Making Tax Digital page then offers the right file. Bridging and Accounting are separate modes, and you can change either at any time.
Tax / records
Only the day and month of the tax year start matter - the app rolls it forward each year automatically. Estimated tax uses positive recorded profit after direct job costs and overheads, excluding VAT. It is a business estimate, not a tax return calculation.
Document footer
Tax year reports & backups
Year to date
End of year (whole current tax year)
Receipt exports include a summary cover and Page X of Y numbering, followed by each receipt oldest first. Invoice exports include each invoice and any linked document numbers, ready for your accountant or tax records.
Accountant's year-end package
Everything above, plus credit notes, debtors and creditors as at the year end, the Income and Expense transaction CSVs, the VAT Period Summary if you're VAT registered, the mileage log, drawings and personal contributions, the asset register with this year's capital allowances, your bank reconciliation, and every expense receipt (photo or PDF) both as separate files and together in one Expense Receipts PDF numbered E001, E002..., plus refund and asset evidence - all in one zip, for the whole current tax year. This can take a little while to build; keep the app open until it finishes.
End of year backup
Archive the year and start fresh
Saves the whole year to one archive file, then clears out the finished quotes, invoices, receipts, expenses, purchase orders and other records so the new year starts clean. Customers, suppliers, templates, terms and conditions, assets, regular costs, licences and anything still unpaid or open all stay. You can undo it afterwards.
Start new tax year
This does not delete or move anything - all existing quotes, invoices and receipts stay exactly where they are. It only clears the tax-year-end reminder and unlocks once an End of Year backup has been made for the year that is finishing.
Transaction exports (CSV / Excel)
A plain transactions register - Net, VAT and Gross for every receipt, credit note and expense - laid out for handing to an accountant or for your own records. Not a PDF report; this is raw data for import into accounting software or review in a spreadsheet.
CSV gives one file per register - Income Transactions or Expense Transactions - for import into accounting software (most browsers block two automatic downloads from a single button, so these are separate). Excel gives one workbook with Income, Expenses and a Summary sheet, ready to open and review.
Trial balance
Every account's total for the dates above, in debits and credits that balance, built from the same figures as the Profit and Loss. The balance sheet accounts (bank, VAT, unpaid bills, capital) are as at the "To" date.
Files for your accountant's software
A zip of files in the software's own import layout for the dates above: the trial balance as one journal, or every contact, invoice, bill and bank movement, with a README saying how to import them.
Account codes and names
The trial balance and the files use these. Change them to match your accountant's chart of accounts.
Backup & restore
Backups contain everything: quotes, invoices, receipts, customers, expenses, settings, branding, images and all your other records. In the TBOS iPhone app, and with a linked file on a computer, each backup replaces the previous one. On an iPhone or iPad in Safari, the phone can't replace a file, so each backup is a new file named with its date and time: keep the newest and delete older ones in the Files app. Restoring an older backup by mistake is safe: TBOS warns you first.
Keep one backup file (this computer)
Health check
How your records are doing on this device: the last backup, the space used, how many records you have, and a check that everything reads back correctly.
Photo storage what's using the space
Older photos can be re-saved at a smaller size (about 1,600 pixels on the longest side), which is still clear enough to read a receipt. Pictures on quotes and invoices, signatures and PDFs are never changed. Health & Safety records can also be archived to a file: Tools > Health & Safety > Storage.
Setup
Walk through your business details, logo, VAT, bank details, regular costs and insurance one question at a time. Your current answers are filled in and Skip leaves anything unchanged.
Your saved CSV formats apply to every CSV export button in the app.
Receipt reader
Scan receipt reads the photo on this phone with PaddleOCR - nothing is uploaded. If it isn't built into this copy of the app, it downloads by itself the first time you scan (about 25 MB), then works offline. You can save it now instead, and test how well it reads on this phone.
App update
If the app looks out of date after an update, this throws away the copy stored on this device and loads the newest one. Your records, settings and photos are not touched. The offline reader is kept.
App lock (Face ID)
Asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your phone passcode before the app shows anything. The app never sees your face: your phone checks it and only confirms "yes". This hides the app from anyone who picks up your unlocked phone; it does not encrypt the stored records, and it is not included in backups.
Recently deleted
Anything you delete is kept here for 30 days, so you can put it back. It's kept on this device only, not in backups.
Privacy
Your records stay on this device. The app has no accounts, analytics or tracking, and nothing is sent to us.
Privacy policy