Octotax
Help centre
Plain-English guides to your own tax, and guides to every part of Octotax for Accountants.
For business owners
For sole traders, landlords and company directors using the free Octotax app. General information, not tax advice.
Your tax
- Self Assessment: what to do and whenWho needs to send a tax return, the dates to register, file and pay, and what happens if you're late.
- Payments on account explainedWhy HMRC asks for tax in advance in January and July, how much it is, and what to do if your income drops.
- MTD for Income Tax: your quarterly updatesWho Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to, what a quarterly update is, and when to send each one.
Free tools
- What to set aside for taxA monthly figure for sole traders, landlords and directors.
- VAT threshold trackerYour rolling 12-month sales against the £90,000 threshold.
- Making Tax Digital checkerWhen MTD for Income Tax starts for you.
- Salary or dividendsCompare ways for a director to take profit from their company.
- Payments on accountWhat's due on 31 January and 31 July, and when to reduce.
- Allowable expenses checkerWhat a sole trader can claim, with home and mileage flat rates.
- Child Benefit chargeHow much Child Benefit you pay back on income over £60,000.
- IR35 quick checkAn indicative view for contractors, and who decides.
- UK tax deadlinesEvery date in the tax year, with GOV.UK links.
Octotax for Accountants
Guides for firms
Short guides to every part of the app, using the same button and menu names you'll see on screen.
Still stuck?
Contact support: [email protected], we aim to reply within one working day.
Getting started
- 1Create your practiceSign up, start your free trial and fill in the firm details your engagement letters need.
- 2Invite your teamAdd staff, resend or cancel invites, and deactivate people who leave.
- 3Import clients from a CSVBring your client list across from BrightManager, Xero, IRIS, TaxCalc or a spreadsheet, and check everything before it's created.
- 4Companies House syncHow company records and deadlines stay in step with Companies House, and how to refresh them.
Guides by area
Clients
- Clients and Practice ManagerFind and add clients, work with the client record, and archive clients you no longer act for.
- Deadlines, accounts and confirmation statementsSee every filing date in one place and work through accounts and confirmation statements as a worklist.
- TasksEverything the practice is working on, sorted by what's due next.
- Jobs and service templatesRecurring work for every client, created from their year end, VAT quarters and other dates, on a board by stage.
- Companies House identity verificationTrack which directors and people with significant control have verified their identity, and when it's due.
- Document requests and messagesAsk clients for exactly what you need, let them upload against each item, and message them securely.
- E-signaturesGet any document signed, by your client and anyone else, with a signing certificate.
- Your client areaWhat your clients see, who has started using it, and how to invite and nudge the rest.
- The free Octotax app, linkedYour clients can use the free Octotax app with the same sign-in, see your work in it, and choose what you see.
- Tax to payTell clients exactly what to pay HMRC, by when and how, with reminders.
- Records and the monthly checklistClients send receipts and statements from their phone any time, against a monthly checklist you set.
- Client updatesLife events, changes to a client's details, and feedback after each job, in one inbox.
New work
- Leads and proposalsTrack enquiries, send proposals with fees, and turn accepted ones into clients.
- Octotax listing and leadsList your firm in the free Octotax app so business owners who need an accountant can find you.
- OpportunitiesClients who could use more from you, spotted from what you already hold.
Services
- Engagement lettersSet your wording once, then send each client a letter built from their services to e-sign in the portal.
- AML register and checksRecord risk assessments, ID and address checks and evidence for every client, and keep reviews on schedule.
- The client portalWhat your clients see, how they sign in, and how onboarding works.
- Self AssessmentTrack personal tax returns, and send clients a questionnaire to fill in through their portal.
- Bookkeeping and VATBookkeeping clients grouped by VAT cycle, with each quarter tracked toward its VAT deadline.
- PayrollRequest, prepare, share and sign off each payroll run.
- MTD Income TaxWho's in scope for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and every quarterly update and final declaration.
Practice
- Timesheets, WIP and billingLog time on a weekly grid, value it at your rates, and see which clients are ready to invoice or under-recovering.
- BillingKnow what to bill each month from fees and time, record what you've invoiced in your own software, and never bill the same time twice.
- ReportsOn-time filing, workload, utilisation, client profitability and fee income.
Settings
- Email templates, reminders and chasersReady-made templates, automatic deadline reminders, chase sequences that stop themselves, and sending from your own mailbox.
- Filing alertsKnow when Companies House accepts a client's accounts or confirmation statement, and tell the client.
- White-label brandingPut your firm's logo, name and colour on the client portal and your emails.
- Settings and permissionsWhat's in Settings, and how to choose what your staff can see.
- Custom fields and saved viewsTrack anything extra on a client, use it in emails, and save the filtered lists you use every day.
- Client toolsCalculators and trackers you can switch on for clients: VAT threshold, MTD readiness, mileage, use of home and more.
- Calendar feedSee your tasks and client deadlines in Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar.