Frequently Asked Questions

No download needed. Debbie is a Progressive Web App (PWA), which means it runs entirely in your phone's browser. On iPhone, open the site in Safari and tap "Add to Home Screen". On Android, open it in Chrome and tap "Add to Home Screen" from the menu. It will appear on your phone exactly like any other app and it works offline too.

Most tradespeople are up and running within 10 to 15 minutes. You create an account, add your business details (name, address, contact info), set your VAT status and pick your trade. From there, Debbie walks you through adding your first customer and sending your first quote. There is no complicated onboarding and no need to import historical data to get started.

Yes. As a PWA, Debbie caches what it needs to keep you going when you are on a site with no signal. You can view existing jobs, customers and quotes while offline. Some features that require a live connection to the server, such as sending an invoice email, will need a signal. Those actions queue and complete automatically when you reconnect.

Yes, that is exactly what Debbie is built for. Pull up a customer, add your labour and any parts from your saved price list, set your payment terms and hit send. Debbie generates a professional PDF quote and emails it directly to your customer, all from your phone, before you have even started your engine.

When your customer gives you the go-ahead, mark the quote as accepted in Debbie. The app turns it into a live job automatically, carrying all the details across so you never have to re-enter them. Once the work is done and you have completed the job, Debbie generates the invoice for you in one tap and you can send it there and then.

Yes. Add your business name, address, phone, email and logo in Settings and Debbie puts them on every quote and invoice automatically. Your documents look professional and consistent without you having to do anything extra each time.

Yes. If you need to correct or refund part of an invoice, raise a credit note against it in Debbie rather than editing or deleting the original. This keeps a clean paper trail for HMRC and it automatically reduces what that invoice counts towards your income.

Debbie has six job types designed to cover the range of work UK tradespeople take on. Quick jobs are for small one-visit call-outs billed by the hour. Standard jobs are for typical day jobs. Big jobs are for larger multi-day projects. Staged jobs are for long builds where you invoice in phases. CIS jobs are for subcontractors who have tax deducted at source. Warranty jobs are for follow-up visits covered under an existing guarantee, with no charge to the customer.

Yes. On any job you can log the materials you have used, including what they cost you and what you charged the customer. Debbie calculates your gross profit margin for each job so you can see at a glance whether the job made money. If you bought parts from a supplier, you can add the cost and compare it against your sell price.

Yes. Every job in Debbie has a notes area and a photo gallery. Take photos before, during and after the work so you have a clear record of what you found and what you left behind. These stay attached to the job and the customer history, so you always have evidence if a dispute comes up later.

MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) is already mandatory if your self-employment turnover is over £50,000. It extends to £30,000 or more in April 2027 and £20,000 or more in April 2028. Once you are in scope, you must keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC using compliant software. Debbie keeps the digital records and prepares each quarterly update for you, ready for when filing opens in Debbie.

Yes. Debbie is designed for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. When a quarter closes, Debbie pulls together your income and expenses and shows you a summary, ready for your quarterly update. No spreadsheets, no third-party filing software, no accountant required for the quarterly step.

HMRC requires sole traders in the MTD scheme to send four updates per tax year, once every three months. Each update reports your total income and your total expenses broken down into the SA103F categories HMRC recognises, such as materials, subcontractors, vehicle costs and so on. Debbie categorises your expenses throughout the year so the quarterly update is ready to review when filing opens in Debbie.

Yes. Debbie has a dedicated CIS job type for when you are working as a subcontractor and the contractor deducts tax before paying you. Your CIS invoices are tracked separately from your standard invoices so your MTD reports stay accurate. Debbie records the gross amount, the CIS deduction and the net amount you actually receive.

The Annual Submission is the final step in your MTD year, where you confirm your total income and expenses for the tax year and add anything not covered by your quarterly updates such as capital allowances or losses. Debbie pulls your figures together automatically, ready to send to HMRC the moment filing opens in Debbie. It replaces the old-style yearly tax return calculation for people fully in MTD.

Most sole traders use the standard 6 April to 5 April tax year but if your accounting period is different, Debbie supports HMRC's Periods of Account and Late Accounting Date Rule so your quarterly updates and Annual Submission still line up correctly. This is a fairly rare situation, most tradespeople will never need to think about it.

Yes. Debbie lets you amend a quarterly update you have already submitted, HMRC calls this an intent to amend. You correct the figures in the app and Debbie prepares the updated version, ready to go to HMRC as soon as filing opens, no need to ring them up or wait for the next quarter to fix it.

Yes. Once your quarterly updates and Annual Submission are done, Debbie retrieves your Final Declaration obligation from HMRC and gets it ready for you to confirm and send the moment filing opens in Debbie. This is the step that finally settles your tax position for the year.

If your business makes a loss in a tax year, sideways loss relief lets you offset that loss against other taxable income in the same year, such as a PAYE job, instead of only carrying it forward against future profits. Debbie calculates the figures, applies HMRC's cap for non-active trades where it applies and prepares the claim ready for HMRC. If you are not sure which option suits your situation, it is worth a quick word with a tax adviser.

Yes, in certain circumstances. Carrying a loss back lets you set it against a profit from an earlier tax year and potentially get a refund on tax already paid. Debbie shows you when this option is available for your situation and prepares the claim ready for HMRC.

Yes. Debbie lets you record Individuals Tax Liability Adjustments such as Gift Aid donations or pension contributions and factors them into your tax position before you submit your Final Declaration. These can reduce the tax you owe, so it is worth adding them if they apply to you.

Yes. If you are VAT registered, Debbie has a full VAT Return feature where you enter your VAT figures manually and see them reflected across your reports and your bank import can categorise VAT on transactions too. Submitting the VAT Return directly to HMRC through Making Tax Digital for VAT is not built yet. For now you record it in Debbie and file it through HMRC's own system or your accountant.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is HMRC's move away from a single yearly tax return towards keeping digital records all year round and sending HMRC a short update every three months. For sole traders it is called MTD for Income Tax or MTD ITSA. The idea is that smaller, more frequent updates are less error-prone than one big return done in a rush every January and Debbie is built to handle the whole process for you.

A sole trader is someone who runs their own business as an individual rather than through a separate legal company. You keep all the profit after tax but you are also personally responsible for any debts the business runs up, unlike a limited company where the company itself is a separate legal entity. Most tradespeople start out as sole traders because it is simpler to set up and run, with less paperwork than a limited company.

Not necessarily. Plenty of sole traders manage their own books and file their own Self Assessment, especially with software like Debbie doing the categorising and calculations for you. That said, an accountant can be worth it once your affairs get more complex, for example if you are close to the VAT threshold or want advice on sideways loss relief. Debbie also has a one-tap accountant pack if you want to hand your figures to one without a big handover job, which can mean a smaller bill for their time.

You can claim any cost that is wholly and exclusively for your business. Common examples for tradespeople include materials, tools, van costs or mileage, phone and insurance and subcontractor payments. Some costs like clothing only count if they are genuine protective workwear rather than everyday clothes. Debbie categorises your expenses into HMRC's official SA103F categories as you go so nothing gets missed.

The trading allowance lets you earn up to £1,000 from self-employment or casual work in a tax year without needing to tell HMRC or pay tax on it. It is one allowance in total rather than £1,000 per job or platform and if you use it you cannot also claim expenses for that income in the same year. Once your turnover goes above £1,000 you need to register for Self Assessment. Most established tradespeople earn well above this and claim their actual expenses instead.

A UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference) is the 10-digit number HMRC uses to identify you for Self Assessment. You get one automatically when you register as self-employed with HMRC and it usually arrives by post within a few weeks. You will need it to file your tax return and to connect Debbie to HMRC for Making Tax Digital.

If you are in MTD, your old single annual tax return is replaced by four quarterly updates plus an Annual Submission and a Final Declaration at the end of the year, all of which Debbie prepares for you, ready for when filing opens in Debbie. If you are not yet mandated into MTD, you still file the traditional Self Assessment return once a year, online by 31 January following the end of the tax year. Debbie tracks your income and expenses either way so the figures are ready whichever route applies to you.

Self-employed people pay Class 4 National Insurance, charged at 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 and 2% above that. Class 2 no longer needs to be paid if your profits are above the small profits threshold of £7,105, your contribution record is treated as maintained automatically. Below that threshold you can choose to pay a small voluntary amount to keep your state pension record on track.

Payments on Account are advance payments towards next year's tax bill, charged if your Self Assessment bill was over £1,000. They are due in two instalments, 31 January and 31 July, each worth half of your previous year's tax bill. If you expect to earn less this year than last, you can apply to reduce them rather than overpaying.

You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period, not just a calendar year. You can also choose to register voluntarily below that if it suits your business. Debbie's VAT Return feature is ready for when you cross the threshold or choose to register early.

CIS, the Construction Industry Scheme, applies to subcontractors and contractors working in construction. A contractor deducts tax from a subcontractor's payment before paying them, usually 20% if you are registered with HMRC or 30% if you are not and passes it to HMRC on your behalf. Debbie has a dedicated CIS job type that tracks the gross amount, the deduction and the net payment separately so your records stay accurate.

Marriage Allowance lets a lower-earning spouse or civil partner transfer part of their unused Personal Allowance to a partner who pays basic rate tax, worth up to £252 a year. It is available to sole traders in exactly the same way as anyone else and depends on your household income rather than how you earn it. It is claimed directly through HMRC rather than through Debbie but it is worth checking if you or your partner earn under £12,570.

Missing the 31 January deadline triggers an automatic £100 penalty even if you owe no tax, with further penalties building up the longer it stays outstanding. Interest is also charged on any tax paid late. If you have a genuine reason for missing it, you can appeal but the safest option is always to file on time or get in early if you think you will struggle.

MTD uses a points-based penalty system similar to VAT. Each missed quarterly update or annual return earns you one point and once you reach four points you get a £200 penalty, with another £200 for every further late submission after that. Points expire after 24 months of staying below the threshold. HMRC has confirmed an easement for the first year of MTD for Income Tax, so late quarterly updates in your first year will not usually earn points, though the year end return is not covered by that easement.

You need to keep records of all your business income and expenses, including invoices, receipts, bank statements and mileage logs, for at least five years after the Self Assessment deadline for that tax year. Under Making Tax Digital these records need to be kept digitally rather than in a shoebox of paper. Debbie stores everything in one place automatically as you work, invoices, receipts, mileage and expenses, so you are covered without extra effort.

Yes. If you use your own vehicle for business journeys, you can claim HMRC's approved mileage rate instead of tracking every fuel receipt. For the 2026/27 tax year the rates are 55p a mile for cars and vans for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p a mile after that (the car and van rate rose from 45p to 55p from 6 April 2026, the first rise in 14 years), 24p a mile for motorcycles, mopeds and scooters, with no mileage cap on that rate. Bicycles and e-bikes are not covered by the flat rate for the self-employed, so you claim their real costs instead, split by business use from your logged miles. If your bike costs for the year are small, the £1,000 trading allowance can save you more instead, it's one or the other, never both, and Debbie uses whichever saves you more. Debbie covers cars, vans, motorcycles, scooters, e-bikes and push bikes and works out your deductible amount automatically as you log each trip. If you prefer, you can claim your actual vehicle running costs instead but you cannot mix both methods for the same vehicle.

Debbie flags an invoice as overdue for you automatically the moment it passes its due date, no need to check manually. Sending the actual chase is one tap: pick a tone, polite, firm, final or letter before action and Debbie emails your customer straight away. It is not on a timer in the background, you choose when to send but it takes seconds rather than writing a chasing email from scratch. You can also see at a glance which customers are slow payers.

Yes. Log any business expense in Debbie and assign it to the correct SA103F category: tools, materials, fuel, phone, insurance and so on. Debbie keeps a running total so you always know your outgoings and your expenses flow into your quarterly MTD updates and your self-assessment summary automatically.

Yes. Add your van or other business vehicles and log trips with the date, purpose and miles driven. Debbie applies the correct HMRC mileage rate for the tax year automatically (currently 55p for the first 10,000 miles, 25p after) and tracks your total deductible amount. You can also log actual running costs such as fuel, insurance, servicing and MOT if you prefer to claim on actual costs rather than the mileage method.

Yes. When you buy a big-ticket item for the business, a van, a set of power tools or major equipment, Debbie lets you record it as a capital allowance rather than a normal expense. Capital allowances let you deduct the cost of the asset from your taxable profit, usually through the Annual Investment Allowance which covers most tradespeople's purchases in full in the year of purchase. Debbie keeps a running summary by tax year so the figure is ready when you file.

Yes. If you do admin, quoting or bookkeeping from a home office, Debbie lets you log a home office deduction using HMRC's simplified flat rate based on the hours you work from home each month. It works this out automatically and adds it to your allowable expenses, no need to weigh up your own gas and electricity bills.

Yes. If a customer pays you in cash, log it in Debbie as cash income and it is treated exactly the same as any other income for your records and your MTD updates. This matters because HMRC expects all income to be declared whether it came through a bank or in your hand and keeping it in Debbie from the start avoids it getting missed at year end.

Yes, this is one of Debbie's flagship features. Take a photo of a receipt and Debbie's AI reads it, pulls out the supplier, amount, date and likely category and lets you confirm it in a couple of taps. You can attach it straight to a job so the material cost and the receipt live in one place, no more shoebox of paper receipts.

Yes. Upload a CSV export from your bank and Debbie matches transactions against your existing invoices and expenses, flags anything new that needs categorising and lets you approve them in bulk. It is much faster than entering every payment and expense by hand.

Right now the fastest route in is a CSV upload from your bank, which works with every UK bank and needs no setup on your end. A live, always-on bank feed is planned for a future premium tier. CSV import already covers most of what a live feed would give you day to day.

Debbie costs £10 a month for one business (Solo), £17 for two (Duo) or £25 for three (Triple). Pay yearly on any of them and you save the equivalent of 3 months. Your first month is free, no card needed. Add a card only if you decide to stay. No contract, cancel any time.

£10 a month wherever you are, tax included. Your bank converts it to your currency at its usual rate.

Yes. Debbie runs on Railway (backend) and Neon (database), both of which are professional-grade cloud infrastructure with automatic backups, encryption at rest and high availability. Sensitive fields such as your financial data are encrypted before they are stored. You can export your data at any time.

Yes. There is no contract and no cancellation fee. If you decide Debbie is not for you, cancel from your account settings and you will not be charged again. Cancelling never deletes anything: you keep read-only access to everything and can export your data any time and resubscribing picks up exactly where you left off. Your data is only removed if you choose to delete your account, which has its own 30-day change-of-mind window.

Your first month is free, no card needed, with full access to Debbie, no features held back. Add a card only if you decide to stay. You can cancel any time within your free month without paying a penny. For a limited time, adding a card before your free month ends gets you a second month free too.

Yes. Share your referral link and when the person you refer signs up and pays for their first month, you get £10 off your next bill. There is no limit, refer as many people as you like.

Yes. Once you have been a paying customer for a full year, Debbie automatically applies £10 off your next bill as a thank you. It repeats every year you stay subscribed, no need to ask or apply for it.

Yes. If work goes quiet or you only need fewer business slots, you can downgrade from Triple or Duo to a smaller plan or cancel outright, from your account settings at any time. There is no lock-in contract, so you are never stuck paying for more than you need.

Yes. Debbie supports Solo, Duo and Triple plans so you can manage one, two or three separate businesses from the same account, each with its own customers, jobs, invoices and tax records kept completely separate. This suits tradespeople who run a side business alongside their main trade or who have a trade business and a rental property.

Solo covers one business for £10 a month, Duo covers two for £17 a month and Triple covers three for £25 a month, with a saving built in for every extra business slot compared to paying for Solo multiple times. Each business slot works fully independently inside the app, so switching between them is quick and your records never get mixed up. Pay yearly on any plan and you save the equivalent of 3 months.

Yes. Debbie prepares your SA105 property return, applies Section 24 mortgage interest relief and Rent a Room relief automatically and tracks tenancies, rent and void periods. A property counts as one of your business slots in the same way a trade does, so a landlord who is also a tradesperson can run both from one Duo or Triple account.

Yes. Debbie generates a profit and loss report from your actual invoices and expenses, so you can see at a glance how a job, a month or a whole tax year has performed. It updates automatically as you add jobs and expenses rather than needing you to build a spreadsheet.

Yes. Debbie can generate an accountant pack as a PDF or CSV covering your income, expenses and job records for a chosen period and you can email it straight from the app. This saves you exporting everything by hand or sending your accountant a pile of receipts.

Yes. You can export your data from Debbie at any time, so you are never locked in. This is useful if you want your own backup, if you are switching to an accountant who wants raw figures or if you simply want a copy for your own records.

More than you might think. Debbie is a proper name that also works as a nod to what the app actually does: your Digital Expense & Bookkeeping Business Intelligence Engine. In plain English, she keeps your receipts, expenses and invoices in order, gives you a clear read on your customers, jobs, unpaid invoices and cash flow at a glance and quietly runs the daily admin in the background so you are always ready for Making Tax Digital. Friendly enough to talk to, clever enough to trust with your tax.