Welcome to Hnry! We’re chuffed to have you on board.
Hnry is on a mission to make earning self-employed income easy and affordable – and you’re already well on your way to enjoying these benefits!
Now that you’re up and running, there are a few things we recommend doing to really get your 1% fee’s worth. The more you get out of our products, features, and service, the easier it’ll be for you to:
- get paid faster by your clients (by eight days, on average!)
- claim all the allowable expenses you’re eligible for
- automate your tax admin
- and, of course, never think about tax again!
We’re completely biased, but we genuinely believe that Hnry is the easiest way for sole traders to stay on top of their financial and tax admin. That’s because we’ve built Hnry specifically around the needs of self-employed people – including creating new features our customers ask for.
All that sound good to you? Brilliant! Here are five simple tips to help you make the most of Hnry.
1. Automate expense admin with the Hnry Business Mastercard
Here at Hnry, we know that the best way to (legally) save on your taxes as a sole trader is to claim all valid allowable expenses.
Unfortunately, many sole traders aren’t claiming everything they’re entitled to. That’s money left on the table!
Enter the Hnry Business Mastercard.
When you make a purchase with your Hnry Business Mastercard, it automatically raises an expense in the Hnry App. From there, all you need to do is add a few extra details, upload a photo of your receipt, and hit “Submit”. That’s it! Expense raised!
Better still, we keep a record of your purchase for five years, as required by HMRC. You can go ahead and throw that receipt in the bin – we’ve got you sorted.
2. Raise expenses as you go
If, for whatever reason, the Hnry Business Mastercard is not for you, no worries! You can still raise expenses as you go in the Hnry App.
It’s as simple as:
- Creating a new expense under the “Expenses” tab
- Filling in a few details
- Uploading a photo of your receipt
- Hitting “Submit”.
Sorted!
Once you’ve submitted an eligible expense, we’ll include it in your tax calculations when working out how much tax you owe. This means you start saving on tax from your very next pay – you don’t have to wait until the end of the tax year for a refund. It’s extra cash in your pocket when you need it – sweet!
The Hnry Dashboard also includes a graph of your monthly profit (sales made minus expenses purchased). As you can imagine, the best way to keep it accurate is to raise expenses at the point of purchase.
You’re also less likely to let anything fall through the cracks. It’s one habit that literally pays off.
3. List your income outside Hnry (so we can calculate your taxes)
The best way for you to help us get your taxes accurate is to let us know about all your income – not just your self-employed earnings!
When you first join Hnry, we begin calculating your taxes based on the information you give us during onboarding – including any income you earn outside your sole trader business.
That’s because, as a sole trader, you and your business are considered one by HMRC. Any income you earn through your business counts towards your individual taxable income, alongside any salary, investment, or other personal income. We use all of this to calculate your effective tax rate.
💡 An effective tax rate is exactly what it says on the tin: the actual percentage of your total income that you pay in Income Tax.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an exact figure – an estimate is enough to help us get started.
And remember, if your situation changes down the track, you can always let the Hnry team know! We can update your details for you.
4. Get paid into your Hnry Account
If you haven’t already, get paid into your Hnry Account – and watch the magic happen.
Every time you’re paid into your Hnry Account, we automatically calculate, deduct, and pay any Income Tax, National Insurance, and student loan repayments you may owe on that amount. The rest we forward to your bank account straight away – yours to spend as you like!
(We also sort your VAT if you’re registered – learn more.)
The beauty of this is that our tax calculations automatically adjust as you go, based on both your real-time earnings and any claimable expenses you raise. This means that we’re always deducting the right amount of tax, and we pass on any tax savings you’re eligible for as you go. No need to wait until the end of the tax year.
How to get paid into Hnry
The easiest way to get paid into Hnry is by invoicing your clients through the Hnry App. Every invoice automatically includes your Hnry Account details.
As an added bonus, if you turn on the automatic invoice chasing feature, we’ll remind any late-paying clients that their payment is due on your behalf (politely, of course!). Our research shows that customers who use this feature get paid an average of eight days faster.
If you don’t need to invoice your clients, you can still manually send them your Hnry Account details. Easy!
The Hnry App will automatically generate a pay summary for each payment processed, including the amount deducted to cover your tax obligations. If you have any questions about how it all works, you can ask the friendly Hnry Team – we’re here to help!
5. Hnry has you sorted for Making Tax Digital
Ok, so this isn’t something you need to do in order to make the most of Hnry – but it’s definitely worth knowing about!
Hnry is fully MTD-compatible for both Income Tax and VAT – but we actually go one step further by doing it all for you.
It’s not just that our software creates and stores digital records, as required by HMRC – the Hnry team also completes and submits your quarterly updates, final tax return, and VAT returns whenever they’re due. No additional software needed, and no hidden fees – it’s all part of the service. You can’t get much more all-in-one than that!
So if you’re required to register for Making Tax Digital, no problem. Hnry sorts it all for you.
📖 Learn more about Hnry and MTD.
About Hnry
Hnry is an award-winning app and tax service designed to help sole traders with their financial admin.
For just 1% +VAT of your self-employed income, capped at £600 +VAT a year, Hnry will calculate and pay all your taxes and whatnot for you, including:
- Income Tax
- National Insurance Contributions
- Student loan repayments
- Private pension contributions (optional)
- VAT (if applicable)
We also submit your Self Assessment tax return, or MTD quarterly updates and final declaration, as well as your VAT returns, whenever they’re due – including claiming any tax relief you may be eligible for. It’s all part of the service!
More importantly, we free up thousands of hours for sole traders to focus more on what they do best – their jobs. Hnry is on a mission to make being a sole trader simple, affordable, and accessible for anyone.