Bookkeeping for sole traders

Being a sole trader looks simple right up to the first missed deadline. The return is filed quarterly or annually, the social contribution is due every quarter whether or not there was any income, and the income ceiling gets checked not when it suits you but once it has already been passed. We take all of it on: from source documents through to dealing with the tax office.

We work with sole traders on single-tax groups two and three and on the general system, VAT-registered or not. The scope and the fee are fixed in the contract before work begins.

What the monthly service covers

• keeping the income records – and, on the general system, the expense records too, with the supporting documents checked;
• calculating the single tax, or personal income tax and the military levy, and watching that they are paid;
• calculating your own unified social contribution and tracking the quarterly payment dates;
• preparing and filing the single-tax return or the declaration of property status and income;
• combined reporting on the social contribution and personal income tax where you employ people;
• VAT, where you are registered: tax invoices, registration in the unified register, watching the registration limit;
• monitoring the income ceiling for your group and warning you before it is passed;
• reconciliations with the tax office and representation during inspections.

Single tax: what differs between the groups

The group decides not only the rate but how much work the books take. We work with groups two and three and with the general system; we do not take group one.

Group two has a flat rate and allows employees, but the customer base is restricted: you may sell to individuals and to other single-tax payers. Breaching that restriction is the usual reason a sole trader loses the group retrospectively. We check counterparties before the deal happens, not after.

Group three charges a rate on turnover, files quarterly, and has no restriction on who you sell to. This is where the VAT question arises, and where a calculation beats intuition.

The income ceiling for each group is revised annually. We track it against actual receipts rather than at year end, when nothing can be done: passing it means moving to the general system and a 15% charge on the excess.

Sole traders on the general system

The books are harder here than on the single tax, and expenses are the reason. Tax is charged on income less documented expenses, so every expense needs a document the tax office will accept. We check that before the return is filed, not after a request arrives.

The general system is not automatically the worse deal. For a business with a high share of costs it often beats group three, and that is something to calculate rather than guess. If the choice of regime is a live question for you, it is separate work – tax planning.

Who needs this

The sole trader who keeps their own books and has caught themselves unsure about what they filed. The one hiring a first employee – payroll reporting starts at that moment and does not forgive late filing. Anyone taking cash or card payments who falls under the cash-register rules. And anyone who has outgrown the form and is thinking about a company – then see bookkeeping for companies.

A case of its own is the sole trader with foreign clients. Currency earnings, the deadline for crediting them and foreign-trade status all need separate attention, and we build that into the scope from the start.

How handover works

Before signing we look at where things stand: whether everything has been filed, whether the social contribution is up to date, whether what you actually do matches your registered activities and your group. If there is risk, you hear about it before the contract, not a year later.

Then we take over the documents and the access, agree how documents will be exchanged, and fix the scope, the deadlines and each side’s responsibility in the contract. Handover does not require pausing work and misses no filing date.

Penalties and interest incurred through our fault are compensated. That is a term of the contract.

What the fee depends on

It follows the group or tax system, whether you are VAT-registered, the number of transactions a month, headcount and whether there are currency settlements. A group-two sole trader with no staff and a group-three VAT payer with three employees are very different jobs.

The packages with figures are on the pricing page, and you can get an indication for your own scope in the calculator. We name the exact fee once we can see your numbers, and fix it in the contract.

Common questions

Does a sole trader need an accountant if there is barely any income?

Filing and the social contribution do not depend on whether money came in: the return still has to be filed and the contribution still has to be paid. Dormant sole traders are exactly the ones who collect penalties, because nobody thinks about them until once a year. The work involved is minimal, and the price reflects that.

Can the single-tax group be changed?

Yes. A move takes effect from the start of the next quarter, and the application has to be filed no later than 15 days before it begins. The question usually comes up in one of two situations: group two no longer covers the customers you need, or income is approaching the ceiling. We work both options out in advance and file in time.

What happens if I go over the income ceiling?

The excess is taxed at 15%, and from the next quarter you must move to the general system. That is why we watch the approach to the ceiling early: there is almost always time to reshape the year so it does not happen.

Can you help with a cash register?

Yes: we will tell you whether your activity falls under the requirement, help register a till or a software register, and fold its data into the books.

What if a filing deadline has already been missed?

Do not wait. The return can still be filed late; the penalty for non-filing is fixed, while interest accrues daily – so the sooner it goes in, the smaller the sum. We establish exactly what was missed, prepare and file it, work out what is owed, and check whether anything else followed from it – a suspension of tax invoice registration, for instance.

Can you close a sole trader registration for us?

Yes. Closing is not a single application: a final return has to be filed, the social contribution settled up to the date of deregistration, and the registration itself cancelled. Miss a step and contributions keep accruing against a business you think is closed. We run the whole procedure and state the scope before starting.