Briefcase vs QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, Briefcase and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) both work for landlords and sole traders, so the choice comes down to the four points where they differ. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) offers phone apps, which Briefcase does not. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) does not offer support for more than one property or support for jointly owned property, which Briefcase does. Their cheapest plans are listed as £19 plus VAT a month (Low) for Briefcase and £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Briefcase suits sole traders and landlords who would like the bookkeeping done for them rather than typing it in, landlords with several properties, joint owners or letting agent statements and people with both self-employment and rental income who want one licence for both. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) suits sole traders or single-property landlords, landlords who want a lower-priced mainstream option and people who do most of their bookkeeping on a phone.
The facts on this page come from each provider’s own pages and from HMRC’s software list, and how we compare products explains how we check them.
If you are thinking of moving from one to the other, the guide to changing your MTD software explains what GOV.UK says about when you can move and what happens to your records.
Where they differ
These are the points where our checks of the two products came out differently. A “No” means we did not find that feature on the provider’s own pages when we last checked them. Where we had nothing to go on for one of the two, we leave the point out here rather than guess.
| Point | Briefcase | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | £19 plus VAT a month (Low) | £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) |
| More than one property | Yes | No |
| Jointly owned property | Yes | No |
| Phone apps | No | Yes (iOS and Android) |
On the other points we compare (free plan, holiday lets and former FHL, self-employment income, bank feeds, receipt capture and accountant access), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
Both send MTD for VAT returns, from different plans: Briefcase from the Low plan and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) from the Simple Start plan.
What HMRC’s software list says about both
HMRC’s list marks each feature as available now or intended for later. This is what HMRC’s list says, not something we have tested ourselves. Where HMRC lists a product under more than one name, we show the strongest answer and the listing it comes from.
| Feature | Briefcase | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Available | Available |
| Foreign property | Available | Not stated |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Intended | Available |
| Employment (PAYE) | Intended | Available |
| UK dividends | Intended | Available |
| UK interest | Intended | Available |
| Capital gains | Intended | Availablesince 24 July 2026 |
| How it works | ||
| Bridging software that connects to your records | Not stated | Not stated |
| Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March) | Available | Available |
| A free version | Not stated | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Available | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Available | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Available | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Available | Not stated |
This is HMRC’s list as it stood on 30 October 2026, at HMRC’s commit 201b34e. A date beside a feature is when HMRC’s list changed it from intended to available. HMRC’s software finder shows the current answers. How we read HMRC’s list
Does HMRC’s software list show Briefcase and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) as available for sending your tax return?
For sending your tax return, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for Briefcase and marks it “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of Briefcase or QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 says nothing either way for Briefcase and says nothing either way for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for Briefcase and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 7 “Available” for Briefcase and 7 “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start). For Briefcase, it marks 5 “Intended” and gives no answer on 3. For QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start), it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 8.
The cheapest plan for your situation
A product’s cheapest plan is not always one you can use, because some plans are only for landlords or only for sole traders. These are the lowest prices the selector would show each reader, as each provider states them. Where a price grows with the number of properties, it is shown as a starting price. The figure over 12 months is the same plan at its regular price, worked out the way the software cost calculator does it.
Briefcase
- For landlords
- £19 plus VAT a month
- For sole traders
- £19 plus VAT a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £228 plus VAT
We checked Briefcase’s prices on 25 October 2026.
Briefcase also works for people with rental and self-employment income.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
- For landlords
- £10 plus VAT a month
- For sole traders
- £10 plus VAT a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £120 plus VAT
We checked QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)’s prices on 3 November 2026.
Notes from our checks
Briefcase
Briefcase began as bookkeeping software for accounting firms, and its Ledger product now serves sole traders and landlords directly: the pricing page lets you start a trial for your own business, and Briefcase says you do not need an accountant to use it. Every plan has the same features, including MTD filing and VAT returns, and the plans differ only in how many invoices, receipts and bank transactions Briefcase processes each quarter. The cheapest plan, Low, allows 75 invoices and receipts and 300 bank transactions a quarter, and Briefcase moves you up a plan automatically if you go more than 10% over unless you switch that off. Briefcase says one licence covers sole trade income and any number of UK or foreign properties, that each property gets its own profit and loss, and that it can split figures between joint owners when it sends them to HMRC. Its help article says you can file your quarterly updates and year-end return from Ledger. Briefcase launched Ledger in March 2026 and its launch note said HMRC submissions would follow shortly; its home page now says quarterly Income Tax updates go straight to HMRC. Prices are shown plus VAT. There is a 14-day free trial but no free plan. Briefcase lists expense and mileage claims for staff to submit for approval, but we did not find a mileage tracker for your own journeys. Documents can be sent by WhatsApp, email or web upload, and we did not find a mobile app or anything about furnished holiday lets. We checked this on 25 October 2026.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
Regular monthly prices are shown excluding VAT. When we checked the pricing page on 3 November 2026, the price list it loads showed Intuit's offer of 90% off for six months for new customers, running until 20 November 2026, so the pricing page is the place to see any offer running now. Its setup guidance requires a separate account for each business or property income source. Combined subscription costs were not confirmed, so the selector does not recommend QuickBooks for mixed income. Joint-property support also remains unconfirmed.
Neither product is ranked above the other here: the page sets out what each provider says so you can weigh it against your own situation. How we compare products
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