Quartax vs QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, Quartax and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) both work for landlords and sole traders, so the choice comes down to the six points where they differ. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) offers bank feeds, receipt capture and phone apps, which Quartax does not. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) does not offer support for more than one property or support for jointly owned property, which Quartax does. Their cheapest plans are listed as £39 a year including VAT, about £3.25 a month (Solo) for Quartax and £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Quartax suits landlords with up to three properties who want MTD done without learning bookkeeping software, sole traders with one simple business who are happy to upload a bank statement each quarter and joint owners who want each update to use their own share of the rent. 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 | Quartax | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | £39 a year including VAT, about £3.25 a month (Solo) | £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) |
| More than one property | Yes | No |
| Jointly owned property | Yes | No |
| Bank feeds | No | Yes |
| Receipt capture | No | Yes |
| Phone apps | No | Yes (iOS and Android) |
On the other points we compare (free plan, holiday lets and former FHL, self-employment income, accountant access and MTD for VAT returns), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
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 | Quartax | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Available | Available |
| Foreign property | Not stated | Not stated |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Not stated | Available |
| Employment (PAYE) | Not stated | Available |
| UK dividends | Not stated | Available |
| UK interest | Not stated | Available |
| Capital gains | Not stated | 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) | Not stated | Available |
| A free version | Not stated | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Not stated | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Not stated | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Not stated | 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 Quartax 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 Quartax and marks it “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of Quartax 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 Quartax and says nothing either way for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for Quartax and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 1 “Available” for Quartax and 7 “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start). For Quartax, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 14. 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.
Quartax
- For landlords
- £39 a year including VAT, about £3.25 a month
- For sole traders
- £39 a year including VAT, about £3.25 a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £39 including VAT
We checked Quartax’s prices on 2 November 2026.
Quartax 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
Quartax
Quartax works from a bank statement you download as a CSV file and upload each quarter, rather than a live bank feed, so we do not mark it as having bank feeds. Its pricing page includes the year-end final declaration in both plans, and a Quartax guide dated 9 October 2026, which Quartax says it checked against HMRC guidance, says it files the final declaration for UK property and self-employment income, though salary, savings, dividends and pensions have to be added in your HMRC online account. Its terms, last updated in February 2026, still say the final declaration is not supported, so we go with the newer pages. Quartax's home page says the £39 Solo price includes VAT, but we did not find the same wording for the £59 Landlord plan. The Landlord plan covers up to three income sources in total, so a landlord with three properties and a business as well would go over it, and we did not find a plan for larger portfolios. Joint owners can set their share on each upload, and accountants get a read-only share link. We did not find mileage tracking, receipt capture, mobile apps or anything about furnished holiday lets. We checked this on 2 November 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
More on these two products
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