As a freelancer, you probably put special pains into coming across as sufficiently professional. You probably also try your best to ensure that you are billing all your clients on time and that no invoices – or payments – fall through the cracks. Some freelancers struggle to record their expenses and earnings, especially when they have their hands full with actual freelance gigs.

UK bookkeeping software can help you take your freelance gig to the next level, in terms of professionalism and financial management. You might even be able to access better profitability by reducing your tax outgo. Here’s how you can use bookkeeper’s software to your advantage:

Reduce tax outgo with receipt scanning

Dext software for bookkeeping makes it easier for you to claim your tax deductibles by automating the reporting process. You no longer have to feed in and tabulate your tax deductibles.

Got a receipt after a coffee meeting? Snap and upload it while the waiter swipes your card. The system automatically generates a digital data entry – complete with all the essential details from any bill, invoice, or receipt – within seconds.

Moreover, all such entries are neatly sorted according to date and type. You can even create separate folders (for entries related to tax deductibles, for instance) and set up customized rules for automatic categorization.

The entries can be set up to flow seamlessly into your UK bookkeeping software. You effectively have no reason to procrastinate with your tax deductibles, considering all obstacles have been eliminated.

From coffee meetings to stationery you use for your freelance work, transport tariffs, and top-ups or rentals on tools linked to your work, claim every single tax-deductible easily and instantly. You will more than make up for the GBP 20 per month that you spend on your Dext software for bookkeeping, which lets you scan up to 300 documents.

Invoicing support helps you streamline and track

Dext software for bookkeeping offers you the option of customizing, templatizing, and standardizing your invoices. This means that recurring billing clients will always receive standardized invoices that arrive on time and automation additionally ensures that the invoices are completely error-free.

When you’re running a one-man circus, keeping track of payments can be problematic, especially when there is a sense of urgency around pitch meetings at hand and deliveries of gigs or projects that you have agreed to. Because freelancing is unpredictable, you might find yourself overburdened at some moments on account of “wanting to make hay while the sun shines” and therefore agreeing to too many deliveries, gigs, or projects.

At such times, tracking payments might have taken a backseat. But this affects your profitability and cash flow, might make you look unprofessional, and worst of all: it creates grounds for people to be tardy with payments.

UK bookkeeping software typically gives you alerts around invoice due dates in addition to standardizing invoices and notifies you when any of your clients pay an invoice (and even when they open an invoice – so you’ll know that they’ve seen it and can follow up accordingly). The user is also alerted when invoices become overdue. No more tedious tracking.

Automation helps you manage finances better

Especially if you are a creative freelancer, but indeed for most people, accounting functions are far from thrilling. We already talked about how Dext software for bookkeeping can automate data entry, categorization, and flow to your accounting books. It also merges duplicate entries and flags up potential errors, making accounts reconciliation a breeze.

You also get the option of preparing reports with a few clicks and on the go (thanks to a partner smartphone app) so that you can always have a handle on your freelance work-related finances.