Welcome to the smartest free expense tracker and rebill ledger for UK IT contractors. We built this tool to bridge the gap between messy spreadsheets and bloated accounting software.
Whether you operate through a Limited Company or an Umbrella, you can easily track tiered HMRC mileage, attach digital receipts, auto-calculate VAT, and manage client chargebacks. Because we believe in crystal clear transparency, there are no paywalls and no accounts required. Your data is stored 100% locally on your device, ready to be exported as a professional CSV for your accountant whenever you need it.
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Because this tool prioritises your privacy, your financial data is never sent to our servers. It lives securely in your browser's local database.
Use these buttons to download a secure backup file (.json) of your ledger to your computer before clearing your browser history or switching devices.
A contractor expense tracker is a tool designed to help freelancers, consultants and limited company contractors organise allowable business expenses throughout the tax year. Instead of relying on spreadsheets, paper receipts or manual calculations, contractors can securely log business spending, mileage claims, VAT information and rebillable client costs in one organised location.
For UK IT contractors, expense tracking is especially important because many business-related purchases may qualify as allowable expenses for Corporation Tax or VAT purposes. Keeping structured records can make bookkeeping easier, reduce accounting admin and improve visibility over contractor finances.
This contractor expense tracker has been built specifically for UK IT contractors and focuses on HMRC-aware workflows such as mileage logging, VAT splitting, receipt tracking and accountant-friendly exports.
As an IT contractor, your administrative workflow usually falls into one of two extremes:
We built this free tool as the perfect middle ground. It gives you the smart, automated HMRC logic of premium accounting software, but without the monthly subscription, paywalls, or accounts. It acts as the perfect "pre-accounting" staging area to organise your records before handing them over to your certified accountant.
Navigating limited company expenses can be confusing. Here is how our tracker simplifies common HMRC rules:
Tracking business mileage manually is one of the most common ways contractors lose out on tax relief or make compliance errors. Our smart mileage engine is built around the HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) rules.
If your limited company is VAT registered, manually extracting Net and VAT amounts from gross receipts is a massive waste of billable time.
When you log an expense, simply select the HMRC-aligned category, input the gross amount, and choose your VAT rate (Standard 20%, Reduced 5%, or Zero/Exempt 0%). The ledger instantly splits the figures for you.
By categorising costs into standard chart-of-account buckets (like IT Equipment, Travel & Subsistence, or Client Entertaining), your final CSV export drops flawlessly into accounting software like Xero, FreeAgent, or QuickBooks with zero manual reformatting required by your accountant.
Your financial data is your business. Unlike cloud-based accounting apps that harvest your data or require you to create an account, this tool operates on a strict Zero-Trust, Local-First architecture.
As a Limited Company director, understanding what HMRC considers an allowable business expense is crucial to reducing your Corporation Tax bill. The golden rule is that the expense must be incurred "wholly and exclusively" for the purpose of your business. Here is a quick guide to the 20 most common contractor queries:
Yes. Fees paid to your accountant for managing company affairs (annual accounts, payroll, VAT returns) are fully deductible. However, personal tax return (Self Assessment) fees are generally considered a personal expense, though many accountants bundle them.
Yes, provided the contract is in the name of your Limited Company. If the contract is in your personal name, you can only claim the incremental cost of business use, which is often difficult to prove, so it's best to put it in the company name.
Yes. Travel to and from temporary workplaces (client sites) is deductible. The workplace is considered "temporary" as long as your contract expects you to be there for less than 24 months (the 24-month rule).
Yes, you can pay for it through the company, but it is not tax-deductible. It must be added back to your profits before calculating Corporation Tax. You also cannot reclaim the VAT on client entertaining.
Yes. Purchasing a laptop, monitor, or server required for your IT contracting work is fully allowable as a capital expense (or Annual Investment Allowance). Minimal personal use is acceptable.
Yes for eye tests, if you use a computer (DSE) for work. You can only claim the cost of glasses if the prescription is strictly and exclusively for monitor use (e.g., intermediate distance). General-purpose glasses are not allowable.
Yes, but only if you are working at a temporary workplace (like a client site) or traveling on a business journey outside your normal commute. You cannot claim everyday lunches if you work from a permanent office or your own home.
Yes. The simplest method is claiming the HMRC flat rate (£6 a week/£26 a month) without needing receipts. For higher claims, you must calculate the exact proportion of your household bills (light, heat, power) based on the square footage of the room used solely for business.
Yes. If using your personal car for business travel (to a temporary workplace), you can claim 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles in the tax year, and 25p per mile thereafter. This covers fuel, wear and tear, and insurance. Do not claim fuel receipts separately if using this method.
Yes, but the contract must be in the name of the Limited Company. If so, the entire bill is allowable, and there is no benefit-in-kind charge even if there is some personal use (limited to one phone per employee).
Yes. Desks, ergonomic chairs, filing cabinets, and stationery for your home office or rented office are fully allowable business expenses.
Yes, and it is highly tax-efficient. Employer contributions made by your Limited Company directly into your personal pension pot (SIPP) are an allowable business expense and save you Corporation Tax.
Yes. Professional Indemnity (PI), Public Liability (PL), and Employers' Liability insurance required for your contracting business are completely tax-deductible.
Yes, provided the organisation is on the HMRC approved list of professional bodies (e.g., BCS, IET) and the membership is directly relevant to your IT contracting duties.
Yes. Cloud hosting (AWS, Azure), IDE licenses (JetBrains), GitHub, Adobe CC, and Microsoft 365 subscriptions used for your business are fully allowable.
Yes. Pens, paper, printing ink, and courier/postage costs for contracts or business documents are fully deductible.
Yes, but with a catch. The training must update or maintain existing skills relevant to your current trade (e.g., an AWS certification for a cloud engineer). You cannot claim for a course that teaches you an entirely new, unrelated skill.
No, standard everyday clothing (like a business suit or smart casual wear) is not allowable because it has a "dual purpose" (you can wear it outside of work). You can only claim specialised protective clothing (e.g., steel-toe boots for site visits) or clothing with a permanent company logo.
Yes. You can host an annual event (like a Christmas party) for directors/employees. It is tax-deductible and exempt from benefit-in-kind, provided the cost does not exceed £150 per attendee (including VAT) per year. If it exceeds £150, the entire amount becomes taxable.
Yes. Domain names, website hosting, SEO tools, LinkedIn Premium (if used for client networking), and advertising expenses are fully allowable to promote your IT contracting business.
No. There are no sign-ups, no paywalls, and no login screens. The tool runs entirely within your browser, making it instantly accessible whenever you need to log a receipt.
Yes. While limited company directors use this ledger to prepare their corporate accounts, Umbrella workers can use it to securely log allowable out-of-pocket expenses (like AMAP mileage to temporary workplaces) to submit to their Umbrella provider for tax relief.
Contractors frequently incur costs (like train tickets or hotel stays) that need to be charged back to the client. By ticking "Bill to client" when logging an expense, you can track its invoice status (Pending, Invoiced, Paid). You can then download a dedicated "Client Recharge Report" CSV to easily attach to your next timesheet.
Because this is a privacy-first tool, clearing your browser's local storage or site data will erase your saved expenses. We strongly recommend using the "Data Management" section at the bottom of the tool to download a .json backup file at the end of every month.
Absolutely. The "Export Full Ledger" button generates a clean, formatted CSV file containing your dates, descriptions, net/VAT splits, and HMRC categories. It is designed to be universally compatible with standard accounting software imports.