Making Tax Digital · Sole traders
What useful tax-software support should help you resolve
ONLY£15A MONTHGood support helps you understand the problem, identify the next action and know who is responsible for it.
Good support helps you understand the problem, identify the next action and know who is responsible for it. Response speed matters, but an immediate acknowledgement is different from a resolved issue. Choose support by the help available for your actual work.
Separate the kinds of help
A bank connection problem needs product support. A disputed expense category may need tax judgement. A missed deadline can involve records, software and professional advice together. Explain which part is preventing progress so the request reaches the right person.
Avona Concierge publishes its service scope and support targets. A target is not evidence that every request has already been answered within that time, and it is not a substitute for the service terms agreed with a customer.
Make the question easy to investigate
Include the business, reporting period, action attempted and exact error where relevant. Use a safe reference or appropriately redacted screenshot; do not send passwords or unnecessary personal data. Say whether a submission has an accepted response, an error or an unknown outcome.
Ask who owns the next step and when an update can be expected. A useful support record should make the handover clear, particularly where a software issue is passed to an accountant or external provider.
Worked example: a missing bank period
A user reports that the account is connected but transactions before May are absent. Support can investigate coverage when given the relevant account reference, earliest imported date and a statement showing the missing period.
“My tax is wrong” provides less to work with. Once the gap is identified, the user can follow the supported import route and review overlaps before relying on the totals.
Choose software by the work it needs to do
Start with your actual income sources and records. A sole trade, a UK property business and foreign property can involve different requirements. A product suitable for one set of circumstances is not automatically suitable for every annual-return item you might have.
HMRC's software guidance allows different approaches, including software connected to existing spreadsheets. Check the complete workflow: importing or recording transactions, reviewing the quarterly summary, submitting it, making corrections and completing the annual return.
Try a representative sample that includes a refund, a private transaction, a cash item and an awkward bank description. Ask how the system handles a missing period and how you export records if you leave. These questions are more informative than a long feature list.
Software support and professional tax advice are different services. Confirm who answers each kind of question, when help is available and what the quoted fee covers. Avona.app's entry-level self-service price is £15/month; professional services and additional product capabilities should be checked against the current scope rather than assumed to be included.
Share the information needed for the task
Tax records need to be useful without containing unnecessary personal detail. Keep payment references sufficient to reconcile the accounts, and hold sensitive client notes in the appropriate restricted system. Financial software should not become a second, informal store for clinical notes or identity documents.
Use individual accounts and the access controls available for the service. Remove access when a working relationship ends. A secure product can still be misused through shared sign-ins, forwarded access links or files sent to the wrong person.
For Open Banking, distinguish account-information access from payment initiation. Read the consent screen and check the authorised provider. Account-information permission does not itself authorise moving money, but Open Banking as a whole also includes separately authorised payment services. The FCA explains these different services.
If you need an assurance about encryption, hosting, retention or security testing, ask for the current documented answer. Terms such as “bank-grade” do not tell you which controls apply to a particular service. Choose a workflow whose permissions and responsibilities you understand, and protect the email or phone account used to recover access.
A review that checks more than the total
Start with coverage: the correct person, business and period, plus all relevant accounts and cash records. Then look at completeness. A feed can be connected today while still missing an earlier week. Confirm the earliest and latest transactions against the source.
Next, inspect unusual items. Large transfers, loan receipts, refunds, net settlements and private purchases often need more context than a bank description provides. Check for duplicate imports where a statement overlaps a live feed. An automatic warning is useful evidence to investigate, not proof that the entry must be removed.
Finally, review category totals. A category unexpectedly showing zero, a large increase or a negative amount deserves an explanation. You do not have to make every annual tax adjustment at this stage, but you should understand the records behind the summary you approve.
HMRC explains what quarterly updates contain. Keep the approved version and the resulting acknowledgement together. If something later changes, correct the source record and use the software's supported update process so you can explain which figures are current.
Confirm the scope before you need urgent help
Check availability, escalation, professional advice and any limits in the service agreement. Keep support answers with the relevant records. Avoid treating a published response target as a guarantee of immediate resolution for every tax or technical problem.
Take the next step
Avona.app offers a self-service route from £15/month. Bring your records together, review the figures and choose a workflow that fits your business. For professional help, discuss the scope and total price of Avona Concierge, managed by chartered accountants, before choosing a service.