These two are not really the same kind of product, and the comparison is more useful once you say so. GoSimpleTax is a Self Assessment filing tool: you arrive with your figures, it puts them in the right boxes and submits. Ledgers is the thing that produces the figures — a double-entry ledger that categorises as the year goes along. The interesting question is not which is better, it is whether you need bookkeeping at all.
Their prices include VAT. GoSimpleTax quotes £69.99 per tax year inclusive; almost every competitor, us included, quotes excluding it. Ex VAT that is about £58.32. Set the headline numbers side by side without adjusting and you overstate their cost by a fifth — so we have adjusted, and said so.
Their MTD answer is Coconut, which they own. GoSimpleTax acquired Coconut in April 2023, and the Making Tax Digital plan on their pricing page is sold as “sign up via Coconut” at £12.99 a month — the same product and price Coconut sells directly. If you are weighing GoSimpleTax against Coconut, you are choosing between two doors to one house. See the Coconut comparison.
Checked against GoSimpleTax's own pricing page on 27 August 2026. Their figures are restated ex VAT so both columns are on the same basis.
| Capability | GoSimpleTax | Ledgers |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A Self Assessment filing tool | A double-entry bookkeeping system |
| Entry price | £69.99 inc VAT per tax year (~£58.32 ex) | Free tier, then Solo £4.99/mo ex VAT |
| Billing unit | Per tax year, per return | Per month, unlimited returns |
| A second return | 2 returns from £119.99 inc VAT; 5 from £203.99 | Included |
| A prior-year return | £113.99 inc VAT per return | Included |
| MTD for Income Tax | Via Coconut, £12.99/mo — the company owns Coconut | Not yet filing ITSA; VAT returns prepared from your books; direct MTD filing coming |
| Self Assessment expertise | Deep — it is the whole product, with in-app prompts and tax tips | Broader but shallower on SA edge cases |
| Non-residence and residency pages | Dedicated £85.99 inc VAT plan (SA109) | Not covered |
| Partnerships | £96.99 inc VAT plan | Not a partnership product |
| Bank feed and categorisation | Not the product — you bring figures | Feed in, agents categorise, nothing left blank |
| Books that reconcile | No ledger | Balanced journals with integrity checks |
| VAT returns | No | VAT returns prepared from your books; direct MTD filing coming |
| Payroll, CIS, Companies House | No | Yes |
A sole trader with straightforward affairs who keeps a spreadsheet and wants the return filed correctly does not need a general ledger, and should not pay for one. At roughly £58 ex VAT for the tax year, GoSimpleTax is the smaller, cheaper, more focused purchase, and being focused is a feature.
Residency and non-residence (SA109), partnership returns, capital gains pages, prior-year returns — these are supported products with dedicated plans. Ledgers is not a Self Assessment specialist and will not pretend to be; if your return has those pages in it, we are the wrong tool.
Between GoSimpleTax for the return and Coconut for MTD quarterly updates, the group has a recognised, working answer for April 2026 today. Ledgers prepares VAT returns from your books (direct MTD filing is coming) and has not yet shipped ITSA submission. If MTD-ITSA is your deadline, that gap is the whole argument.
If you file one return a year and do nothing else, paying once a tax year beats a monthly subscription. Our pricing only makes sense if you actually want the books kept all year — which is a real question, not a rhetorical one.
Filling in a tax return is the last hour of a year-long job. The year-long job is knowing which transactions were business, what the £41.60 to a card machine was for, and whether you have a receipt. GoSimpleTax starts after that work is done and assumes you did it. Ledgers is the part that does it: a bank feed in, agents categorising every line, and a running position rather than a March reckoning.
A per-return tool tells you the answer once, after the year has closed and you can no longer change it. A ledger tells you in-year — what your profit is now, what tax is accruing, whether you should be registering for VAT. That is the difference between filing and managing, and it is the reason to want books at all.
GoSimpleTax charges by the return and by the shape of it: another return, a partnership, a prior year, residency pages — each has its own price. Ledgers charges by transaction volume, so a second income source or a late catch-up year does not arrive as a separate invoice.
The moment you form a company you need statutory accounts, Corporation Tax, Companies House deadlines and probably payroll — none of which is a Self Assessment tool's job. That is a full migration away from GoSimpleTax and a normal Tuesday on Ledgers, on the same ledger you already had.
For one simple return a year, yes — about £58 ex VAT per tax year against our Solo plan at £4.99 a month. The comparison changes if you file more than one return, need a prior year, or want the bookkeeping done rather than doing it yourself in a spreadsheet first.
Yes, and it is worth noticing because it is unusual. Their pricing page states prices include VAT, so £69.99 is about £58.32 ex VAT. Most competitors, us included, quote ex VAT — comparing the headline numbers directly overstates their cost by a fifth.
Through Coconut, which GoSimpleTax owns — the MTD plan on their pricing page is sold as 'sign up via Coconut' at £12.99 a month. So the MTD product you would be buying is Coconut's.
No, and it does not claim to. It is a filing tool: you supply the income and expense figures and it places them in the right boxes. If you want something that categorises a bank feed and keeps a ledger, that is a different category of product.
Neither GoSimpleTax nor Coconut is built for company accounts — they serve sole traders, landlords and partnerships. A company needs statutory accounts, a Corporation Tax computation and Companies House filings, which is the Ledgers side of this comparison.
Choose GoSimpleTax if the return is the whole job: you keep your own records, your affairs fit the Self Assessment pages, and you want the cheapest correct filing once a tax year. It is good at that, it is HMRC-recognised, and its group has a working MTD answer through Coconut today — which we do not yet match for Income Tax. Choose Ledgers if the bookkeeping is the part you actually want solved, if you would rather know your position in June than discover it in January, or if you expect to incorporate. And if you are pricing GoSimpleTax against Coconut, remember they are the same company; the choice there is which door, not which vendor.
See also: Ledgers vs Coconut · Ledgers vs untied · Making Tax Digital for Income Tax · Check your MTD status · Registering for MTD as a sole trader
GoSimpleTax pricing checked against gosimpletax.com/pricing on 27 August 2026; their prices include VAT and are restated ex VAT above so both columns match. The Coconut acquisition is a matter of public record (April 2023). Prices change; confirm on their site before deciding.