where your records live

A year of books, sorted in one sitting.

Import your bank statements and Cratebooks finds the transactions that look business-related. Review the uncertain ones, catch common mistakes, and export clean records for your accountant or compatible filing software.

Built for UK musicians, DJs, producers and creative sole traders. Cratebooks prepares and organises your records; it does not currently submit directly to HMRC or provide tax advice.

Import a statement free Try sample data
Expenses kept£0.00
Income logged£0.00
Reviewed0/5
anonymised example transactions · this demo stays in your browser
Works with CSV statements from Monzo, Starling, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Amex, Revolut and most UK banks. Selected PDF statements are supported too, with a preview before import.
// the old way, and the new

Tax time, and a year to account for.

The old way

  • Scroll 2,000+ lines of statements, one at a time.
  • Work out what was business and what was your weekly shop.
  • Miss an allowable expense, and you may have overpaid your tax.
  • And if MTD applies to you, the same job comes around every quarter.

With Cratebooks

  • Import your statements and press review.
  • It suggests likely business transactions and sets obvious personal items aside.
  • You swipe yes or no on the rest, in seconds.
  • A year, or a quarter, sorted in one sitting.
Don't do it as you go. Do it when it's due.

Other tools want a weekly login. Cratebooks is built for one guided catch-up per tax period, when the work is actually due.

// how it works

Import. Review. Check. Export.

Cratebooks is built to open for each tax period, not demand attention every week. Each visit follows the same guided loop, and the app shows exactly what still needs doing.

1Import

Drop in statements from your banking app. Cratebooks reads every transaction and pre-sorts it.

2Review

Swipe keep or bin, biggest amounts first. Reuse a decision for the merchant, or apply it to just one. You stay in control.

3Check

Cratebooks flags common issues an accountant may query, and shows a one-click fix for each before export.

4Export

Clean totals mapped to the SA103 boxes and MTD update periods. Send it to your accountant, or file it yourself through bridging software.

Cratebooks gives your records a final automated sense-check, before it leaves the building.

Most statement-to-spreadsheet tools stop at categorised rows. Cratebooks checks them, which is the difference between a pile of numbers and a return you can actually file.

// why it works

Built for your world.

Recognises your merchants

Gear, studio time, distribution, royalties, gig fees. It recognises what creatives actually spend on, and remembers every correction you make.

Checked before export

Fines, card payments counted as expenses, cash with no receipts, over-claimed splits: all flagged, each with a one-click fix.

Every account, pooled

Banks and credit cards together, card statements read the right way round, and your own transfers set aside automatically.

By tax period

Scope the whole app to a supported UK tax year and MTD update period, including last year for filing in arrears.

Ready for your accountant

An Excel workbook mapped to the SA103 boxes, quarter by quarter, with a fixed-cell filing tab and larger equipment flagged for accounting-method review.

No bank login required

You hand Cratebooks statements you downloaded yourself. It never touches your bank, and can never move a penny.

Josh Brown, founder of CratebooksJB
// who built this

Built by a musician, not a bank.

I'm Josh, a platinum-selling producer and DJ known as Unglued. For years my tax return meant a lost weekend trawling a year of statements, working out which payment was DJ gear and which train was a gig. Every generic accounting app I tried was clunky and spoke a language that wasn't mine.

So I built the one that does. Cratebooks is the tool I use on my own books: it recognises the transactions that are common in creative work, asks me about the uncertain ones, and produces a clean record I can check before it goes anywhere near my tax return. It gets sharper every time you use it.

Josh Brown, founder of Cratebooks
// early days

Records worth keeping

"Incredible product, and so reasonable. I used to pay my accountant loads."

E
Edartist manager

"So handy. Honestly, I've got no notes, it's fantastic. It's amazing to see how much I spend on coffee."

H
Harrymusician

"Unreal platform and a massive time saver. How well it detects and recommends categories is huge."

B
Bayleycybersecurity specialist

"A super simple way to organise your expenses before filing a return. I'd recommend it."

L
Liammusician

"Took like five minutes and I wasn't stuck at all. Super easy. I'm impressed."

T
TomDJ & producer

"I used QuickBooks, and this is a similar experience, if not a little more polished. A slick system."

J
Jonsenior product manager, DJ

More from the first group of working musicians as they put it through their own returns.

Try it on your own statements
// the price

One price. No monthly drip.

Try it free on your own statements and watch Cratebooks sort them. You only pay when you want the figures out, checked and ready for your accountant or bridging software.

Free
£0
to try, no card needed
  • Try the live swipe demo above
  • Import a statement and see it auto-sorted
  • Your full category breakdown, on your own data

Most bookkeeping tools charge monthly (£120 to £240 a year) because they want you logging in every week. Cratebooks is £39 a year because your tax isn't a hobby, and the subscription may itself be an allowable business expense. You can file the figures yourself through HMRC-recognised bridging software (some providers offer free tiers - check current eligibility and pricing), or hand them to your accountant. Cratebooks does the transaction-sorting you would otherwise do yourself or pay someone to do.

// your data

Read in your browser. Never sold.

Your statement file is parsed on your own device and never uploaded. The transaction rows it contains are sent to your account so they can be categorised, and you then decide which to keep. We also receive technical import diagnostics (counts and error codes, never your transactions) so failed imports get fixed. Categorisation is a deterministic rules engine, not AI, and your data is never used to train any AI model. Read the full security page →

// good questions

The honest answers

Is my bank data safe?

Yes. Nothing connects to your bank at all: you download a statement from your banking app and drop it in, so your bank login never touches Cratebooks. The engine reads your transactions to categorise them, and it can never move money.

Which banks does it work with?

Any UK bank or card that can export a statement, including Monzo, Starling, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, Amex and Revolut. CSV is the most reliable format, and PDF statements work too: Cratebooks reads them in your browser and shows a preview to confirm before anything is imported. In-app guides show where the download lives in each banking app, and your statement file itself never leaves your browser. Automatic bank feeds are not offered.

Does Cratebooks file my taxes?

Not yet, and that is deliberate. Cratebooks is a preparation tool: it produces clean, categorised totals organised by MTD update period, with your SA103 boxes. You or your accountant file those figures, either through bridging software (which submits a spreadsheet straight to HMRC) or your accountant's own system. That means no waiting on HMRC recognition to get the boring part done, and direct filing from Cratebooks is on the roadmap.

Do I still need an accountant?

That is your call, and it depends on how complex your affairs are. Cratebooks does the heavy lifting you would otherwise pay for: it categorises your whole year, runs accountant-style checks (fines claimed as travel, mixed-use bills at 100%, likely duplicates, income that might be a personal transfer), and produces a clean, SA103-mapped pack for the self-employment part of a musician's tax return. For a straightforward sole trader, an MTD update is a cumulative summary of income and expenses, not a full audit, and HMRC's MTD rules let you file it yourself through recognised bridging software. What Cratebooks does not do is give tax advice or a professional sign-off. If your affairs are more involved (a limited company, assets and depreciation, VAT, or anything you are unsure of), an accountant is worth the fee, and Cratebooks still saves you both the sorting. Either way, you are responsible for what you file, so check the figures.

What does the pre-export check actually catch?

Common issues that can delay or distort a set of records: parking fines claimed as travel (fines are generally not allowable), card bill payments counted as expenses, cash withdrawals with no receipts behind them, mixed-use bills claimed at 100%, claiming mileage and fuel at the same time, likely duplicates, and larger equipment flagged for accounting-method review. Each finding comes with a one-click fix, and nothing ever blocks your export. You stay in charge.

Can I use Cratebooks for Making Tax Digital?

Yes, alongside compatible filing software or your accountant. Cratebooks keeps your self-employment income and expense records digitally, organises them into standard MTD update periods, and exports them for transfer to compatible software. It does not yet submit directly to HMRC. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax began on 6 April 2026 for some sole traders and landlords and expands in stages.

Will it handle last year's Self Assessment tax return?

Yes. Sole traders often file a year in arrears, so you can pick any past tax year and quarter and Cratebooks scopes everything to it.

What does it cost?

Getting started is free: import a statement and see your full category breakdown on your own data, no card needed. Exporting your tax-ready totals is £39/year for the first 100 founding members (£99/year after), billed annually. You can file those totals yourself through recognised bridging software such as My Tax Digital (some providers offer free tiers - check current eligibility and pricing), or your accountant can file them; an accountant might charge a few hundred pounds for the same submission. The founding rate covers today's full product for as long as you stay subscribed; future optional add-ons (like direct HMRC filing) are priced separately with founding-member discounts. Subscription fees may be an allowable business expense where incurred for your trade, but tax treatment depends on your circumstances. Cancel anytime.

// ready when you are

Get your records in order

Drop in your statements and see a year of books sorted in minutes.

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where your records live