Your books and your tax return, on your iPhone and Mac.
Canny keeps a small UK company's books and files what it owes: VAT, the company tax return and the Companies House accounts. One native app, and it does everything on either device. Your data stays in your own iCloud, and there's no subscription.
For limited companies first; sole traders next. £49 once, then £79 only in the years you file.
HMRC and Companies House closed their free service for filing company accounts and tax returns. Every company now needs commercial software or an accountant.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax brings sole traders and landlords into software: over £50,000 from April 2026, £30,000 from 2027, £20,000 from 2028.
Companies House will only accept accounts filed by software. The web and paper forms go.
Snap it on your iPhone.
It's in your books on your Mac.
No shoebox and no retyping. The receipt is read on your phone, saved to your iCloud and matched to the bank payment by the time you sit down at your desk.
The whole year, not just the filing.
Cheap filing sites want your totals typed in. Subscriptions keep your books but leave the year end to an accountant. Canny goes from bank line to filed return.
Two minutes a week
Import a statement from any UK bank. Each line arrives with a suggested category; you only look at the ones it isn't sure about, and every correction becomes a rule.
Never a surprise deadline
VAT, accounts, tax payment and return, with the amount to set aside.
VAT returns, sent to HMRC
All nine boxes built from your books. Click a box to see what's behind it, then submit under Making Tax Digital.
Year end in one sitting
Seven steps from finished books to accounts, corporation tax in plain English, the CT600 and Companies House. Free until you file.
Built for businesses of one.
Limited companies
Contractors, consultants, freelancers and small shops trading through their own company. Micro-entity and dormant accounts, corporation tax, VAT and the director's deadlines.
What a company files, and how Canny does it → NextSole traders
Self-employed people who now need software because of Making Tax Digital, or who just want Self Assessment without a monthly bill.
What's planned for sole traders →We don't have your data,
because we don't have a server.
Your books sync between your Mac and iPhone through your own iCloud account. There is no Canny account to create and nothing to cancel. Your Government Gateway and Companies House sign-ins stay in your device's keychain, and returns go straight from your device to HMRC.
Works offline
It's a real app, not a website in a wrapper. Do your books on a train.
Yours to keep
Stop paying and the app and your records still open. Export everything to CSV and PDF.
No tracking
Reminders are local notifications. Categorising and receipt reading happen on your device.
How it compares.
Filing a company tax return on its own is cheap. Doing the whole year in one app, without renting it, is what's missing.
| Software | Runs as | Bookkeeping and bank | VAT (MTD) | Company tax return and accounts | Where your data lives | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canny | Native Mac and iPhone app | Yes | Yes | Yes, in the same app | Your own iCloud | £49 once, plus £79 for each year you file |
| Xero | Web app, plus mobile apps | Yes | Yes | Optional add-on: “Company accounts and tax”, £120 a year + VAT | Xero's servers | £18 to £70 a month + VAT |
| FreeAgent | Web app, plus mobile app | Yes | Yes | Yes: final accounts and corporation tax return filed from FreeAgent | FreeAgent's servers (FreeAgent is owned by NatWest Group) | £33 a month or £330 a year + VAT for a limited company; free with some bank accounts |
| QuickBooks | Web app, plus mobile app | Yes | Yes | — (not mentioned on its pricing page) | Intuit's servers | Monthly subscription; see their pricing |
| TinyTax | Web app | No, year end only | No | Yes | TinyTax's servers | £59 + VAT a year |
Canny is in development; its column describes the planned first release. Other facts are from each provider's site, checked 14 November 2026. Full comparison, with sources →
Pay once. Pay again only in the years you file.
The app
- Bank import and categorising
- Receipts and invoices
- VAT returns to HMRC
- Mac and iPhone, one purchase
Year-end pack
- Micro-entity accounts
- Corporation tax and the CT600 to HMRC
- Accounts to Companies House
- See your tax bill free before you buy
Dormant company
- Dormant accounts to Companies House
- A nil company tax return if HMRC asks for one
Planned launch prices, including VAT. Sole trader pricing will be announced with that release.
Questions
Can I download it today?
Not yet. Canny is being built and taken through HMRC's and Companies House's software testing. The download buttons take your email so we can tell you the day it's ready.
Is Canny recognised by HMRC?
Not yet. It won't file anything for real until it has passed HMRC's and Companies House's tests. It will then appear on HMRC's list of corporation tax software and in its Making Tax Digital VAT software finder.
Can I really file a company tax return without an accountant?
Yes. Directors have always been allowed to file their own accounts and CT600. Until 31 March 2026 many did it with HMRC's free online service; now it has to be done with commercial software. An accountant is still worth paying when your affairs are complicated or you want advice.
Which companies is it for?
Micro-entities and dormant companies: turnover up to £1 million, balance sheet up to £500,000 and up to 10 employees (a company must meet two of the three). Bigger or more complicated companies should use an accountant.
Which banks does it work with?
Any UK bank that lets you download a statement as CSV, OFX or PDF, which is all of them. Direct connections come later, starting with banks that let you connect without a third-party server.
Do I need both a Mac and an iPhone?
No. Each app does everything on its own, from the bank statement to the filed return. With both, they stay in step through your iCloud. There is no Windows, Android or web version.
What about payroll?
Not in the first release. If you pay yourself a salary, HMRC's free Basic PAYE Tools does it for companies with fewer than ten employees.
Be first to try it.
Leave your email and you'll get the download the day it's ready.