TapTax vs TaxHeaven
The best free web option vs a free mobile one
TaxHeaven Angel is one of very few products giving away the quarterly updates and the final declaration for nothing. HMRC lists it with no mobile app. That single line decides most of this comparison.
Estimate your self-employed tax in seconds
See what you would owe for the year, then file the real figures with TapTax in a couple of taps.
Total turnover before expenses
Under £1,000 we use the trading allowance automatically
Estimated tax bill
£6,872
15.3% effective rate for 2026/27
- Income tax
- £5,286
- Class 4 NI
- £1,586
Take-home pay
£32,128
after tax, NI and expenses
This is an estimate using HMRC-confirmed rates for 2026/27, not your official tax calculation. TapTax is MTD-compatible, so you can connect to HMRC and file the real figures in a couple of taps.
TaxHeaven is the product that makes the strongest case against paying anything at all for MTD. Its Angel tier is £0 and includes the year-end final declaration, which is the exact feature most of the market treats as the upgrade trigger. On HMRC's directory it grades at 15 of 16 tax-return items, covers all three income sources including foreign property, supports HMRC Assist and does calendar quarters. That is a better directory entry than most paid products manage.
There is one line in its listing that decides this comparison for a lot of people, and it is easy to miss: HMRC lists no mobile app.
- TaxHeaven Angel is £0 and includes the final declaration, not just the quarterly updates, as checked August 2026. Archangel is £58.80 a year.
- HMRC grades TaxHeaven at 15 of 16 tax-return items ready, with all three income sources including foreign property, HMRC Assist and calendar quarters.
- HMRC's directory lists no mobile app for TaxHeaven, and our August 2026 research found it web only.
- The free tier caps at one automated business or income type and three AI uses a month, which are published limits rather than hidden ones.
- TapTax is mobile-first with open banking and AI categorisation, MTD-compatible and going through HMRC's recognition process. TaxHeaven is listed today.
How HMRC's directory grades TaxHeaven
HMRC publishes a feature grid for every listed product using its own three-state scale: ready now, in development, or not included. We scraped all 122 listings on 5 August 2026.
TaxHeaven
£0 Angel, £58.80/yr Archangel(checked August 2026)
- Free version: yes
- No mobile app listed: no
- Sole trader income: yes
- UK property income: yes
- Foreign property income: yes
- Keeps digital records: yes
15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
Angel covers one automated business or income type and three AI uses a month. HMRC lists no mobile app.
HMRC lists what each vendor declares. Feature flags, mobile-app support in particular, are vendor claims rather than verified facts, and listings change. Check with the vendor before you buy. Data: HMRC find-MTD-software service (tax.service.gov.uk), scraped 5 August 2026.
That is a strong entry by any measure. Free version ready, digital record-keeping ready, bridging ready, HMRC Assist ready, calendar quarters ready, all three income sources ready, and 15 of the 16 tax-return items ready with only partnership income outstanding. Very few products on the directory grade that well, and almost none of them do it at £0.
The pattern TaxHeaven fits, and what it costs you
Look across the whole directory and a clear structural pattern appears. The products that give away the real obligation are overwhelmingly browser products. The products with proper phone apps overwhelmingly charge.
52of 122 (43%)list a mobile appHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026 31of 122 (25%)list a free versionHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026Those two sets barely overlap where it counts. Among the products that genuinely give away both the quarterly updates and the final declaration, the pattern is consistent: TaxHeaven, My Tax Digital and Self Assessment Direct are all listed without a mobile app or as browser-first. Clear Books Free carries a vendor-declared app listing but is an accounting suite used mainly in a browser and is graded not included on foreign property. Meanwhile the mobile-first names have no free tier at all: Kletta self-serve software is £19 to £29 a month with a £49 tier that adds a bookkeeper, untied is £129.99 a year, Coconut £129.99 a year and TaxZap around £8.99 a month.
That gap is the whole reason TapTax exists in the shape it does. We wrote up the full analysis, including which products sit in which group, in our review of all 122 HMRC-listed MTD tools.
- Final declaration
- The year-end step that finishes your MTD for Income Tax obligation. After four quarterly updates, you confirm your full taxable position for the year, including anything outside your business income, and declare it as complete. It replaces the finalising part of the old Self Assessment return. Several products give away the quarterly updates and charge for this step, which is why a free tier that includes the final declaration is worth substantially more than one that does not.
Pricing in detail, checked August 2026
| TapTax Free | TapTax Starter | TapTax Pro | TaxHeaven Angel | TaxHeaven Archangel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | £0 | £4.99/mo | £9.99/mo | £0 | £58.80/yr |
| Approx. annual cost | £0 | £59.88 | £119.88 | £0 | £58.80 |
| Quarterly MTD updates | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Final declaration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, on free | Yes |
| Businesses or income types on free | Not capped this way | n/a | n/a | 1 automated | n/a |
| AI usage on free | Included | Included | Included | 3 uses/mo | Lifted |
| Sole trader income | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| UK property | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Foreign property | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Return items ready | 6 to 8 of 16 | 6 to 8 of 16 | 6 to 8 of 16 | 15 of 16 | 15 of 16 |
| HMRC Assist | No | No | No | Ready (HMRC grade) | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Mobile app | iOS and Android | iOS and Android | iOS and Android | None listed | None listed |
| Open banking import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed by HMRC | Not listed by HMRC |
| HMRC directory status | Not listed; recognition in progress | Not listed; recognition in progress | Not listed; recognition in progress | Listed | Listed |
TaxHeaven pricing is from its published pricing as checked in August 2026. Feature grades in the TaxHeaven columns are HMRC's own from the 5 August 2026 scrape.
On price there is no argument to make. TaxHeaven Angel is free and TaxHeaven Archangel at £58.80 a year is a pound less than TapTax Starter. Anyone telling you TapTax is the cheaper option here is not reading the same pricing page we are.
TaxHeaven proves the obligation can be free. The question left is whether you want to do it in a browser at a desk, or on the phone that is already in your pocket.
Where TaxHeaven genuinely wins
Cost, completeness and availability, which is a strong three.
It is free at a tier that includes the final declaration, it grades at 15 of 16 return items against TapTax's six to eight today, it supports HMRC Assist which TapTax does not, and it is listed with HMRC now while TapTax is still going through recognition. If your priority is filing a complete, compliant return for nothing, and you are happy working in a browser, TaxHeaven Angel is one of the two or three best answers available in August 2026 and we would rather point you at it than pretend otherwise.
It also offers bridging, so if your records live in a spreadsheet you can keep them there. TapTax deliberately does not do bridging.
Where TapTax fits better
Two places, and they are both about how the work actually happens.
The first is the phone. Expenses do not arrive at a desk. They arrive as a card payment at a merchant's counter, a fuel receipt in a van, a parking app charge between jobs. TapTax is built for capturing them at that moment: open banking pulls transactions in automatically, AI categorisation proposes the treatment, the camera captures receipts, and CSV import with presets for 16 UK banks covers the accounts a feed does not reach. By the time a quarterly deadline arrives, the work is mostly done and the submission is a review. A browser product asks you to sit down and do that work in sessions.
The second is the caps. TaxHeaven Angel covers one automated business or income type and three AI uses a month. A sole trader who also lets a flat is a common shape and it is probably outside that. Archangel at £58.80 a year solves it, at which point the comparison is with TapTax Starter at £59.88 rather than with free.
Whatever you choose, size your position first with the sole trader tax calculator, or the rental income calculator, which applies the finance-cost restriction limiting mortgage interest relief to a 20% credit.
Who should choose which
One business or one property, comfortable at a computer, wants to pay nothing. TaxHeaven Angel. It is free, complete through the final declaration, listed with HMRC, and ahead of TapTax on return items. That is a straightforward recommendation.
Mixed income: some trading, some rental. The Angel cap of one automated business or income type probably rules it out, so compare Archangel at £58.80 a year against TapTax's free tier and Starter at £59.88. Now the question is interface, not price.
Works on the move and wants the phone to do the admin. TapTax. HMRC lists no app for TaxHeaven and our research found it web only.
Has an overseas rental. Both work, which puts them in a minority: only 60 of 122 (49%) of the directory can report foreign property at all.
Keeps records in a spreadsheet and wants to keep doing that. TaxHeaven, which offers bridging. TapTax does not, by design, though its CSV import will take a spreadsheet export.
Must file a live submission this week. TaxHeaven, or another listed product. TapTax's recognition is in progress and we will not tell you otherwise.
The bottom line
TaxHeaven is the strongest argument in the market that MTD compliance should cost nothing, and its directory grades back the marketing up rather than contradicting it. Free through the final declaration, 15 of 16 return items, all three income sources, HMRC Assist, listed today. If you fit inside the Angel caps and you are happy in a browser, take it.
TapTax is for the case TaxHeaven does not cover: doing the whole thing from a phone, without a per-business cap, with open banking and AI categorisation doing the year-round work. It is MTD-compatible and going through HMRC's recognition process, and it is behind TaxHeaven on return-item completeness today.
Both, and the other 120, are in the MTD software directory with their real HMRC grades rather than their marketing.
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