TapTax vs Zervant
European invoicing software, or a UK tax app that invoices

Zervant is a European invoicing product with a free plan, a mobile app and a UK office in Leamington Spa. It is part of the Ageras group, and its homepage was signalling a move to the name "Zervant by Shine" when we checked on 7 October 2026. It is a sensible choice for a small business that wants invoicing, estimates and time tracking in one place.

It is not tax software, and that is where TapTax starts. For a UK sole trader filing quarterly under Making Tax Digital, the question is whether you want one tool for invoicing and another for tax, or one tool for both.

Side by side

Sources: Zervant pricing (pound prices from its currency table), Zervant's credit note guide and HMRC's find software service, checked 7 October 2026.

Where the plans bite

Zervant's free plan is genuinely usable for a side business: five customers and five invoices a month, estimates, the mobile app and time tracking, with online payments charged as you use them. The limits are on customers as well as invoices, so a sixth regular client moves you up.

Starter, at £10.99 a month excluding VAT or £8.99 a month billed annually, removes the invoice limit, raises the customer limit to 30 and adds payment reminders. Recurring invoices, unlimited customers and a bank connection need Pro, at £18.99 a month or £15.99 billed annually.

TapTax puts all three of those, unlimited invoices, repeats and reminders, on Starter at £4.99 a month, with no limit on clients. The free plan is smaller than Zervant's: three invoices in total, which is a trial rather than a plan to run a business on.

Payment fees are quoted in euros

Zervant's pricing page quotes its card fee as 2% plus €0.25 per invoice on most Visa, Mastercard and Amex cards, and elsewhere on the same page 1.9% plus €0.25 for European cards. Bank payments are €0.99 plus VAT. We could not find a fee in pounds. For a UK sole trader that means the fee moves with the exchange rate, and you should check the current figure in your account before you rely on it.

TapTax charges nothing when a client pays, because TapTax invoices are paid by bank transfer straight into your account. The trade-off is that clients cannot pay a TapTax invoice by card.

What Zervant does that TapTax does not

Zervant keeps estimates and credit notes inside your account, linked to the invoices they relate to, and converts an accepted estimate into an invoice. TapTax's quote and credit note generators are free web tools, but they do not save the document to your account.

Zervant also tracks time, which matters if you bill by the hour. TapTax does not, so an hourly consultant would need to log hours elsewhere and put the total on the invoice line.

What TapTax does that Zervant does not

TapTax was built for UK tax first. It reads your receipts and supplier bills, checks the totals and VAT rate, and matches each one to the payment on your bank statement. It turns your income and expenses into the quarterly update HMRC needs under Making Tax Digital, for sole trader income and, on Pro, UK and overseas property.

It also handles UK late payment properly. Under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, a business client that pays late owes statutory interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate and fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100. TapTax can add both to its reminders. Zervant's pricing page did not mention late-payment interest when we checked.

Statutory interest

Interest a business can charge another business on a late commercial invoice: 8% a year above the Bank of England base rate, unless the contract sets different terms.

What a year costs

For a sole trader with 12 regular clients, some on monthly repeating invoices, filing under Making Tax Digital:

• Zervant Pro plus separate MTD software: £191.88 a year excluding VAT on annual billing, about £230 including VAT, plus the MTD software.
• TapTax Starter: £49 a year on the annual plan, including repeating invoices, reminders, receipt reading and every quarterly update.

Moving from Zervant to TapTax

Switching invoicing apps mid-year is less work than it sounds, because nothing about your past invoices has to move.

1. Keep your old invoices where they are. They are your record of what you billed, and you must keep business records for at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline for the tax year. Export them as PDFs if you are closing your Zervant account.
2. Add your regular clients once, with their payment terms. TapTax uses the terms to set each due date, and our invoice due date calculator shows how they work.
3. Build a rate card of the jobs or services you sell at your usual prices, so a new invoice is a few taps.
4. Note where your numbering changes. TapTax numbers your invoices itself, in one unbroken run (INV-001, INV-002 and so on). Keep a note of your last Zervant number with your records, so anyone checking can see where one run ends and the next begins. Our guide to invoice numbering explains why a clear sequence matters.
5. Import your bank statement for the current tax year as a CSV. Your income is counted from the payments, so invoices you sent from Zervant that have already been paid are not counted twice.
6. Set repeating invoices and reminders for clients you bill every month.

Who should choose which

A designer billing by the hour across several European clients

Zervant. Time tracking, estimates and a European payment set-up suit hourly, cross-border work. Pair it with MTD software for your UK quarterly updates.

A cleaner with fifteen regular domestic and commercial clients

TapTax. Fifteen clients would be past Zervant Free's five-customer limit, and repeating monthly invoices would need Zervant Pro. TapTax Starter covers both for £4.99, and files your tax. The cleaner invoice template shows the layout.

A part-time maker with a handful of sales a month

Zervant Free, or TapTax's free invoice generator, until your income approaches the MTD threshold.

The bottom line

“Zervant charges more as you add clients and features. TapTax charges once, and the invoice becomes part of your tax.”

Zervant is a good European invoicing tool with a useful free plan, estimates and time tracking. For a UK sole trader who invoices regularly and must file under Making Tax Digital, TapTax gives you repeats and reminders for less than Zervant's Starter plan, and does the tax as well.

People also ask

Is Zervant free?

Zervant has a free plan for up to 5 customers and 5 invoices a month, checked 7 October 2026. Unlimited invoices start on Starter at £10.99 a month excluding VAT.

Does Zervant send payment reminders?

Yes, from the Starter plan. Recurring invoices need the Pro plan at £18.99 a month excluding VAT, or £15.99 a month billed annually.

Can I charge late payment interest with Zervant?

Its pricing page did not mention late-payment interest on 7 October 2026. You can add a line for interest by hand on most invoicing tools; TapTax can add statutory interest and fixed compensation to reminders for business clients automatically.

Is TapTax cheaper than Zervant?

For unlimited invoices, yes: TapTax Starter is £4.99 a month or £49 a year, against Zervant Starter at £10.99 a month excluding VAT. Zervant Free is cheaper if five invoices a month is enough.