How to Run a Small UK Business on Todoist

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The Free Plan Has No Reminders, Which Decides This

Todoist works well as the operational backbone of a small UK business, and the structure below is the one that holds up: a project per client, a project per workstream, labels for context, filters for a daily view, and recurring tasks locked onto every HMRC deadline.

One thing determines whether you can do that on the free plan, and it is not the project count that usually gets blamed.

Todoist’s free plan has no reminders. You can create a recurring task for a VAT deadline, and it will sit in your Upcoming view, and nothing will notify you. The entire compliance-calendar strategy in this guide depends on being told before a deadline, not on remembering to look. Reminders are a Pro feature, and that is the real reason a business user pays.

Two related corrections while we are here, because the free plan is usually described wrongly in both directions:

• It allows 5 active personal projects and 5 active team projects, not simply five in total
• It does allow custom filters — three of them. The claim that you get “no ability to create custom queries” on free is wrong. Pro raises it to 150

So the free tier is more capable than usually stated on structure, and less capable than stated on the thing this guide actually needs.

Pro is $60 a year — about £45 at the late-October 2026 rate of roughly £1 = $1.33 — and note that Pro is not priced per user. It is an individual plan, so that is a single annual figure rather than something to multiply.

Why Todoist, and Where It Stops

It is fast, clean and syncs instantly across phone, browser and desktop. Type “every 3 months starting 7 May” and it parses the recurrence correctly. For capturing a commitment in four seconds, nothing in the category beats it.

What it is not is invoicing, accounting, or project management in the Asana or ClickUp sense. No Gantt charts, no resource planning, no time tracking. It does task management with flexible organisation, which is what most sole traders are actually struggling with.

Step 1: Projects for Clients and Workstreams

One project per client, plus one per internal workstream. A freelance web developer with three clients:

• Client A – Website Redesign
• Client B – SEO Retainer
• Client C – E-commerce Build

Plus the internal ones:

• Finance & Compliance
• Business Development
• Admin & Operations

Six projects before a single task exists. For a solo user these are all personal projects, so the five-personal cap binds immediately — the conclusion the usual version of this advice reaches is right, even though the stated cap is wrong. You have ten slots, but only five of them are the kind you are filling.

Pro gives 300 personal projects, which is effectively unlimited for any realistic setup, plus 150 filter views.

One limit Pro does not lift: team projects stay at 5, the same as free. If your constraint is shared projects with a bookkeeper or VA rather than your own workstreams, Pro does nothing for it. That is a Business matter, covered in Step 5.

Step 2: Labels for Context, Not Categories

Projects answer what. Labels answer how or when, cutting across the project structure.

• @deep-work — needs concentration: proposals, code review, the VAT return
• @quick-win — under ten minutes: reply, send an invoice, approve a payment
• @waiting-on — blocked by someone else: a client sign-off, a bank confirmation
• @phone — needs a call
• @offline — doable without internet

@waiting-on is the one that earns its keep for a sole trader. Everything you are chasing, in one view, so you can send a polite nudge at the right moment instead of discovering a three-week silence.

Labels work on the free plan.

Step 3: Filters for a Daily View

A filter is a saved query across all your projects. You get three on free and 150 on Pro, so the daily driver below is achievable without paying — it is the reminders you will miss.

Today’s Work

(today | overdue) & !#Personal

Urgent & Waiting

@waiting-on & (today | overdue)

Deep Work This Week

@deep-work & 7 days

Quick Wins Available Now

@quick-win & !assigned to: others

If you only have three filter slots, use them on Today’s Work, Urgent & Waiting, and whichever of the other two matches how you plan.

Step 4: Recurring Tasks for HMRC Deadlines

This is where Todoist genuinely earns its place, and it is worth getting the actual deadlines right rather than leaving placeholders.

VAT Returns

If you are VAT registered on quarterly returns, the deadline for filing and payment is one calendar month and seven days after the end of each quarter. That is not a fixed number of days — months differ — so set the real date for your own stagger rather than adding 37 days to a quarter end.

MTD for VAT is mandatory for virtually all VAT-registered businesses, so you are submitting through compatible software. You still need a task to review and approve before the deadline.

Task: Review and submit VAT return
Recurring: every 3 months on [quarter end + 1 month + 7 days]
Project: Finance & Compliance
Label: @deep-work

Add a prep task a week earlier:

Task: Pull together VAT figures for quarter review
Recurring: every 3 months, 7 days before the submission task

On what a miss actually costs — the usual description is out of date. The old default surcharge regime was replaced for VAT periods starting on or after 1 January 2023. Now:

• Late submission is points-based. One point per missed deadline, with a £200 penalty once you hit the threshold — four points for quarterly filers (two for annual, five for monthly). Every subsequent miss triggers another £200.
• Late payment: nothing up to 15 days late; 2% at 16 to 30 days on the amount outstanding at day 15; from day 31, that 2% plus a further 2% on the amount outstanding at day 31, so 4% if nothing has been paid, plus a daily penalty running at 4% a year.
• Late payment interest runs from the due date at the Bank of England base rate plus 2.5%.

The practical implication for a task system: one slip does not cost a quarterly filer money, but points accumulate toward £200, and payment penalties start separately at day 16. Two tasks — one to file, one to pay — are better than one.

MTD for Income Tax Quarterly Updates

This is live, not forthcoming. MTD for Income Tax has applied since 6 April 2026 to sole traders and landlords with more than £50,000 of qualifying income, measured on gross income before expenses. The thresholds fall to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

The deadlines are fixed standard dates, so you can set them now:

Task: Submit MTD quarterly update
Recurring: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May
Project: Finance & Compliance

Task: Final Declaration for [tax year]
Due: 31 January
Project: Finance & Compliance
Label: @deep-work

The quarterly updates do not replace a year-end submission. You file four updates and a Final Declaration by 31 January. The End of Period Statement that appeared in earlier guidance has been removed, so the year end is the Final Declaration alone.

One easement worth knowing. The first four quarterly updates — 7 August 2026 to 7 May 2027 — carry no penalty points. The 2026/27 Final Declaration, due 31 January 2028, is not covered. From 2027/28 the points system applies with £200 at four points, and points expire after twelve clean months.

This does not apply to limited companies. Our guides to MTD for VAT against MTD for Income Tax and the April 2027 threshold cover which regime catches you.

Payroll and RTI

If you employ anyone, even one person, you run PAYE — and the timing is more specific than monthly.

A Full Payment Submission is due on or before each payday. If you pay monthly, that is monthly. If you pay weekly, it is weekly. It is not a fixed date in the month, it is tied to when you actually pay people.

Task: Run payroll and submit FPS to HMRC
Recurring: every month on [your payday] — or weekly, if that is your cycle
Project: Finance & Compliance
Label: @deep-work

Our payroll comparison covers the software options, and payroll software against HMRC’s Basic PAYE Tools covers whether you need to pay for any.

The Rest of the Compliance Calendar

• Self Assessment — due 31 January. Set a prompt in October to give yourself time
• Confirmation statement to Companies House, if you run a limited company — annually, and due within 14 days of your review date
• Workplace pension re-enrolment — every three years, with a re-declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator afterwards. Check your own window with TPR
• Business insurance renewal — annually, prompted 60 days before expiry
• Corporation Tax — payment due nine months and a day after the end of your accounting period, with the CT600 due twelve months after

Todoist handles all of these without effort, and the natural-language input makes them quick to set up. Just set a reminder on each, which is the bit the free plan will not do.

Step 5: Delegation on Business

If you work with anyone — a bookkeeper, a VA, two employees — Business at $8 per user per month billed annually, about £72 per user per year, unlocks the team side.

On Business you get:

• A shared team workspace
• Task assignment to specific people
• 500 team projects, against Pro’s 5
• Up to 1,000 team members including guests
• Roles — admin, member, guest — plus restricted projects, folders and team filters
• Centralised billing, so you are not chasing people to renew
• 100 MB file uploads, against Pro’s 25 MB

A three-person agency: shared workspace, a project per client, each person seeing their assigned tasks across all of them, you seeing everything. A task waiting on a client decision gets @waiting-on and goes to whoever owns that relationship.

The number that decides Pro against Business is the team project limit — 5 against 500, not the feature list. Pro is a single-user plan whatever else you do with it.

Three people on Business is about £217 a year.

The 20% You Are Probably Overpaying

Worth its own section because it is real money and almost nobody mentions it.

Todoist charges UK customers VAT unless you supply a VAT ID. Supply one and the invoice is issued under the reverse charge with no VAT charged.

And the exemption only applies if you pay in GBP (or EUR, DKK, SEK, PLN or CZK), not USD. GBP is a supported Todoist checkout currency.

How to do it:

• New purchase: at checkout, select “I’m purchasing as a business” and enter your VAT information
• Existing Pro: Settings → Subscription → Go to Billing → Update information, add your billing address and VAT ID, save before renewal — then contact Todoist, because for Pro it does not apply automatically
• Business: admins only, Settings → Billing → Manage Billing
• Already charged? Ask Todoist for a reverse-charge invoice
• Bought via Apple or Google? VAT requests go to that vendor

If you are below the VAT threshold or on the flat rate scheme this does not help you. If you are registered, it is a fifth off the subscription for five minutes of admin. Our Todoist pricing guide covers the detail, including the legacy rates that still exist for some long-standing subscribers.

FAQ

Is the free plan enough for a UK sole trader?

For this structure, no — but the reason is reminders, not projects. Free gives you 5 personal projects, 5 team projects and 3 custom filters, which is enough to build the system. What it will not do is notify you before a deadline, which is the entire point. Pro at about £45 a year is the practical minimum.

How many projects does the free plan allow?

5 active personal projects and 5 active team projects. The widely repeated “five projects” understates it, though for a solo user filling personal projects the five is what binds.

Can I create custom filters on the free plan?

Yes, three of them. Pro raises it to 150.

Is Todoist Pro per user?

No. Pro is an individual plan at $60 a year. Business is per user, at $96 each.

What does Pro not fix?

Team projects. Pro gives 300 personal projects but still only 5 team ones, the same as free. Shared projects at scale need Business.

Can I use Todoist to manage HMRC deadlines?

Yes, and it is the best use case for it in a business context — provided you are on a plan with reminders. Verify your own dates, since VAT staggers and payroll cycles differ, but the MTD quarterly dates (7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May) and the 31 January Final Declaration are standard.

What happens if I miss a VAT deadline?

Not a surcharge — that regime ended for periods starting on or after 1 January 2023. You get a penalty point, with £200 payable at four points for a quarterly filer. Late payment is separate: 2% from day 16, 4% from day 31, plus interest at base rate plus 2.5%.

Will I be charged VAT on the subscription?

Yes, unless you supply a VAT ID and pay in pounds. Then it is zero-rated under the reverse charge.

Does it integrate with UK accounting software?

Not natively with Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent, but Zapier and Make will wire it up — creating a task when an invoice goes overdue, for instance.

The Bottom Line

The structure that works: a project per client and per workstream, labels for context, three or four filters for a clean daily view, and recurring tasks on every deadline you face. That keeps the compliance calendar off your memory and out of your inbox.

The free plan can hold that structure — five personal projects, three filters — but it cannot remind you, and a compliance calendar that does not tell you anything is just a list. That is the honest case for Pro at about £45 a year, and it is a better one than the project cap.

Add Business at about £72 per user only when you need shared projects, because Pro’s limit there is five and no amount of personal projects helps.

And if you are VAT registered, enter your VAT number and pay in pounds. A fifth off, documented by Todoist, and for Pro it needs a support request rather than happening by itself.

Todoist will tell you when the deadline is. You still need accounting software to meet it — our MTD comparison covers that side, and if you are weighing Todoist against the obvious rival, our Todoist against TickTick comparison covers the one whose free plan does include reminders.

Pricing and features correct at time of writing, published in US dollars; sterling figures are illustrative conversions at $1.33 and will move with the exchange rate. Todoist raised prices on 10 December 2025 — confirm current details and your billing currency before purchasing. This article is general information about UK tax and compliance obligations, not tax or legal advice; confirm your own VAT staggers, MTD position, payroll cycle and filing deadlines with HMRC or a qualified adviser.