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Switching from Hnry to Solo

How to migrate to Solo from Hnry

Written by Brent Wilson

This guide explains the key differences between Hnry and Solo and how to smoothly switch over.

You can switch to Solo at any time during the tax year. Many users also run Solo alongside Hnry for a short period while getting set up.

Key differences between Hnry and Solo

Solo is designed to give sole traders the tools and knowledge to confidently manage their own tax.

Here are some of the key differences from Hnry:

  • Solo charges a flat subscription fee — not a percentage of your income.

  • You use your own bank account. There’s no special bank account required.

  • Your tax money stays in your control until it’s time to pay the IRD.

  • Solo helps you calculate and file your own tax returns, rather than filing them on your behalf.

  • Tax is calculated live based on your actual income and expenses, rather than using a flat tax estimate.

  • Tax calculations are based on your bank transactions and pre-taxed income sources — not your invoices.

  • Solo is designed to be used without an accountant, but you can invite your accountant to access your account if needed.

  • Expenses do not need to be individually approved.

What happens to the tax paid to Hnry?

When you leave Hnry, any tax you’ve paid during the current tax year will either:

  • already have been paid to the IRD on your behalf, or

  • be refunded back to you by Hnry.

Hnry makes income tax and GST payments to the IRD throughout the year. Depending on when you switch, some GST and income tax may already have been paid.

Any remaining unpaid tax funds held by Hnry, including ACC amounts, are generally refunded back to you.

It’s a good idea to download or export any records you want to keep from Hnry before closing your account.

Getting started with Solo

1. Enter your income and expenses

Solo needs your income and expenses for the tax year so far.

The easiest way to do this is to:

  1. Connect your bank account

  2. Categorise your transactions from the start of the tax year (1 April)

Alternatively, you can:

Unfortunately, it’s not currently possible to directly import data from Hnry into Solo.

Pre-taxed income

For pre-taxed income sources such as:

  • schedular payments

  • wages/salary

  • bank interest

go to Income → Pre-taxed income and connect your IRD account.

Solo will automatically sync:

  • the income received, and

  • the tax already paid

for these income sources.

You do not need to categorise bank transactions for pre-taxed income.

Important

The income you enter into Solo should be the full amount your customer paid, before Hnry deducted tax or fees.

You should also enter any Hnry fees as business expenses, as they are generally tax deductible.

Because Solo calculates tax using your transactions and IRD income data, you do not need to manually recreate all your historical invoices in Solo.

2. Enter your assets

If you have depreciating assets in Hnry:

  1. Export the asset information from Hnry for your records

  2. Recreate the assets in Solo under Assets

Solo will then automatically calculate depreciation going forward.

The depreciation figures in Solo may look different from Hnry because:

  • Solo calculates depreciation live up to today, while

  • Hnry often displays depreciation projected to the end of the tax year.

3. Put aside your tax

Solo calculates your tax live throughout the year based on your income and expenses.

Your estimated tax obligations are shown on the Dashboard.

We recommend creating a separate bank account for tax savings and regularly transferring money into it as you get paid.

GST

If you’re GST registered:

  1. Enable GST in Settings

  2. Select your GST filing frequency

All GST periods since the start of the tax year will appear in Solo.

GST periods already filed by Hnry

If Hnry has already filed a GST return for a period, you can simply mark that period as completed in Solo:

  1. Go to Taxes

  2. Click File return

  3. Click Done

This removes the period from your Dashboard and Taxes page.

Filing future GST returns

When a GST return becomes due:

  1. Go to Taxes

  2. Click File return

  3. Follow the instructions to file with the IRD

Income tax / provisional tax

Provisional tax is simply income tax paid in instalments during the year.

Hnry generally does not pay provisional tax on your behalf, so most users will not need to enable provisional tax in Solo immediately after switching.

However, Hnry may already have made income tax payments to the IRD during the year. Solo needs to know about these payments so your tax calculations remain accurate.

How to check tax already paid to the IRD

  1. Log in to myIR

  2. Open Income tax

  3. Click Returns and transactions

  4. Open the current tax year

You should then see any tax payments already made to the IRD.

If income tax payments have already been made, contact us through the in-app chat and we’ll help you enter them into Solo.

Filing your income tax return

When your income tax return becomes due:

  1. Go to Taxes

  2. Click File return

  3. Follow the instructions to file with the IRD

ACC

To calculate ACC correctly in Solo:

  1. Go to Settings

  2. Enter your BIC code

Your BIC code identifies the type of work you do and is used to calculate your ACC levies.

Instructions for finding your BIC code are available in Settings.

ACC is usually invoiced once per year after you file your income tax return, often around September. The invoice is sent by ACC.

Need help?

If you have any questions or need help switching from Hnry, just reach out through the in-app chat and we’ll be happy to help.

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