Jersey Business Manager

Invoicing, expenses, tax deadlines and payroll for businesses in Jersey. Everything runs on your own computer.

New here? Read Getting started, then Your business details. Those two sections take about ten minutes and after them you can send your first invoice.

Getting started

Installing

There is nothing to install in the usual sense. The program is a single file that opens in your web browser, but it does not need the internet and nothing is uploaded anywhere.

When you click download, your browser saves a single file called Jersey_Business_Manager.html into your Downloads folder. That file is the program. Nothing is installed and nothing appears in your list of installed programs.

Step 1. Create a folder where you will keep it, for example Documents\JerseyBusiness. Move the downloaded file there. Do not leave it in Downloads - your records are saved alongside the program, so if you ever empty that folder you would lose both.

Step 2. Copy Jersey_Business_Manager.html into that folder.

Step 3. Double-click it. It opens in your browser and you are ready.

Use Chrome or Edge. The program works in any browser, but saving directly to a file on your disk only works in these two. Right-click the file, choose Open with, pick Chrome or Edge and tick Always use this app.

Putting it on your desktop

So you do not have to hunt for the file every day:

Right-click the file, choose Show more options, then Send to → Desktop (create shortcut).
To give it the proper icon: right-click the new shortcut, choose Properties, then Change icon, and select crm_icon.ico.

If you would like it to open in its own clean window without browser tabs, create a shortcut with this as the target (adjust the path to where you saved it):

"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --app="file:///C:/Users/YourName/Documents/JerseyBusiness/Jersey_Business_Manager.html"

Your trial and licence

The first time you open the program a 30-day free trial starts automatically. Everything works during the trial - nothing is held back.

You can see how many days remain at any time under My business → Licence.

To activate: go to My business, scroll to Licence, type your code into the box and press Activate. Codes look like TMJ-A365-1001-KJKI.

If your trial runs out before you activate, nothing is deleted. Your invoices, clients and records stay exactly where they are, and they come straight back the moment you enter a code.

Where your information is kept

Everything you type is stored on this computer. It is never sent over the internet.

The program saves in two places:

Where	What it means for you
Inside your browser	Happens automatically. Fine day to day, but it would be lost if you cleared your browsing data.
A file on your disk	Recommended. You choose where it lives, so it survives anything that happens to the browser.

Set up the disk file once: My business → Save data to your disk → Save to file… → save it in the same folder as the program. From then on every change is written there automatically.

Each time you open the program: come back to that section and press Open file… once to reconnect. Your browser is not allowed to remember file permissions between sessions, so this small step is unavoidable.

1. Your business details

Do this before your first invoice. Go to My business.

Field	What to put
Business name	How you want it to appear in large letters at the top of invoices.
Tagline	A short line under the name, e.g. Digital Creative Services.
Services	The thin line listing what you do.
Full / legal name	Your legal trading name, shown in the FROM block.
Bank, account number, sort code	Printed on every invoice so clients can pay you.
Invoice prefix and next number	Invoices are numbered automatically. Set the starting point once.
Payment terms	How many days customers have to pay. The due date is worked out from this.

The GST setting matters. Leave GST-registered set to No unless you really are registered. In Jersey you may only charge GST if you are registered, which is compulsory once turnover reaches £300,000 in any 12-month period. If you are not registered, your invoices must not show GST or a registration number.

Press Save changes when you are done.

2. Clients

Go to Clients → + New client. Name is the only thing required; the address, email and phone appear on the invoice, so it is worth filling them in.

The Internal notes field is for you alone and never appears on any invoice.

3. Invoices

1. Go to Invoices → + New invoice. The number and dates fill in automatically.
2. Choose the client from the dropdown.
3. Describe the work in Services, and use Work period for dates, hourly rate or total hours.
4. Add your line items: description, quantity, price. Totals calculate as you type.
5. Set the status and press Save, or Save & preview to see the finished invoice.

What the statuses mean

Status	Meaning	Counts towards totals?
Draft	Still working on it, not sent.	No
Issued (unpaid)	Sent to the client, waiting for payment.	Yes
Paid	Money received.	Yes

Keep statuses honest. Drafts are excluded from every tax figure in the program, so an invoice left as a draft by mistake will quietly leave money out of your accounts.

Sending and printing

Open any invoice and press View. You then have two buttons:

Download PDF - choose Save as PDF as the destination. The file is named after the invoice, e.g. INV-2026-003.pdf.
Print - sends it straight to your printer.

Do this once, the first time you print. In the print dialog open More settings, set Margins to None and turn Headers and footers off. Otherwise your browser prints the file location and date along the edge of your invoice. Your browser will remember the setting afterwards.

4. Expenses

Go to Expenses → + New expense. Record everything you spend on the business: software, hosting, equipment, bank and PayPal fees, phone, advertising, travel.

The three cards at the top show your spend, your income and the profit between them.

Keep the receipts. The program records the amounts, but Revenue Jersey and Social Security can ask for proof. A folder of receipts, paper or scanned, alongside your records is what keeps you covered.

5. Jersey Tax screen

This screen turns what you have entered into the figures Jersey actually asks for. Pick the year at the top.

Deadlines

Everything you may have to file, with its date. The status column tells you whether it applies to you.

Obligation	When
GST returns (only if registered)	Last day of the month after each quarter
Year-end accounts to Revenue Jersey	31 July following your accounting year end
Personal tax return (includes business income)	As notified by Revenue Jersey
CER, ITIS and Social Security (employers only)	Within 15 days of each month end

Quarterly breakdown

Income, expenses and profit split into quarters. These are the numbers an accountant asks for, and the same ones the Income Support profit and loss sheet wants if you claim it.

GST position

Shows how close you are to the £300,000 registration threshold and how much headroom you have left. If you are registered, it shows the output tax charged each quarter and when each return is due.

Input tax is not tracked automatically. If you are GST-registered, the GST you paid your own suppliers has to be added from your purchase invoices before you file a return.

Class 2 contributions

An estimate of self-employed Social Security based on your profit.

This is indicative only. Your real rate is set by Social Security using your tax assessment from two years earlier. If your income is low you may qualify for Low Income Contribution Relief - but you have to ask. If you never contact them, the default monthly rate applies, which is far higher than most small traders expect.

Report for accountant

The button at the top right produces a one-page summary: totals, quarterly breakdown, expenses grouped by category and your GST position.

This is the document that saves you money. Instead of your accountant spending hours gathering and sorting your paperwork, they receive it already organised and only need to review and sign it off.

6. Payroll, ITIS & CER

Only needed if you employ people. If you do not, ignore this screen entirely - nothing else in the program depends on it.

Read this before using payroll. These are calculations, not advice. For your first two or three months, run this alongside however you do payroll now and check the figures match. Once they agree, you can rely on it. Filing late or wrong carries penalties, and the responsibility for what you submit is yours.

Adding staff

+ Employee and fill in:

Field	Where it comes from
Social Security number	Their Social Security registration card. Take a copy when they start.
TIN	Their ITIS effective rate notice from Revenue Jersey.
ITIS effective rate	The percentage on that same notice. If they have not given you one, you must use 22%, the default rate.
Pay basis	Fixed salary, or hourly with a rate.
Pay frequency	Monthly or weekly.
Email address	Optional. Used to open a pre-addressed email when you send a payslip. Not printed on the payslip itself.
Start and end dates	Staff only appear in periods they actually worked.

You never guess an ITIS rate. Revenue Jersey works it out and issues a notice for each employee. You simply enter the percentage they were given. When an employee hands you an updated notice, edit them and change the rate.

Running payroll

Choose the month at the top.
For hourly staff, enter their hours.
Use Extra for bonuses, overtime or anything on top.
Use Override only when you need to force an exact gross figure for that month.

The Payroll run table then shows, for each person: gross pay, ITIS deducted, their Social Security, what they take home, and what the contribution costs you as the employer.

How the figures are worked out

Deduction	How
ITIS	Gross pay multiplied by that employee's effective rate. Long-term care is already included in that rate - never add it separately.
Social Security, employee	6% of gross, up to the monthly Standard Earnings Limit.
Social Security, employer	6.5% up to the Standard Earnings Limit, plus 2.5% on earnings between that and the Upper Earnings Limit.

Payslips

Every employee in the current pay run has a Payslip button. Press it to open a print-ready payslip showing:

Gross pay, ITIS deducted, employee Social Security and net pay
The employer's Social Security contribution (shown separately - it is not deducted from their pay)
A note if earnings fell below the Minimum Earnings Threshold and no contributions were due

From the payslip preview you can:

Download PDF / Print - saves or prints a single payslip for that employee.
✉ Email to employee - opens your email program addressed to the employee (only appears if you entered their email address). Attach the PDF you just saved.

To produce every payslip for the period in one go, press Print all payslips at the top of the Payroll screen. All employees appear on separate pages inside one print dialog - choose Save as PDF to get a single file, or send it straight to the printer.

Employees are entitled to a payslip. Article 51 of the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 requires you to give each employee an itemised pay statement on or before each pay day. These payslips satisfy that requirement.

Filing the CER

Press CER summary to produce a page with every employee's name, Social Security number, TIN, gross pay, rate, ITIS and contributions, along with the totals to pay and the deadline.

Use it to copy the figures onto the real Combined Employer Return on gov.je.

Two separate payments. Tax and Social Security go to two different accounts - they are different funds. Both are due no later than 15 days after month end.

Backups

Two ways, and it is worth using both:

Save to file (My business) - your live data written to a file you choose. Put it in OneDrive or Google Drive and it is backed up as you work.
Export backup - a dated snapshot you can keep. Do this at the end of each month and before anything unusual, like moving to a new computer.

Moving to a new computer: Export a backup on the old one. Copy the program and the backup file across. Open the program on the new machine, go to My business, press Import backup and choose the file. Everything comes back.

Questions

Do I need the internet?No. The program works completely offline. It never sends your information anywhere.

Can two people use it at once?No. It runs on one computer, for one person at a time. If two people need access simultaneously, this is not the right tool.

Does it replace my accountant?No, and be wary of anything that claims to. It removes the tedious part - gathering, sorting and adding up - so your accountant reviews and signs off rather than starting from a shoebox. Depending on your size and turnover, Revenue Jersey may require accounts prepared by a qualified accountant.

I am not GST-registered. Can I still use it?Yes. Leave the GST setting off and no GST appears anywhere. The Jersey Tax screen tracks how close you are to the threshold.

An employee has no ITIS notice. What rate?22%. That is the default Revenue Jersey requires until they provide a valid effective rate notice.

My invoice prints with a web address along the edge.That is your browser adding a header and footer. In the print dialog, open More settings, set Margins to None and switch off Headers and footers.

I cleared my browsing data and everything is gone.If you had linked a disk file or exported a backup, open the program and use Open file… or Import backup. If you had done neither, the data cannot be recovered - which is why the disk file is worth setting up on day one.

The rates change in January. What do I do?Contact your supplier for an updated version. Jersey revises the contribution limits and thresholds annually.

How many invoices can it hold?Several thousand without slowing down - comfortably more than a small business produces in years.

Words explained

Term	Meaning
GST	Goods and Services Tax, Jersey's 5% sales tax. Registration is compulsory above £300,000 turnover.
ITIS	Income Tax Instalment System. Income tax collected from wages month by month instead of in one bill.
Effective rate	The percentage Revenue Jersey tells you to deduct from a particular employee.
CER	Combined Employer Return. The monthly return covering tax, contributions and staff details.
Class 1	Social Security contributions for employees, paid partly by them and partly by you.
Class 2	Social Security contributions for the self-employed.
SEL / UEL	Standard and Upper Earnings Limits - the ceilings that cap contributions.
LTC	Long-term care contribution. Already inside the ITIS rate; never added separately.
Output / input tax	GST you charge customers, and GST you pay suppliers.

Important. This program helps you organise your records and works out figures from what you enter. It is not tax advice. Deadlines, rates and thresholds change, and your circumstances may bring obligations this guide does not cover. Check anything you are unsure of with Revenue Jersey, Social Security or a qualified accountant before you file. What you submit remains your responsibility.