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Nine real screens, in the order you meet them. Every figure is the app's own sample data, a believable month of London driving, so nothing here is anyone's real finances. The shots are in the Night theme; the app has a Day theme too, built as its equal.
01 / 09
Import a bank statement and review the whole month.
Your money is grouped by Universal Credit month, not by calendar month, because that is the period you report on. A finished month reads like this one: £3,475 in, £1,316 out, everything sorted. Takin also tells you when a month is missing days, which happens because your bank writes its statement on its own schedule, not on yours.
02 / 09
Swipe or tap each payment as Business or Personal.
One payment at a time, with a suggestion already on the card. If a payment was part work and part not, tap the amount and enter only the work part. The rest becomes its own personal line, so both halves still add up to what you actually paid.
03 / 09
Business in, business out, and every payment with its type.
The month view shows what the sorting added up to: business money in, business money out, and each payment with its category and tag. Anything still needing a type sits at the top of the list, and Takin learns your regulars, so the same names arrive already sorted next month.
04 / 09
Track a shift with GPS, or log miles by hand.
Each drive becomes a trip you mark Business or Personal, with a purpose such as between jobs, delivery, or a passenger job. Turn on Always sort this route and the same journey sorts itself in future. GPS distance can differ a little from the real route, so every trip stays editable.
05 / 09
Your month of driving, sorted like your money.
The month view lists each drive with its own little map, the postcodes it ran between, the distance and the time. Trips sort exactly like payments do: this month has one still needing a decision, one marked Business and one Personal, with 12 business miles worth £5 back so far.
06 / 09
Your month, added up into the figures the journal asks for.
Income and expenses in the same categories the gov.uk journal uses. Where mileage covers a cost, Takin lists the fuel and garage payments it has already counted, so you can see they are not being claimed twice. You can download the month as a spreadsheet or a PDF.
07 / 09
Open the gov.uk journal inside Takin and drop each figure in.
Takin opens the real gov.uk journal and walks you through it a field at a time: the amount, the description, the date boxes, each filled with a tap and marked FILLED as you go. Nothing is submitted for you. You are signed in to your own account and you press the buttons.
The gov.uk page belongs to the government. Takin is an independent tool by Borun Studios Ltd, not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Department for Work and Pensions, HMRC, or gov.uk.
08 / 09
Take home for the month, and your activity by day.
The Summary screen adds the month up as you go: take home so far in the day ring, and your trips and money laid over the map, day by day. This is also where the Minimum Income Floor lives, so a quiet month says so while there is still time to do something about it.
09 / 09
Driving grouped the same way as your money.
Miles live in the same Universal Credit months as everything else, so the month you report is the month you see. Drives waiting to be sorted are counted and one tap takes you to them.
One thing it never does
Takin prepares the figures and opens the real gov.uk journal for you. You are signed in to your own account, you check every number, and you enter it yourself. Nothing is ever sent to Universal Credit on your behalf.
The questions people ask first Help with Universal Credit itself
