If you’ve been working in the online world for a while, you’ve most likely come across QuickBooks Online, or it’s many other sub-products. But, you may not have heard about QuickBooks Self-Employed.
If you haven’t, QuickBooks Self-Employed is an online accounting system that may be the perfect fit for you and your accounting system needs. Here’s my QuickBooks Self-Employed review, so you can find out if I recommend it, and if it’s the right choice for you and your business.
Summary
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a great option for those just getting started in the business, who have no idea what they’re doing, or for those that have an established business but need some accountability for taxes and tracking.
What Is QuickBooks Self-Employed?
As stated above, QuickBooks Self-Employed is an online accounting software program. However, what’s cool and unique about it is that it’s simpler than many online accounting systems, and was built with the “solo entrepreneur” in mind.
So, if you’re a side hustler, sole-proprietor, or even if you just became an LLC, you should be able to use QuickBooks Self-Employed with ease.
Just like with any other QuickBooks system, QuickBooks Self-Employed makes bookkeeping and taxes easier.
When you’re self-employed, taxes and bookkeeping can get messy fast, and QuickBooks Self-Employed helps you keep everything organized. It even offers some cool perks for a low monthly price. Let’s talk about those now.
Pros of QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed has quite a few pros going for it, so the list below is just going to be the few that really stood out to me and the ones that I feel will be the most beneficial:
- User-friendly
- The option to track mileage
- The option to invoice multiple clients or customers
- A mobile app so you can invoice, track mileage, and organize your income and expenses on the go
- Ability to organize income and expenses for Schedule C
- Calculates your quarterly taxes and allows you to pay them online through the website or the app
- Two different options for pricing
- Ability to print off multiple reports for your bookkeeper, accountant, or even for your records
- Integration options (including, but not limited to: Shopify, PayPal, TurboTax, and Square, plus other integrations through apps like Zapier)
- An awesome affiliate program
As you can see, QuickBooks has a lot to offer for the solo entrepreneur, newly self-employed, or side hustler, and these are just a few of the best features QuickBooks offers.
Cons of QuickBooks Self-Employed
There are a few cons for QuickBooks Self-Employed that I wanted to mention as well. Here are the few cons I’ve come across:
- Doesn’t offer any support for state, county, or city taxes, so you’ll have to figure these out on your own if your state, county, or city requires them
- Invoices can’t be customized outside of your name, address, logo, etc.
- Hard to migrate to another accounting software if it doesn’t work out, even if you’re just migrating to a new or different QuickBooks account or option
- No option or tool that you can use for time-tracking, so you have to use a separate tool
Who Is QuickBooks Self-Employed Best For?
As the name suggests, QuickBooks Self-Employed is a great tool for those that are self-employed. It’s especially helpful to people who don’t need a robust accounting system. For example, it would work well for those who run their business in addition to their day job or those who are sole-proprietors.
Whether you offer services or products, QuickBooks Self-Employed is a great option if you need to separate personal and business income and expenses. Plus, because it integrates with so many other programs and software, it should easily fit into your business no matter what you offer.
Quickbooks Self-Employed Features
My QuickBooks Self-Employed review would be incomplete without giving you all of the features it comes with!
It’s Cloud-Based
As with most accounting software, QuickBooks Self-Employed is completely cloud-based. This way you won’t have to worry about losing any of your important information. Wherever you have internet, you can check your QuickBooks Self-Employed account.
It’s User-Friendly
QuickBooks Self-Employed is so incredibly easy to use! If you aren’t the most tech savvy person, you don’t have to fear this software program. They make everything so easy and simple to access, and you see everything right away, which brings me to my next point.
Simple Dashboard
The dashboard for QuickBooks Self-Employed is easy on the eye and simple, without losing the appeal and look of a great tool. Again, everything is easy to access, and there’s almost zero chance of getting lost.
Several Invoicing Options
QuickBooks Self-Employed has invoicing capabilities as well. There are multiple ways to invoice, whether you offer services or products.
Invoicing options include invoicing hourly, by item, and flat rate. Once you’ve entered contact information for someone, or even your regular hourly rate, QuickBooks Self-Employed will remember the information you provided and offer you the option to choose that information in the future.
If you invoice via QuickBooks, you can accept payment via PayPal, check, or directly through the invoice via credit card or ACH transfer. Unfortunately, you can’t customize your invoices with QuickBooks Self-Employed, but you can at least add your contact info and logo.
Income & Expenses Tracking
QuickBooks Self-Employed can track your income and expenses easily. All you have to do is connect it to any accounts you want to track, like your bank account, PayPal, Shopify, etc.
If you have multiple accounts or expenses that you want to track, you can also important bank statements and add manual transactions.
For example, if you have a product-based business, and sell at a craft fair that only accepts cash, you can still track that in QuickBooks by manually entering in the money you made as business income. You can also add any receipt photos if you have them.
Another great feature that QuickBooks Self-Employed has is the option to separate all income and expenses to either personal or business. You can also “split” transactions, especially if you use certain items for both personal and business.
For example, if you have an office in your house or apartment, you can write off office expenses on your taxes, including portions of your internet, electricity, and more. In QuickBooks, you would just split based on a percentage or price. You can even set a “rule” for QuickBooks to always split those specific bills the same way every time.
Mileage Tracking
If your business involves driving, make sure you track it so you can get your mileage deductions! The QuickBooks Self-Employed app makes it super simple to do.
Just download the app, log on, and click “yes” for tracking. Then, whenever you get in your car, QuickBooks will automatically track your mileage and prompt you to choose if the ride was for business or personal.
Quarterly Tax Payments
This is one of the best features of the QuickBooks Self-Employed software. Along with all of the other features, you are also able to calculate your expenses, deductions, and mileage to find out what you owe each quarter for taxes.
No more guessing on how much you owe or paying too much or too little. QuickBooks will automatically calculate everything for you, and you can pay directly through the website, as long as you have an Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) pin. You can sign up for one for free here.
Reports
While QuickBooks Self-Employed doesn’t offer the most detailed reports, it does offer a few reports that can help you analyze your business finances regularly.
Here are the reports offered by QuickBooks Self-Employed:
- Profit and Loss
- Tax Summary
- Receipts
- Tax Details
The best part about these reports is that you can calculate them for whatever time frame you need, including monthly, quarterly, or for the year. QuickBooks also stores your information for up to 6 years, just in case you’re audited or need a refresher.
End of the Year Tax Checklist
The end of year tax checklist is a great feature and I’m glad QuickBooks Self-Employed offers it. No more being afraid that you’ll mess up your taxes!
Around tax season (usually, as soon as January of the new year comes around), QuickBooks will provide you a tax checklist. It walks you through their 12-step process on getting your information ready for tax season, so you can file taxes easily and without worry.
QuickBooks Self-Employed Plans & Pricing
Whether you see it as a pro or con, QuickBooks Self-Employed only offers two options for their pricing tiers. However, they are also one of the most affordable accounting software options I’ve been able to find, so you really can’t go wrong with whichever tier you choose.
Just as a quick side note, QuickBooks Self-Employed does have a free 30-day trial for you to test, just in case you want to dip your toe in to see what they’re like. They only offer monthly options, but that’s great if you’re just starting out and don’t have a lot of money to spend up front.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
The smallest tier option is the original QuickBooks Self-Employed tier. It starts at $10 a month, but if you use my link, you can start for just $5 per month for the first 3 months!
For $10 a month, you’ll get:
- An option for automatic mileage tracking via the QuickBooks app
- The ability to separate business and personal expenses
- The ability to maximize your Schedule C deductions
- Your quarterly estimated taxes calculated automatically
- The ability to send and track simple invoices
- The option to be paid via credit card, PayPal, and more
- Invoice reminders
- Unlimited clients and customers
QuickBooks Self-Employed Tax Bundle
If you really don’t want to deal with your taxes and want to make them as painless as possible, you may want to go with the Self-Employment Tax Bundle tier. This tier starts at $17 a month, but you can start for just $12 per month for the first 3 months when you use my link!
With this package, you’ll get:
- All original QuickBooks Self-Employment features
- The option to pay quarterly estimated taxes online via the QuickBooks website, or through the app
- You’ll be able to file your taxes faster by exporting Schedule C to TurboTax Self-Employed
- You’ll receive one federal and one state tax return filing for free every single year via TurboTax (which will save you $87 each year!)
Quickbooks Self-Employed Support
QuickBooks Self-Employed offers quite a few customer service options, but most likely, your best bet is going to be their live chat option. Otherwise, you could get lost in a sea of questions if you try to look through their help options.
- Phone: Their customer service is there Monday through Friday from 6:00 am – 6:00 pm PST.
- Live Chat: Their customer service via chat is the same as their phone service. They are also available on Saturday’s from 6:00 am – 3:00 pm PST
- Community Forum: Keep in mind, the community forum is for all Quickbooks services and products, so you’ll have to do some digging for questions specific to Quickbooks Self-Employed if you want a good answer.
- Contact Form/Email: If you can’t find a specific answer to your question, or if it’s the weekend and you can’t get ahold of anyone, you can always email Quickbooks via their contact form. They will respond as quickly as possible, as soon as they get back into the office.
Alternatives to QuickBooks Self-Employed
While QuickBooks Self-Employed is a fantastic accounting software option, there are a few alternatives that you can consider as well. Here are a few of my favorites.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a well-known alternative to QuickBooks. I even wrote a post about exactly how it stacks up against QuickBooks Self-Employed and QuickBooks Online here.
Here are a few features of FreshBooks:
- User-friendly
- Invoicing capabilities
- Has multiple tiers that can grow with you based on your client or workload
- Customizable invoices
- Easy to use client portal
- Ability to send estimates and proposals
- Can’t track mileage
- Doesn’t offer the option to pay quarterly taxes online
Read more about FreshBooks here.
Hurdlr
Hurdlr is a tool used to organize and track your business income, expenses, and taxes.
Here are a few of Hurdlr’s features:
- User-friendly
- Monitors income
- Tracks mileage
- Estimates your taxes
- Offers a free plan
- Doesn’t offer invoicing capabilities like QuickBooks
HoneyBook
HoneyBook helps you manage projects, book clients, send invoices, and get paid on time.
Here are a few features of HoneyBook:
- User-friendly
- Beautiful dashboard
- Invoicing
- Project and task management systems
- Offers client portal
- Expensive – plans start at $40/month
Xero
Xero is a more robust bookkeeping software that helps you invoice clients, track the backend financials of your business, and is great for business owners who need more from bookkeeping software.
- Can be used across multiple devices
- The ability to add payroll via Gusto
- Inventory management with built-in software
- Integrates with project management software
- Can get expensive
- Poor customer support
- A learning curve for people not used to bookkeeping systems
Again, these are some awesome alternatives to QuickBooks, but of course, you should choose the software that best fits your needs and what you expect for your business.
Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting is a free software that helps you invoice clients, track expenses, and even get bookkeeping help if you need it.
Here are a few of Wave Accounting’s features:
- User-friendly
- Invoicing capabilities
- Expenses tracking
- Offers payroll
- Offers bookkeeping support
- Free to use
- Client credit card storage
Read more about Wave Accounting here.
Bench
Bench is another great alternative to Quickbooks Self-Employed.
- Offers bookkeeping support
- Offers tax support
- Is a great option if you don’t want to handle bookkeeping at all
- Offers catch up bookkeeping for a small fee
- Does not offer invoicing capabilities
- Doesn’t sync with other bookkeeping services (like Quickbooks or Freshbooks)
You can read more about Bench here.
QuickBooks Self-Employed Review: Do I Recommend It?
Running an efficient business is all about being able to get paid for what you’re doing and offering. For me, I would recommend QuickBooks solely on the fact that they offer invoicing capabilities and the option to be paid in a multitude of ways.
When I first started my business, I just used PayPal and an excel spreadsheet. Had I used a tool like QuickBooks Self-Employed, I could’ve saved myself a ton of headache and frustration come my first tax season!
Even if you’re just getting started, don’t take the route I took and try to wing it. Invest a few extra dollars into some great software. QuickBooks Self-Employed is not only affordable, but it also gives you a lot of help on the tax side, which can be so confusing when you’re just starting out.
I get it, when you’re starting a business, you need to keep the recurring expenses as cheap as possible. But, you don’t want to get in trouble with the IRS (yikes) just because you filed something wrong. So take the necessary precautions and sign up with something that’s going to make your life a whole lot easier.
The best thing about QuickBooks Self-Employed is that you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to give it a test run. There’s no worrying about if it works for you and having to pay an arm and a leg to try it out, so you can give it a go at your convenience.
Plus, if you need any help getting things set up, you can always chat with a customer service representative via live chat or even on the phone. I loved being able to just pop on really quick and chat if I had questions!
Why QuickBooks Self-Employed Is A Great Option
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a great option for those just getting started in the business, who have no idea what they’re doing, or for those that have an established business but need some accountability for taxes and tracking.
Still on the fence about QuickBooks? Don’t forget to check out their FREE 30-day trial and see what the fuss is all about.
I mean, who doesn’t love making tax time easier? I know I do! And to top it off, if you’re not satisfied, you can cancel right after your trial is finished, or at any other time. Since it’s a monthly fee, you won’t have to worry about the hassle of trying to get your money back if it doesn’t work out!
Another great thing about QuickBooks is that it’s super affordable, so if you don’t love it, you won’t lose out on a ton of your hard earned income. I’m all about keeping more money in my pocket, and QuickBooks Self-Employed is a flexible and user-friendly option if you need an accounting system.
Overall, QuickBooks Self-Employed has a yes in my book, and it could be the accounting software that you need to organize and manage the finances in your business. What do you have to lose?
Have you thought about using QuickBooks Self-Employed? What would make you switch?