QuickBooks Self-Employed Review 2020
Updated July 2020
QuickBooks Self-Employed is the right software choice for a freelancer or solopreneur at an infant stage of their business. Furthermore, the accounting software may accommodate someone who does not devote full-time hours toward a business venture and has no desire to expand operations or clientele.
QB Self-Employed is a bit different from more comprehensive versions of QuickBooks, so there comes a time when a young business or entrepreneur needs to invest in the kind of software that is going to accelerate accounting processes and allow for fuller reporting and projecting.
QuickBooks Self-Employed Review 2020
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a simplified version of QuickBooks you can use for basic tracking of expenses. The Self-Employed product line offers three versions, with increasing tax capabilities.
- QuickBooks Self-Employed is helpful if you’re a self-employed business owner, solo practitioner, consultant or otherwise running a single person simple business (Uber, Etsy, etc).
- It’s a great tool if you’re simply looking to get organized and track revenue and expenses.
- If you’re currently running your business through a single bank account that also has personal expenses, QuickBooks Self-Employed can help download and categorize your expenses.
Pros of QuickBooks Self-Employed
- QuickBooks Self-Employed is a great account software for a person who works for themselves and has a small number of clients, transactions, and accounting necessities. Since a number of solopreneurs leverage personal bank accounts to aid with business purposes, the software will be a big help in clearly separating business and personal expenses.
- Intuit released the product to cater to the needs of entrepreneurs and burgeoning startups who use Schedule C (Form 1040) to report income or loss to the IRS. Solopreneurs and the like may need to file quarterly taxes and keep an accurate watch on how they intermingle business and personal expenses.
- Using more complex accounting software could make reconciliation confusing. Therefore, the ease of use and genuine catering to a freelancer or solo business owner is the real benefit of QuickBooks Self-Employed.
Cons of QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Due to its lack of functions, QuickBooks Self-Employed is not recognized as a comprehensive accounting tool. You cannot produce a balance sheet, income statement, etc. In some regards, it’s a rudimentary improvement beyond keeping receipts in a box!
So, it does not become a matter of “Should I start using a better version?” but more of a matter of when your business is at the point where you can proudly graduate from Self-Employed to software like QuickBooks Pro.
However, QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed differently than graduated versions of the software. Migration is not really an option. It’s much more convenient to evaluate the growth and trajectory of your business and realize you’re at a point where elementary software is no longer plausible. When your business necessitates automatic invoicing for example, it’s time to evolve to better accounting software.
QB Self-Employed Features
- Organize business spending
- Track and send overdue notifications
- Send invoices using mobile app
- Automatically sort transactions into categories
- Take photos of receipts and link to expenses
- Maximize deductions
- Track business miles
- Calculate profit
- Estimate tax payments
- Export tax records to Schedule C
- Connect to third-party tax tools
- Invite a bookkeeper or accountant to access account
QuickBooks Self-Employed Versus Other Versions of QuickBooks
QuickBooks Self-Employed offers basic tracking functionality but lacks common accounting functionality that your business may need. It does not enable you to send invoices, write checks, or produce common financial statements that you may need to run your business. Yet, all other versions of QuickBooks, such as QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Pro, enable such basic accounting functionality.
While QuickBooks Self-Employed may be all that you currently need now, it’s important to understand that it may be difficult to migrate to the next version. However, a bookkeeper can help with your accounting and provide insight regarding investing in particular versions of QuickBooks.
We at MISSION can help your young business or freelance operation with its accounting processes. Furthermore, we can guide you on your next QuickBooks purchase. We recognize that every business and owner is unique. We tailor our expert services to meet your bookkeeping needs.
