With everything that has happened over the course of last year, the topic of small business has been on the top of so many of our minds. I’m sure it has come up at the kitchen table, on social media, or your news network of choice. This is all the more reason QuickBooks Self-Employed has been more relevant now than it has ever been.
Recently, small businesses and independent contractors have been under more pressure than ever to have their affairs in order. You only need to ask the small business owners who made the hard decision to close and others that managed to find a way to stay open. I’m convinced Intuit’s QuickBooks was and is an effective tool to help these small business owners navigate these challenging times.
For those already familiar with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Self-Employed is essentially a pared-down version of that. Once you have an account, to use the software, you can direct your web browser to a nice simple login screen (https://selfemployed.intuit.com/login) similar to the QuickBooks Online Login (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/login/). If you forget the login URL, if you type in ‘quickbooks self employed login’ into a search engine like Google, it should be at the top if not the first organic search result.
If you run into any login issues, there are a number of sites like WizXpert’s and QuickBooks Premier Support’s having blog posts walking you through how to troubleshoot. A simple thing to look out for is making sure you are only logged into a single browser at a time.
Once logged in, you may notice it has the essential features that are going to keep your affairs in order throughout the year and during tax time, but It’s not going to give you the ability to do things like produce statements of cash flows, and it does not have the hundreds of third-party integrations QuickBooks Online has.
A Few of QuickBooks Self-Employed’s Features
QuickBooks Self-Employed is an ideal offering for people like independent contractors who don’t have a separate personal and business account. My personal recommendation is if you think you’re going to use QuickBooks Online in the near future, I would go ahead and start with QuickBooks Online and grow into it.
Each of the three QuickBooks Self-Employed product offerings is able to calculate estimated quarterly taxes automatically. Each product offering also has attractive features to maximize schedule C tax deductions. Another helpful feature is the ability to link your credit cards and bank accounts to track your transactions. It’s also nice to see simple time tracking functionality is now available.
The QuickBooks Self-Employed Tax Bundle product offering comes with TurboTax Self-Employed. With this integration, you can transfer your income and expense data into TurboTax Self-Employed and pay your estimated taxes online.
QuickBooks Self-Employed is arguably one of the most popular offerings in the Accounting Software market, but it is not the only one. Products like Freshbooks boast of additional more sophisticated features independent contractors may or may not need. For example, if it applies to your business, you can handle sales tax much better with Freshbooks than with QuickBooks Self-Employed. If you’re curious and want to try it out, Freshbooks currently offers a 30-day free trial. Naturally, QuickBooks Online handles sales tax very well.
I should mention Freshbooks does not give you the option of talking to a real accountant like the QuickBooks Self-Employed Live Tax Bundle package. Freshbooks just gives the option of inviting an accountant you already have. This brings me to my next point. Because of QuickBooks’ popularity, your accountant and others needing financial information from you will probably be more familiar with it than its competitors. Freshbooks’ price is comparable if not lower, so I guess like many products, it comes down to preference.
QuickBooks has very helpful mobile apps available on Android and iPhone. With them, you’ll be able to do things like scan receipts and track your mileage.
For More Information
You may find QuickBooks’ presence on the popular social media platforms helpful. There is official QuickBooks content on the following social networks:
Facebook: Intuit QuickBooks – Home
Twitter: Intuit QuickBooks (@QuickBooks)
LinkedIn: Intuit QuickBooks
And media sharing network:
YouTube: QuickBooks YouTube Channel
On QuickBooks’ YouTube channel, you’ll find everything from typical 30-second commercials to instructional videos. In their social media posts, you’ll typically see stories from a wide variety of businesses about how QuickBooks helps them manage their business.
References
Quickbooks Self-Employed | Save More with Quickbooks + TurboTax. Intuit. Accessed 3/23/2021
Intuit Quickbooks Self-Employed Review. PCMag. Accessed 3/23/2021.
2021 Quickbooks Self-Employed Review: What You Need to Know. Dyer News. Accessed 3/23/2021.
Is Quickbooks Self-Employed worth the headache? FreshBooks. Accessed 3/23/2021.
Quickbooks Self-Employed Review. ChooseWhat. Accessed 3/23/2021.