It's Time to Renew Your ICF Membership!

QuickBooks Self-Employed

 Laura Melville, C3Workplace Director of 

Last month, I mentioned the new software from Intuit: QuickBooks Self-Employed. Since then, I've received several inquiries asking what it's all about. QB Self-employed is a basic bookkeeping software meant for individuals who file a Schedule C. However, it doesn't allow you (yet!) to create invoices, print checks, invite accountants to access data, or import from Excel. For these types of features, you'll need a version of QuickBooks, Desktop or Online.
 

• Tracks business income and business spending and calculates estimated taxes. How does it calculate? Simply edit the Tax settings to record Marital Status, Number of dependents, etc. It only calculates for Federal as of this writing. In my opinion, this is a nice "Estimate" to help you plan, but we recommend you consult your CPA or tax preparer for further insight.
• You can also set up preferences for home office deduction. Again, there are specific guidelines that should be followed when taking, or not taking, a home office deduction. And again, your CPA or tax preparer should be consulted before relying on any information within the software.
  

Income Section

• Tracks your income by month and as year to date in an easy to read graph
• Also notifies you of the next quarterly tax payment due (Date and amount)
  

Spending Section

• Tracks your spending by month and as year to date in an easy to read graph
• Also notifies you of the next quarterly tax payment due (Date and amount) 

Miles Section

• Track your business miles by entering date/purpose/round trip miles. The software calculates the mileage deduction using current IRS rates
  

Taxes Section

• Provides a summary of estimated taxes for the current year due and paid
• Also summarizes total business profit
• Lists Business spending by category into two columns:
  • Spending - total amount spent
  • Deductions - what your deduction would be
    • For example, Meals and Entertainment "deduction" would be 50% of "Spending" for Meals and Entertainment.
• Deductions are calculated for:
  • Auto
  • Home Office
  • Meals and Entertainment
  • Rent/Lease
  • Taxes and Licenses

In my opinion, this is good information to have as a tool to generate discussions with your CPA or tax preparer.

Feedback Section
Much like QuickBooks Online, you can submit feedback from within the program, and it will be reviewed. QuickBooks Online has prided itself on "you asked, we addressed" types of improvements.

For example, new just this February in QuickBooks Online:

• For Customers and Vendors, you can now see the number of overdue invoices in the Pending invoices column, you can sort customers/vendors by overdue balances, and there is a red "Overdue" Bar that you can click on for details of all that is overdue in just one click.
• If you change your bank account number, name etc... this will affect the ability to download. Simply go to Transactions/Banking and edit the box for whichever account you want to edit, by clicking on the pencil.
• If you have recurring transactions, you can now sort them by Template Name (Gear/Recurring Transactions)

QuickBooks seems to be constantly changing and improving to meet the many needs of many different types of businesses. Before choosing any one product, it's best to truly research or request assistance/advice from a Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor.

Interested in more QuickBooks or financial information? Join me in our Montclair location on the 3rd Friday of every month for a free 25-minute consult (face to face OR virtual) during our Office Hours with Expert Advisors! I look forward to seeing you there! Don't forget to take advantage of your complimentary 30-minute bookkeeping assessment. Contact me now to get started!