QuickBooks Solopreneur (formerly Self-Employed) is an accounting software product designed to help freelancers and sole proprietors keep tabs on income, expenses and tax obligations. Simply swipe left to mark a transaction as business versus personal, and categorize it to align with IRS filing categories.
The web and app-based service works well for people with side hustles or those just starting down the self-employment track, but it won’t scale with your business and switching services could prove a hassle. Skip the self-employed version and go straight to QuickBooks Online if you think you’ll outgrow QuickBook Solopreneur’s basic reports and features.
| Deciding factors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0-$20 per month. Receive discounted pricing for the first three months. | |
| Maximum number of users | One. | |
| Easy sharing with accountants? | Yes; you can send email invites to your accountant in the $20 plan. | |
| Easy to scale? | No. You will need to switch services as your business grows. You can upgrade to QuickBooks Online but may need to manually move your data. | |
| Easy to use? | Yes; once you get the hang of setting rules to automate expense tracking. | |
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How does QuickBooks Solopreneur work?
QuickBooks Solopreneur is designed for freelancers and contractors, specifically those who don’t have separate business and personal accounts. You may not find value in this service if you use a dedicated business credit card or business checking account. But if you're mixing business and pleasure, financially speaking, you’ll appreciate intuitive tools to help you track, sort and categorize transactions.
Once you connect your accounts (checking, credit cards, PayPal, etc.), you can easily see all of your income and expenses in one place. You’ll need to invest some time in organizing those transactions, though, at least at the onset. You can do this one of two ways: Manually assign income and expenses as business or personal and categorize them, or create rules to automate the process.
Beyond tracking and categorizing expenses, you can log mileage and calculate relevant deductions. You can also create, send and track invoices via QuickBooks Solopreneur — though the service allows minimal customization and doesn't support estimates. QuickBooks Solopreneur can also produce the following business reports:
- Mileage log.
- Profit and loss.
- Receipts.
- Tax summary.
- Tax details.
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Pricing
As of this writing, you can get 50% off a new QuickBooks Solopreneur subscription for the first three months.
| Plan name | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month. |
|
| Lite | $20/month. | Everything in the Free plan, plus:
|
Benefits
Swipe left for business
Using the QuickBooks Solopreneur app, quickly mark income and expenses as business or personal with the swipe of your finger. You also can split transactions by percentage or dollar amount, designating a portion as business versus personal.
Had enough with swiping? Set rules to automatically assign and categorize transactions. You can tell QuickBooks that deposits from a specific client should always be marked business income, for example, or that transactions at Staples should always be designated as business office expenses. Rules can be applied retroactively, and you can also mark a specific bank account as “mostly business” to take some of the legwork out of organizing your books.
Set it and forget it mileage deductions
No need to manually calculate mileage deductions for every work-related trip. QuickBooks Solopreneur will automatically do the math for you using the current IRS mileage rate. Just opt into mileage tracking via the app to automatically log all of your car travel. You can then mark which trips were business related. QuickBooks keeps a running tally of business miles and the corresponding deduction. You can also manually enter trips using the app or web service.
Some users report issues with missed trips and inaccurate mileage tracking, so keep tabs on your trip log to ensure precise records.
Categorize expenses, simplify taxes
QuickBooks Solopreneur lets you classify incomes and expenses using categories that align with the IRS Schedule C (Form 1040), such as advertising, commissions and fees, legal fees and utilities. Using this feature to properly categorize expenses in advance takes some of the stress and guesswork out of filing your taxes.
Drawbacks
Doesn’t accommodate multiple businesses
Entrepreneurs with more than one company need to create (and pay for) a separate QuickBooks Solopreneur account for each business. This is true with QuickBooks Online as well, but with that version you can use a single login and toggle between your businesses. Since QuickBooks Solopreneur doesn't have that feature, you have to maintain separate emails and login info. This means when you want to switch between accounts, you need to log out of one account, then log in to the other.
Difficult to scale
QuickBooks Solopreneur doesn’t have multiple tiers that you can grow into. Instead, when you outgrow the service you need to switch solutions. Doing so can be complicated even if you stay within the QuickBooks universe. You may need to manually move your data by exporting, then importing data into your new QuickBooks account. Mileage data can’t be imported into a new QuickBooks account, so you would need to manually add each trip.
Note: You can’t revert back to QuickBooks Solopreneur if you make the move to QuickBooks Online.
Alternatives
QuickBooks Online: Robust features, scalable plans
QuickBooks Online offers a more scalable, albeit more expensive, option to QuickBooks Solopreneur. Its least expensive option (the Simple Start plan) starts at $38 per month for essentially the same features as the self-employed version. But unlike the Solopreneur option, QuickBooks Online lets you seamlessly upgrade from Simple Start to the Essentials plan (and beyond) as your business grows. Upgrading to Essentials lets you add users, create more robust reports and integrate with QuickBooks Time to simplify time tracking. And because you’re staying within the same product, you won’t need to manually move data when it's time to upgrade.
Wave: Free service, custom invoices
Wave is a free alternative to QuickBooks Solopreneur that offers unlimited invoices and estimates that can be customized with your logo and company colors. Mileage tracking isn’t available with Wave, so you’ll need to use a separate tracker like MileIQ or Hurdlr.
» MORE: Best QuickBooks alternatives
