Learn the basics of QuickBooks Self-Employed.
QuickBooks Self-Employed helps you record your self-employed income and expenses, track mileage, and prepare your Schedule C tax form.
Here's an overview of everything you can do, how to get set up, and how QuickBooks tracks everything throughout the year.
Learn about
- Find out if you're self-employed
- About QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Enter business transactions into QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Track your tax info in QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Schedule C categories in QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Track deductions in QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Self-employed taxes and how QuickBooks calculates them
- Make federal estimated quarterly tax payments
- Federal estimated quarterly tax payments and their payment schedules
- Cancel a free trial or paid subscription
- Upgrade to or downgrade from the Tax Bundle
Find out if you’re self-employed
In general, you're self-employed if any of the following apply:
- You run a business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.
- You have a business partnership.
- You do business for yourself (including a part-time business).
- You need to file a Schedule C and your business taxes with a 1040.
Learn more about self-employment requirements on the IRS website.
About QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed helps track your income, expenses, mileage, and tax info. You may access your accounts from a web browser or the mobile app. Your data syncs in both places. In general, the mobile app is better for tasks on the go, like tracking mileage.
Note: QuickBooks Self-Employed isn't designed to handle non-profit or charitable organizations.
Here are the main features:
- Track and organize your business income and expenses.
- Maximize your business deductions.
- Enter data quickly with online banking.
- Track your business mileage and claim mileage deductions.
- Run reports to know your business’s profit.
- Calculate your estimated federal quarterly tax payments.
- Categorize expenses on your Schedule C.
- Send your data to TurboTax Self-Employed for fast year-end filing.
Enter business transactions into QuickBooks Self-Employed
Connect your bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks. Each day, it automatically downloads your latest transactions. All you need to do is categorize them, so they show up in the correct Schedule C category and on your financial reports.
You can always manually add transactions that don't go through your bank.
Track your tax info in QuickBooks Self-Employed
When you record and categorize a transaction, QuickBooks includes it as part of your federal estimated quarterly tax payments. This gives you an estimated amount to pay the IRS for taxes each quarter.
QuickBooks also categorizes transactions for your Schedule C and annual tax return. When you're ready to file, QuickBooks has all your info ready to go. Refer to the IRS Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center for the latest self-employment tax info. Check topics like:
Schedule C categories in QuickBooks Self-Employed
The expense categories in QuickBooks Self-Employed match specific lines on your Schedule C. Here's a list of all the categories:
- Schedule C categories
- Home office expenses and categories
- Entertainment expenses
Note: QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed to work with specific tax categories, like your Schedule C. It also uses these categories to calculate your federal estimated quarterly tax payments. Currently, you can't create custom categories.
Track deductions in QuickBooks Self-Employed
There are several features that help you track deductions. This includes mileage, healthcare, home office expenses, and others. Here are guides on how to enter your data and track deductions:
- Track healthcare deductions in QuickBooks Self-Employed
- Standard mileage and actual expenses deduction methods
- Track home office deductions in QuickBooks Self-Employed
Self-employed taxes and how QuickBooks calculates them
As a self-employed individual, you're required to pay estimated taxes to the federal government quarterly. You also need to file an annual tax return.
Self-employed individuals must pay self-employment taxes as well as income tax on their profits.
When you sign up for QuickBooks Self-Employed, you set up your tax profile. This helps QuickBooks make accurate calculations.
Make federal estimated quarterly tax payments
You may pay by mail, directly through the IRS website, or from QuickBooks Self-Employed. Here’s how to make federal estimated quarterly tax payments.
Federal estimated quarterly tax payments and their payment schedules
Always check the IRS website for the latest tax payment schedules. The due date is usually the 15th of the month. Tax periods aren't evenly spaced by quarter.
Cancel a free trial or paid subscription
Follow these steps to cancel your QuickBooks Self-Employed trial or subscription.
Upgrade to or downgrade from the Tax Bundle
Upgrade to the Tax Bundle to get QuickBooks Self-Employed and TurboTax Self-Employed.
If you don't need the Tax Bundle anymore, here's how to downgrade your subscription so you only have QuickBooks Self-Employed.