File self-employed taxes

Learn how to file taxes on your self-employed income.

Use QuickBooks Online Solopreneur to track your business income and expenses. Connect with tax experts in QuickBooks Live for personal help. These help you file your self-employed income with confidence at tax time.

Get powerful accounting and expert tax help in one place with QuickBooks Online + Live Expert tax. Explore your options.

File your self-employed income tax

If you’re self-employed, you have to pay federal taxes on your income, Social Security, and Medicare. Most self-employed people pay taxes quarterly.

Tip: You can also check the IRS self-employed tax center for more info.

Before you file your year-end tax, make sure to:

Step 1: Track your tax deductions

Track your business costs and find your tax deductions to help you save money and track office expenses to mileage.

Step 2: Connect your bank

Connect your online bank and get your download transactions. This lets you review your category and update your bank feeds.

Step 3: Categorize your expenses

To make tax time less stressful, categorize your transactions as they come in. The more often you sort your expenses, the easier it is to find deductions and save money at tax time.

QuickBooks Online lays out all the common business tax deductions for you. As you categorize transactions, you'll add to your deductions on the Income tax page.

In QuickBooks Solopreneur

QuickBooks Solopreneur automatically categorizes your transactions, making life easier during tax season. However, you can recategorize any transactions as needed.

Step 4: Claim your tax deductions

For reference, you can look at our list of self-employed deductions and our common tax guide.

Tip: Begin your tax returns early. Use our guide to self-employed taxes to add more details and file your small business taxes.

Year-end tax filing

Make sure to complete your books to file your year-end taxes.

Step 1: Sign up for Year-end tax filing within QuickBooks.

Follow this link to complete the steps in product

Step 2: Year-End Checklist

Review your year-end checklist to update your books. Go to Income Tax to make sure your transactions and tax mappings are correct.

Step 3: Obtain Financial Statements

Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statements are linked in the year-end filing.

Step 4: Get expert assistance

If you need help, get an expert for a free book assessment.

Step 5: Electronically file your taxes

Start tax filing on your Sole Proprietorship. Here’s how.

1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product
2. Select Start taxes or Continue taxes if you've already started.
3. Select Sole Proprietorship to file with Schedule C form, then select Continue.
   Note: Enter your personal and business info to proceed.
4. Select Add my income the first time you open it. You can select Add more income if you've already started.
5. Enter your self-employment income and expenses, then select Start.
   Note: QuickBooksauto-fills your business info. If needed, you can add or update it.
6. Select Yes, add this income or No, I’ll enter my income for this work manually.
7. Select Continue. You can also add or update any additional income and expenses.
8. Check the transferred expenses from QuickBooks. If needed, you can add it manually using your Profit and Loss statements.

Review your income and expenses on your Schedule C tax return. These steps help you export and manage your tax info from QuickBooks to TurboTax.
Note: Sole proprietors can transfer income and deductions to TurboTax. This does not include assets, liabilities, or equity accounts.