QuickBooks Self-Employed

QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed for freelancers, independent contractors, and single-owner small businesses who need a simple way to separate business and personal finances and to keep basic records for taxes. It aims to reduce bookkeeping overhead with automated categorization and tax-ready summaries rather than providing full business accounting for companies with employees or inventory.

The app focuses on a few core tasks: connecting bank and credit card accounts, tracking deductible expenses, estimating quarterly taxes, and capturing business mileage. It also supports simple invoicing and receipt capture from mobile devices. These features are presented in a streamlined workflow intended to get users from transaction to tax insight with minimal setup.

Key features at a glance

• Automatic bank and card connection with transaction import
• Automatic mileage tracking via mobile app or manual entry
• Expense categorization and tax category suggestions
• Quarterly tax estimates and tax summary reports
• Simple invoicing and receipt scanning

In everyday use the web and mobile apps feel lightweight and generally responsive. Because the product is cloud hosted, performance depends on internet connectivity and occasional background sync. Users report that automatic categorization can speed up routine bookkeeping, though manual review is often needed to ensure accuracy. Sync issues can occur with bank connections and may require reauthorization.

Usability is a strong point for this product, with clear menus, on-screen prompts, and a focus on tasks relevant to sole proprietors. Maintenance mostly means reviewing and categorizing imported transactions regularly, reconciling accounts monthly, and keeping the mobile app and bank links up to date. Backups and updates are handled by the provider, so there is little local maintenance required.

What to watch out for: this product is intentionally simplified, so it may lack features you would expect from full accounting platforms such as robust reporting, multi-user access, inventory, or built-in payroll for employees without upgrading or adding other services. Mileage tracking and automated categorizations are convenient, but they should be reviewed before filing taxes. If your business grows or becomes more complex, you may need to migrate to a more feature-rich product.

This review was drafted by an AI and should be verified against current product documentation and your specific needs.