TurboTax online offers four ways to file your taxes, depending on your unique tax needs. With all versions except the desktop computer software, you can start and enter your information at no cost. You only pay at the end when filing your federal and state tax returns.
This serves as the foundation for all content, demonstrating a clear dedication to providing valuable and reliable information. Our team leverages its expertise and extensive research capabilities to identify and address the specific questions our audience has—and this ensures that our content is rooted in knowledge and accuracy. QuickBooks Online does a lot of things, but calculating quarterly estimate taxes is not one of them. Many freelancers just base them off of what they paid the previous year, or you can plug your income so far into a tax calculator. It comes with in-depth reports, including a company snapshot, sales reports and profit and loss reports.
It’s packed with features including expense tracking, invoicing and mileage tracking. TurboTax has a full-service filing option in addition to self-preparation plans, while FreeTaxUSA is entirely self-paced. TurboTax has multiple features that give it an edge over FreeTaxUSA, like document import and upload capabilities and QuickBooks integration for business owners.
User Interface and Design
Unfortunately, you can’t do both; electing for the trial will result in paying full price at the end of the 30-day period, or you can skip the free trial and pay 50% off for the first three months. While they both also feature mileage tracking and expense tracking, that’s about all the similarities they share. With QuickBooks Online, you’ll get everything you need to manage your business’s books. Income and expense tracking, invoicing and payments and automated tax deductions are all included in the base plan. QuickBooks is one of the best accounting software for small businesses—and for good reason.
File with TurboTax
If you want to outsource bookkeeping, ZipBooks offers monthly bookkeeping assistance that comes with a ZipBooks Plan. This means that you don’t have to pay for the software subscription if you decide to let ZipBooks handle your books. The plan is only $20 per month for 5,000 invoices, and you can add up to three users plus one accountant. If you need more users, an additional $3 per user monthly will be added to your bill. QuickBooks Self-Employed provides basic invoicing, but Solopreneur takes this further by offering customizable invoice templates.
Many Americans qualify for free tax prep, and both companies have been the subject of federal complaints for misleading advertising practices that pushed filers into paid plans. For the 2025 filing season, H&R Block’s free federal plan covers more situations than TurboTax’s and its paid plans are more attractive because they include live expert help. We rated TurboTax’s well-known online tax software on cost, value, user experience, access to experts, and importantly, its trustworthiness. Intuit-owned TurboTax is among the most expensive options for filing taxes online but offers competitive early-season pricing.
- The tax filing capabilities included in QuickBooks Solopreneur are designed for ‘Schedule C’ (form 1040) filers, most commonly applicable to sole proprietors or single-member LLCs.
- If you wish to access more mobile accounting features, like time tracking and the ability to assign projects to customers, you may consider upgrading to Professional.
- It’s unclear how the reviews are solicited or selected to appear on the website.
- As for inventory tracking, this feature is also available in the Plus plan.
- Once you’ve decided QuickBooks is the accounting solution for your business, you have a few more decisions to make—namely, should you use QuickBooks Online or Self-Employed?
- Prepare your current tax year return with help from live tax experts, powered by TurboTax.
solopreneur tips for 2024
Despite its wide name recognition, Business Insider’s personal finance team compared TurboTax to the best tax software and found it to be a standard offering. However, Simple Start has no free option, which can be an issue for freelancers who are on a tight budget. If you have simple bookkeeping needs, Wave’s free plan might be sufficient. We selected QuickBooks Online Simple Start as the best scalable alternative to QuickBooks Self-Employed because you can upgrade to more powerful versions as your business grows. With the ability to scale all the way to the Advanced plan with 25 users, it’s unlikely your business will ever outgrow QuickBooks.
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Discover how integrated payroll apps can save you and your clients hours of admin. Find help articles, video tutorials, and connect with other businesses in our online community. TurboTax also can be a good choice if you’d like to hand off your tax documents to a professional and have them do all the work for you. The foundation of financial health for every business owner is separating the finances of the business from their personal finances.
Customer Support
- Accounting software can help you track finances, outstanding invoices, and bills.
- Planning for cash flow problems can empower you to cushion—or even avoid—financial blows to your business.
- If you buy now, you can get 50% off for three months and a free one-on-one session with a ProAdvisor to set up your account.
- Both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed are great software, whether you need them for real estate accounting or nonprofit accounting.
- For freelancers transitioning to small business owners, they may consider upgrading to a double-entry accounting software like Wave, QuickBooks Online, or Zoho Books.
For the paid do-it-yourself plans, each state return costs $39 (or $64 during peak tax season). TurboTax is among the most expensive options for filing taxes online, but offers a high-quality user interface and access to experts. It’s especially valuable for self-employed filers who use QuickBooks integration.
Sales Tax Tracking, Inventory Tracking and E-Commerce Support
Simple Start is best for businesses who need more tools to understand, run, and grow their business. This includes collaboration with your accountant, a broad array of business reports – including Balance Sheets, free guided setup, and the ability to connect 3rd party apps or sales channels. The tax filing capabilities included in QuickBooks Solopreneur are designed for ‘Schedule C’ (form 1040) filers, most commonly applicable to sole proprietors or single-member LLCs. Kristy Snyder is a freelance writer and editor with 12 years of experience, currently contributing to the Forbes Advisor Small Business vertical. She uses her experience managing her own successful small business to write articles about software, small business tools, loans, credit cards and online banking. Kristy’s work also appears in Newsweek and Fortune, focusing on personal finance.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Rated TurboTax
- Unfortunately, you can’t do both; electing for the trial will result in paying full price at the end of the 30-day period, or you can skip the free trial and pay 50% off for the first three months.
- It offers all the basic and intermediate features that self-employed individuals will need.
- Despite its wide name recognition, Business Insider’s personal finance team compared TurboTax to the best tax software and found it to be a standard offering.
- We are working to bring your clients’ a new e-Invoicing app that offers seamless end-to-end e-invoicing compliance.
- Generally, QuickBooks Online is designed for small businesses with numerous employees, clients and vendors, while QuickBooks Self-Employed is tailored to freelancers and solopreneurs.
You can customize these estimates to fit your brand and business needs, as well as accept mobile signatures. And when the time comes, it’s easy to convert any estimate into an invoice. QuickBooks Self-Employed lets you import transactions from your credit card, bank, PayPal and more and automatically Accounting For Architects sort them into tax categories.
It offers easier setup, an improved transaction management experience, along with added flexibility and productivity tools. QuickBooks Online surpasses QuickBooks Self-Employed in physical sales. It can help you track sales tax on every invoice, which is especially helpful if you sell in different locations. While you can only connect one online store in the base plan, the Plus plan lets you have unlimited storefronts. The revenue from each store is separate so you know where you’re profitable and where you’re not.