Intuit QuickBooks launches service for freelancers and self-employed

Online accounting software provider Intuit QuickBooks has launched a new service in the UK targeted at helping freelancers and independent contractors.

Set to make it easier for the self-employed to manage finances and prepare for self-assessment, the QuickBooks Self-Employed service offers features such as tax summary report to simplify tax year end, the ability to import bank and credit card transactions and allows users to separate out their personal and business expenses.

Intuit intends for the service to “help millions of self employed people tap into the sharing economy”; a trend it says is responsible for the growing number self-employed in the UK (now at almost five million). Rich Preece, Europe VP and managing director,  explained:

“There’s a boom in self-employed workers in the UK and it is being driven by the sharing economy. Always-on connectivity and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets are helping people open shops on Etsy, sell a skill locally on TaskRabbit or become a driver on Uber. It’s creating a host of income opportunities.

“However this also throws up serious challenges. Established businesses tend to handle salary, pension and tax out of sight. But for the self-employed, how do you pay tax, when and how much? How do you separate your personal and professional finances that are in the same account? QuickBooks Self-Employed removes these potential roadblocks enabling the rapidly expanding new class of worker.”