When it comes to QuickBooks, there are plenty of options – desktop, online, varying degrees of bells and whistles… How do you know which is right for you?  That really depends on how your business runs and what features are important, but I can tell you one thing – it’s never going to QB Self-Employed version.

You may be thinking, “Wait, aren’t you a QB ProAdvisor and therefore love everything QuickBooks?”  Yes and no.  My first interest is our clients, and that’s exactly why I’m going to give you the real truth here.

Simply stated, QB Self-Employed is bush league.  There is pretty much zero actual accounting in this version.  For example, there are no financial reports other than a basic Profit & Loss statement, or you can’t even look up vendor histories.  Secondly, by having its main purpose as marking transactions business or personal, it kind of promotes the intermingling of business and personal funds, which is something I always advise against.

My other biggest problem is the tax estimator.  It makes it seem sooo easy by generating a magic number of taxes due.  But everyone’s situation is different, it’s not as simple as a percentage of net income.  Always best to consult a professional so you don’t screw yourself!

I refer to QB Self-Employed as the hobbyist’s version.  But chances are, you’re not a hobbyist, you’re a real business, right?!?  Exactly.  So that’s why you shouldn’t play in the kiddie pool with QB Self-Employed.  Make the better investment in one of the other online products or desktop, you’ll be glad you did!