Wednesday 7th October, 2015

Intuit QuickBooks, has launched ‘QuickBooks Self-Employed’ in the UK, a new offering that makes it easy for the rapidly expanding population of freelancers and independent contractors to manage their finances and prepare for self-assessment.

There are nearly five million self-employed individuals in the UK, a trend that is being driven by the Sharing Economy. QuickBooks Self-Employed is specially designed for individuals that want to tap into this trend and for those in more traditional self-employed roles. The product makes it simple to manage business finances, estimate taxes owed to HMRC and easily complete self-assessment.

Rich Preece, Europe VP and Managing Director, Intuit said: "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."

"As one of the pioneers of the Sharing Economy, we have tens of thousands of “Taskers” using our platform to earn money – either as their primary or secondary source of income," said Stacy Brown-Philpot, COO, TaskRabbit. "In either case, managing their earnings is vital and understanding the tax implications is often a challenge. QuickBooks Self-Employed couldn't be simpler to use; it's perfect for helping the growing Sharing Economy community take total control of their finances."