I am self employed with 1099 income. Do I need the home business version or can I use premier?

jfierce

Self employed ...what version is recommended

volvogirl

I just use Premier but you probably should use Home & Business.  Mine is pretty simple and I enter everything manually and manually enter into Turbo Tax for my tax return.

You should set up business categories. Make sure to assign them to a schedule C line item number so they show up as business categories. I don't know what categories you would need but my husband is a Land Surveyor.  Here's how I set mine up (I also put the Schedule C line number in as part of the name)...
Survey Income
Survey Expenses
 ……..11 Labor
 ……..18 Office Expense
 ……..20 Equip Rent
 ……..22 Supplies
 ……..24a Travel
 ……..27 Other - Printing
 ……..27 Other - Small Tools

I made the expenses sub-categories of the main Survey Expense category.

Also I use Tags  for each job.  Then when I run a report I can sort it by job.  So an expense entry might look like this…
Survey Expenses:22 Supplies/Maple Street

To be included in business reports (and I don't know where else) you have to assign the category to a schedule C tax line item number.  To check the tax line assignment open the Category list by either clicking on the Category Icon or go to Tools-Category List or Ctrl+Shift+C.  Then select the category and right click on it to Edit it.  Click on the Tax Reporting Tab and check the box for Tax related and pick a Schedule C: tax line item.

Business features in Home & Business 

https://www.quicken.com/support/business-features-quicken-home-business

Frankx

Hi @jfierce,

In order to determine which version you need, you should consider the following questions:

•  What type of business do you have?  Are you a service provider, a retailer/wholesaler, manufacturer or something else?
• Do you need to create bills/invoices to be paid, or do you simply submit a time sheet or other document to support your work?
• Do you need to track inventory and or material/supplies?
• Do you have employees or subcontractors that you pay?
• Do you need to collect and submit sales taxes?
• Will you be required to prepare financial statements, or other reporting to outside parties, such as state or local agencies?

I would say that the more yes answers to the above (especially the ones in italics), the more reasons to use the Home & Business / Rental Property version.

Let me know if you have any followups.

Frankx

NotACPA

Tell us about your accounting/bookkeeping needs.

• Do you have employees?
• Do you carry inventory for resale?
• What type of work do you actually do?
• Do you accept credit cards for payment?
• Do you create an invoice for each business encounter?

jfierce

Thanks a lot for all of the input. Im an independent contractor (sales rep but not a W2 employee). with no employees and no inventory. I maintain an office and have expenses related to that...advertising, office supplies, licensing fees...etc. I don't have inventory and I don't send invoices. I do file a schedule C.

Frankx

HI again @jfierce,

Thanks for the additional information.  In case you haven't already reviewed it, here's some additional information ( please go to this LINK) which has the various tiers and features of each.

 Based on your additional input, I would suggest that you use use either the Premier or Home & Business tier.  You'll see that there are a number of features of H&B that you don't need and won't use, but there are a couple features (like tracking your P&L and the Schedule C reporting - which is the IRS tax form you'll be using) that you might want.

Let me know if you have any additional questions, and good luck going forward!

Frankx 

NotACPA

My 1st (now deceased) wife and I each had consulting businesses.  Hers was focused on company strategy and planning,  and mine was systems.

We, like you, had no employees & no inventory and our expenses were comparable to yours.

As the family bookkeeper, I used H&B to track the income  of both of our businesses in a single data file, along with our personal finances.

I didn't use ALL of the features of H&B, but I used enough of them (including the Mileage Tracker) to make the extra  expense (vs. Premier) worthwhile to me.

Chris_QPW

Personally I think anything over Deluxe is "extra" for this kind of business.
I do software consulting and get a 1099 from one client (but the number of clients/1099s isn't important).

I do send a monthly invoice, but for that I just use an Excel spreadsheet.
This is assuming you aren't working on accrued basis.

Entering business expenses and such is nothing more than using categories that are associated with schedule C tax lines.

I'm currently using Premier, but have used Deluxe in the past.  There are a few more tax reports in Premier, but everything you need is in Deluxe in the tax schedule report.