In early August, Etsy, Inc. (Nasdaq:ETSY) announced a partnership with Intuit, Inc. (Nasdaq:INTU) to offer Etsy sellers in the U.S. and the U.K. access to Intuit’s QuickBooks Self-Employed accounting software at a discounted price.
The Etsy partnership with Intuit is designed to help simplify accounting and tax prep for creative businesses and give sellers greater insight into their sales and expenses on the peer-to-peer eCommerce website that focuses on handmade and vintage items.
Quickbooks for Etsy Sellers
Etsy’s Integration with QuickBooks Self-Employed
Etsy expects Intuit’s QuickBooks Self-Employed platform to simplify the accounting process for creative businesses and entrepreneurs selling on its platform, an area Etsy says its sellers identify as being particularly challenging and time consuming.
Etsy cites a September 2015 survey of U.S. sellers in which 45 percent identified tax prep or accounting as very challenging in their creative businesses. To improve things, Intuit and Etsy recently revealed in a press release that they are partnering to specifically offer:
- Data integration – Etsy sellers’ data will flow seamlessly into QuickBooks Self-Employed, providing instant insights into cash flow by automatically categorizing the data so sellers can see their real income, including total expenses and profit.
- Special discounts – Etsy sellers will receive a discount for QuickBooks Self-Employed. Additionally, sellers in the U.S. can take advantage of the QuickBooks Self-Employed Tax Bundle, which provides the ability to pay quarterly and year-end taxes using TurboTax Online with the click of a button.
“By enabling Etsy sellers in the U.S. and U.K. to seamlessly export their Etsy sales and expenses directly into QuickBooks Self-Employed, we’re thrilled to help sellers focus on their businesses, not their bookkeeping,”wrote Hailey Suyumov, a product manager on the Seller Services team at Etsy, in a post announcing the partnership on the company’s official news blog.
Quickbooks Set to Help Sellers Focus on their Businesses
According to a description on the QuickBooks Self-Employed product page, the accounting software imports transactions and tracks mileage, exports your Schedule C (an IRS form that accompanies Form 1040 to determine business net income or loss), and helps you maximize deductions at tax time.
Other key features of QuickBooks Self-Employed for sellers include:
- Separating business and personal finances – Freelancers can import bank and credit card accounts to easily track income and expenses with no data entry required. They can also separate business from personal transactions by simply clicking a button, or swiping a finger across the mobile app.
- Delivering easy compliance and tax prep – Expenses such as mileage, phone bills and supplies are auto-categorized into the right Internal Revenue Service Schedule C deductions. And features such as receipt capture make it easy to save all the supporting documentation needed at tax time. A seamless integration with TurboTax allows freelancers to pay quarterly and year-end taxes online with the click of a button.
- Improving cash flow with new features – QuickBooks Self-Employed subscribers now have the ability to track mileage automatically via their phone’s GPS, and can take advantage of built-in invoicing which sends a notification when invoices are paid and money is deposited.
“At Intuit, we’re on a mission to change the financial lives of self-employed people around the world,” said Alex Chriss, vice president and general manager of Self-Employed Solutions at Intuit. “Etsy empowers creative entrepreneurs to discover new and exciting ways to pursue their passions and earn income in the global marketplace. We’re proud to help Etsy sellers keep more of that hard-earned income in their pocket, with a tailor-made solution that maximizes their deductions, simplifies tax time and provides clear visibility into their cash-flow throughout the year.”
Discounted Price of Quickbooks Self-Employed for Sellers
“For the first 12 months, QuickBooks Self-Employed is available at $5 per month, and QuickBooks Self-Employed TurboTax Bundle is available at $12 per month,” said Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson Aug 11, 2016 at the inaugural Etsy Up conference in New York City.
A free 30-day trial of QuickBooks Self-Employed is also available to sellers.
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
