QuickBooks announces new income tax estimator feature in suite of updates to reduce the burden of admin for SMBs
Intuit QuickBooks, the UK’s leading financial management software, today launches Income Tax Estimates as part of a host of innovative updates in its Autumn Product Release.
Other product developments include an expanded employee portal, a new tagging feature, a limited-time PayPal integration offer, and a month-end review feature for accountants.
The updates provide even more ways for users to easily manage their businesses. With all the tools in one place, QuickBooks will reduce the burden of admin for small businesses, who have been hit hard by COVID-19.
Income tax estimator for Self-Assessment returns
Filing a Self-Assessment income tax return can be a daunting task for the self-employed, so much so that almost one million taxpayers missed the 31 January deadline for Self-Assessment this year, triggering an automatic fine of £100.
This year, Self-Assessment promises to be even more complex, with COVID-19 support grants such as the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme required to be declared on tax returns.
To mitigate against any nasty surprises when the Self-Assessment deadline arrives, small businesses can now track their income tax and National Insurance contributions in real-time. Using information already uploaded to QuickBooks Online, the tool – currently in beta stage – provides an estimate so that what is owed is always available to see, right alongside VAT and payroll figures.
With unique insights and everything needed to complete a Self-Assessment return in one place – from invoices and purchase receipts to bank statements – QuickBooks takes the complexity out of tax, giving small businesses more time to focus on running and growing their business.
Customers also experience the added benefit of being ahead of the game for the Government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative, which is slated to come into play for income tax in April 2023.
Understand cashflow better with new tagging feature
A new tagging feature (which allows small business owners to see incoming and outgoing transactions in real-time) lets users easily label and create categories for their transactions that make sense for them. This creates tailor-made insights into where money is incoming and outflowing, allowing business owners to understand their business better. This feature is available in labs now.
Employee self-service with the QuickBooks Workforce portal
Employees can now access their payslips securely through the QuickBooks Workforce portal, which will be available to all QuickBooks Standard Payroll customers soon at no extra cost. The self-service portal enables employees to view payslips, saving employers precious time that might have been spent on employee admin.
There is also an employee portal in QuickBooks Advanced Payroll, which also includes rotas, timesheets, leave requests and expense management.
Both QuickBooks payroll products allow small business owners to easily keep on top of payroll for employees and furloughed workers, pay statutory sick pay without delays and shift furloughed workers returning back to work onto normal payroll quickly and easily.
Limited time PayPal offer
Small business owners can now also save up to £100 on fees from Paypal when they activate the PayPal app before 10 November. Customers who do so between 9 October to the 10 November will be reimbursed by PayPal in fees up to the value of £100, effectively making the offer free for a limited time. PayPal is just one of QuickBooks’ bench of partners helping to speed up the payment process for small businesses.
The partnership also gives QuickBooks customers special rates for accepting credit and debit cards via PayPal.
Month End Review for accountants
The Month End Review tool has now launched within QuickBooks Online Accountant for all customers. The tool gives the option for accountants to build step-by-step workflows, client checklists and automatic checks, allowing agents to build personal reports for each client quickly and easily all in one place.
Missing data is also automatically flagged, allowing the user to easily identify and resolve client issues or anomalies.
Other QuickBooks updates include:
Automatic Tax Code Updates in payroll: HMRC’s tax codes are now automatically updated in Standard Payroll as well as Advanced Payroll. Customers can save time and be more confident in paying their teams correctly, even when their tax codes change.
Nest pension integration: Nest pension automation is now rolling out across the Standard Payroll product. QuickBooks can calculate pension contributions and automatically send them to Nest, saving customers time and ensuring figures are correct. Nest is one of five providers that already integrates with QuickBooks Advanced Payroll.
Easy access to TSheets: Now it’s even easier to stay on top of employees’ hours. TSheets can be accessed directly through QuickBooks, through the ‘Time’ tab.
Spencer Jensen, Head of Product at Intuit QuickBooks UK, said:
“Small business owners have never faced such challenging circumstances. With so many other areas requiring focus, the burden of admin can be an unnecessary drain on time and resources. That’s why we are constantly updating and evolving our offering to remove as much of this burden as possible, making financial management efficient and effortless.”
"With the Self-Assessment tax return deadline coming up in January, making the necessary preparations now will help small businesses to get on the front foot. Our unique tool allows business owners to see real-time income tax estimates, meaning there are no nasty surprises and they can build this into their cashflow.”
Throughout lockdown, QuickBooks has been working with small business owners to give advice and tips to overcome some of the challenges COVID-19 has thrown up. Through its Ask the Expert series in the UK alone, QuickBooks has hosted 132 shows with more than 60 experts providing valuable advice and support, with over 1.1 million views by more than 60,000 small businesses.
