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michaelamherst
September 21, 2023
Question

Accruals basis in Self-Employed or splitting Expenses in Simple Start

  • September 21, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

I've been using Quickbooks Self-Employed for many years for my freelance writing. However, I need to move to an accruals basis. I understand SE is cash basis only - is there anyway around this? Really I have to use accruals basis - if necessary I suppose I could mark all invoices as paid on submission, effectively making it accrual basis, but then I'd lose track if my number of invoices goes up.

 

I know I could use Simple Start for accrual basis (and if my author income goes up I may end up needing to be VAT registered too). However, I have some expenses that are split between personal and business. Am I right in thinking Simple Start does not allow for separating of personal and business expenses? So I assume there is no means of marking or amending certain expenses as split between the two?

1 reply

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Mich_S
September 21, 2023

Hi there, michael. I want to share some details about moving to an Accrual Basis accounting method in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

 

You're correct that QBSE is cash basis only and that you can alternatively use the QuickBooks Online Simple Start to switch to your desired accounting method. Ideally, the functionality to separate personal expenses from the business ones is currently unavailable in Simple Start. Nonetheless, you may reach out to your accountant to properly allocate your transactions and to keep your books in order. 

 

If you consider using Simple Start in the future, see this guide to manage your company: Get Started with QuickBooks Online.

 

Keep in touch if you have other concerns regarding this matter. We'll make sure to respond to you as soon as we can. Have a good one!

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michaelamherstAuthor
September 21, 2023

Thanks for your reply. I don’t have an accountant which is why I’m using Quickbooks so I can do my own accounts. 

I understand I can exclude transactions in Simple Start, effectively removing the personal? However, can I split or adjust certain items so only the business element and amount is added as an expense?

 

If I can’t do one of these with either simple Start of Self-Employed I’ll have to look at Xero or some other alternative solution. 

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Ethel_A12
September 21, 2023

Hello there, @michaelamherst.

 

I'll help you splitting transactions in QuickBooks Online Simple Start plan.

 

QuickBooks Online can help you track your business expenses. If you want to track your personal expenses, you can create a different account in Chart of accounts.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Go to Settings ⚙.
  2. Choose Chart of accounts.
  3. Click New.
    Depending on your account view, you’ll either see a panel labeled the New account or the New category. Select the option you see below for next steps.

 

Once done, when splitting a transaction, you can choose an account for the personal and business for some part of your transaction.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Go to the Transactions menu and select Banking.
  2. In the For Review tab, locate the expense and click it.
  3. Select the Split transaction hyperlink and enter the details.
  4. Verify the details and select Apply and confirm.

 

For future reference, you can read this article to learn the reconciliation workflow: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks.


Let me know if you have questions about splitting a transaction in QuickBooks Online. I'm always here to help. Have a great day.

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