QuickBooks Self-Employed and QuickBooks Lite in Canada: What Changed

For years, QuickBooks Self-Employed was Intuit’s product for Canadian freelancers and sole proprietors: it sorted business from personal transactions, logged mileage and summarised business income for tax time. Intuit’s Canadian self-employed page now sells a different product, QuickBooks Lite, and shows Self-Employed only as a sign-in for existing users. This page covers what Lite includes and how it compares with the alternatives. For a side-by-side of every major package, see the best accounting software comparison, part of the self-employed tax hub.

What QuickBooks Lite includes

Intuit describes Lite as a plan for solopreneurs, freelancers and contractors. It is the smallest plan in the QuickBooks Online family (Lite, EasyStart, Essentials, Plus and Advanced), so moving up to a larger plan later keeps the same books. The features Intuit lists:

• Invoices payable online, with no monthly sending limit and automatic payment reminders
• Expense tracking
• Automatic mileage tracking, with trips you can categorise and reports you can share
• GST/HST and PST calculated and tracked for filing with the CRA
• Connections to up to 2 bank accounts, with transactions synced automatically
• 5 report templates for income, expenses and taxes
• A preset chart of accounts for a one-person business

QuickBooks Lite’s regular price is $20 a month. Intuit's Canadian pricing page shows each plan's regular monthly price struck through beside any introductory offer. Intuit’s pricing page is the place to confirm the current price.

Mileage and vehicle expenses

Automatic mileage tracking is useful for freelancers who drive for work. A self-employed person claims vehicle expenses on the T2125. When a vehicle is used for both business and personal driving, only the business share of its costs (such as fuel, insurance, licence, maintenance, loan interest, leasing and capital cost allowance) is deductible, worked out from a record of total and business kilometres; the expenses have to be reasonable and backed by receipts, business parking and supplementary business insurance are deductible in full, and passenger vehicles have limits on capital cost allowance, interest and leasing costs. The vehicle expenses guide has the full rules, and the self-employed tax guides cover how the deduction works.

Lite compared with Wave and FreshBooks

Wave’s free plan covers invoicing and bookkeeping at no cost (see the Wave review); FreshBooks suits people who bill by the hour (see the FreshBooks review). Lite adds automatic mileage tracking and a path into the larger QuickBooks Online plans.

If you already use QuickBooks Self-Employed

Intuit’s Canadian site still offers a sign-in for existing Self-Employed users. Anyone choosing software today, or thinking about switching, is choosing between Lite and the other products on this page; the QuickBooks vs FreshBooks comparison covers the larger QuickBooks Online plans.

Related reading

• Best accounting software in Canada
• Xero vs QuickBooks
• Starting a business in Canada
• Side hustle taxes and a checklist before you start
• How to complete Form T2125