In 2021, a new tax filing app is taking center stage for freelancers and self-employed people. Keeper Tax is a bookkeeping and tax filing app specifically designed for freelancers. This app makes it easy to find legitimate tax write-offs throughout the year, and create valuable expense reports come tax time.
With modest tax filing costs and seriously simple filing, Keeper Tax may be well worth the monthly cost and the annual filing fee.
See how Keeper Tax compares with our list of the best tax software here.
Quick Summary
- App-based bookkeeping and tax software
- Easy to use and navigate on mobile
- Not suitable for complex tax situations
Keeper Tax Details | |
|---|---|
Product Name | Keeper Tax |
Federal Price | $89 |
State Price | $0 |
Preparation Type | Self-Prepared |
Promotions | 7-Day Free Trial |
How Does Keeper Tax Work?
Keeper Tax is a bookkeeping app with a tax filing add on. The bookkeeping app allows users to track and categorize expenses as they accrue. It uses a text message interface plus a phone-based app to help users identify tax write-offs and create easy to use reports for tax filing.
After a free 7-day trial the app costs $16 per month. The $16 monthly fee includes the ability to interact with a dedicated bookkeeper using in-app messaging or text messaging. The bookkeeper does a daily review of all expenses that run through the app.
As a bookkeeping app, Keeper Tax is expensive, but it’s also impressive. Within a few days, my bookkeeper had an understanding of my regular business expenses.
Is It Free?
Keeper Tax offers a 7-day free trial for its bookkeeping software. It also allows users to start tax filing for free. However, the app isn’t free. It costs $89, or $39 to export your annual expense report. The $39 report can be used with other filing software.
Keeper Tax Pricing And Plans
Because Keeper Tax is specifically designed for freelancers and people with 1099 income, the app does not advertise a free pricing tier. Instead, it has a flat filing fee of $89 for Federal and State filing combined. If you only want to use the app to generate a report, you’ll pay $39 for the report.
Header | Report Only | Federal + State Filing |
|---|---|---|
Best For | Anyone who wants to export expenses from Keeper, but wishes to use another service. | Anyone who qualifies to file taxes through Keeper Tax |
Pricing | $39 | $89 |
Navigation
Keeper Tax is an entirely app based filing system. Given the small screen, I thought that navigation would be a huge pain. Thankfully, Keeper Tax kept the user experience top of mind when designing the filing app.
If you’re already “on-boarded” as a user of the bookkeeping software, the Keeper Tax Navigation is extraordinarily simple. It walks users through the filing process in a step-by-step process. Users can upload files if needed, but most of the filing is done directly through the phone app.
While users can “navigate” the app on their own, the best experience involves allowing the app to guide you through the whole process. The entire Federal filing process only took about 20 minutes during testing.
Ease of Use
Keeper Tax is impressively user-focused. The company either makes the app easy to use, or it doesn’t support the situation. For example, it doesn’t support high volume trading because it’s not ideally suited for that right now. Schedule E (real estate), and forms K-1 aren’t supported by the app. Additionally, Farm income and Gambling Income aren’t supported.
On the other hand, it supports Schedule C (Business and Freelance) income with the greatest of ease. If you qualify to file your taxes through Keeper Tax, you’ll have an easy time. If you don’t, you can always export your expenses and use them to file your taxes.
Knowledge Articles
Keeper Tax hosts most of its knowledge articles hosted free on its website KeeperTax.com. It also has a free “Ask an Accountant” section hosted on the site. Individuals who sign up for Keeper Tax’s bookkeeping service can interact with an assigned bookkeeper to ask about specific write-offs. This can be done via email or text message.
Extras
The biggest differentiator between Keeper Tax and all the other tax keeping services is the relentless focus on bookkeeping. The fact that you can interact with a bookkeeper and get your Schedule C sorted out is an ideal extra for Keeper Tax users.
Keeper Tax does not offer formal audit protection like certain other platforms. However, users will be able to speak with their bookkeepers if they undergo an audit. Bookkeepers are not the same as accountants, so you may end up needing to hire a CPA if your business undergoes an audit.
Can Keeper Tax Help With My Crypto Investments?
Keeper Tax is not ideally suited for CryptoCurrency traders. However, if you had a very small number of crypto transactions, Keeper Tax could still work.
Can Keeper Tax Help Get My Missing Stimulus Check?
If you didn’t receive your first stimulus check, you can request the Stimulus Rebate Credit through the app.
How Does Keeper Tax Compare?
Keeper Tax isn’t a full-service tax filing platform. It starts with bookkeeping and ends with tax filing. People who use the app for bookkeeping should consider using the service for filing as well. Keeper Tax’s current users are the ideal customers for filing through the app.
Since the Keeper Tax doesn’t support Rental Income, K-1 Income, Farm Income, or Gambling income none of these price comparisons are “fair”. All of the other companies listed support all major schedules and forms. However, if you’re a self-employed person, these are the top competitors to Keeper Tax.
Header | |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
Rating | |||
Federal Price | $89 | $47 | $84.99 |
State Price | $0 | $39 | $36.99 |
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Final Thoughts On Keeper Tax In 2021
Keeper Tax is impressive bookkeeping plus tax filing combo. Many new freelancers will save time and come away saving money when they use Keeper Tax. While it’s not ideally suited for people who have very complex tax situations, people who have to file a Schedule C will love the app’s ease of use and fair pricing.
While Keeper Tax relieves the burden of tax filing for self-employed people, it does so by helping the self-employed people with their bookkeeping. This is a huge value proposition.
So far in the 2021 Tax Filing Season, no other online software has advertised the “all in one solution” that Keeper is offering.
Keeper Tax Review
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Navigation
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Ease of Use
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Features and Options
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Customer Serivce
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Plans and Pricing
Overall
Summary
Keeper Tax is a low-cost bookkeeping and tax filing app specifically designed for freelancers, gig economy workers, and self-employed people.
Pros
- Integrated bookkeeping and tax software
- App-based
Cons
- Not suitable for complex tax filing situations
- It is more expensive than other tax software (but it is more than just tax software)
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page, or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.