Using Keeper Tax as a Freelancer - Honest Review
Doing taxes as a freelancer is not fun. Personally, I cross my fingers every year and hope that I’m not doing everything completely wrong (although, TurboTax’s tips have helped a lot). When I saw an ad for Keeper Tax pop up on my social media, I thought, “finally, I’ll have some help!”
I’ve been freelance writing for some time, but my work as a ghostwriter and editor began to take off in 2019. With more money coming in, I knew I needed to be more diligent about recordkeeping and filing. I also see a lot of freelancers with similar issues.
So, I tried Keeper Tax to file my 2019 taxes and keep track of my 2020 expenses. I enjoyed the service for the most part, but some definite downsides made me want to write this Keeper Tax review (as I see there aren’t a lot of Keeper Tax reviews out there).
How Does Keeper Tax Work?
The company brands itself as a way for 1099 workers to find tax write-offs automatically. All you have to do is link your bank account and credit cards and respond to texts about your spending. You can either file your taxes through Keeper or export your data to file somewhere else at the end of the year.
When you sign up, you’re assigned a tax assistant who will communicate with you via text and email. This feature is pretty nice because you can ask your helper tax-related questions at any time, and they send you helpful information every week. I dare say this is the most valuable part of KeeperTax.
My Experience
Image: screenshot of Keeper tax app
I’ll say this upfront. Here were the positives of my Keeper Tax experience:
The easy and straightforward sign-up process
The tax assistant is like having a personal accountant
Free online resources help you understand taxes
The downsides, however, included:
KeeperTax did NOT successfully file my taxes
The annual cost
Categorizing expenses can still be time-consuming
Signing Up
Keeper offers a 30-day free trial of their services (thankfully), so I figured there was nothing to lose by signing up. I created an account by entering my phone number, email address, payment information, etc. Then, I filled out the Keeper questionnaire and categorized my work as “Artist/ Designer” and “Business Owner” since there is no Writer, Book Editor, or Performer option.
The questionnaire is simple enough. As you fill it out, it tells you how many potential deductions you qualify for, which is pretty exciting to see.
The worst part about setting up my account was attaching my bank info. Fortunately, all of my accounts connected seamlessly (not all types of bank accounts are eligible, apparently).
At the time, I had some business expenses on my personal debit card. Going through all of my purchases for the year and marking the business ones was less than thrilling. It took a pretty long time. I expected this since there is no way around it. However, the methods that Keeper has to make the process go faster didn’t work for me.
When I would select an action for a specific type of purchase and mark "do the same for similar purchases," nothing happened. So, I still had to go through every single purchase. After that, I saw my total amount of deductions at the top of the screen, and I was content that my efforts were worth it.
Getting Keeper Tax Texts and Emails
As I mentioned, getting a personal tax assistant/ bookkeeper through Keeper was great (even though most of the interactions are surely automated). Whenever you make a purchase, you’ll get a message saying that it has been recorded as a business expense. If Keeper isn’t certain, they'll ask you whether it was a business or personal item.
A couple of weeks after I started Keeper Tax, I stopped mixing business and personal expenses. I only used my business card to make business-related purchases, so Keeper Tax only texted me to make sure the purchase was accurately categorized.
I would often have to change their automated category. I was okay with that because I know such a system can’t be perfect. However, I felt like I was still doing a significant amount of work for such an expensive service.
Even so, I enjoyed the weekly informative emails about taxes and freelancing.
Image: Screenshot of Keeper Tax intro questionnaire. “What kind of work do you do?”
Filing Taxes with Keeper Tax
I decided that since my information was already in there, I might as well file taxes with Keeper Tax. It’s pretty pricey, a whopping $89, but still not much compared to hiring a human tax preparer. This part is where my experience hit the fan.
First of all, the tax filing platform is rudimentary at best. There aren’t a lot of options for complicated taxes. Fortunately, you can include W2s (which I needed to), but that’s about it.
The process itself is slow and challenging to navigate. Going back and forth to see my previous information or make a change required constant clicking and refreshing. Additionally, Keeper doesn’t track income nor payments made with invoices, so you still have to do all of that yourself.
When I submitted my taxes, the Keeper Tax website said I would get an email when the IRS processed my return. Two weeks passed, and I got no email. After a month passed, I emailed Keeper Tax customer service to make sure I had successfully completed the filing process. They responded, saying yes, I had, and I should get a return or confirmation from the IRS soon.
After another two weeks, I went on the IRS website and checked the status of my return. There was nothing there. I concluded that Keeper Tax had not and would not file my taxes.
Exporting Info
From there, I decided to export my data and file using Credit Karma Tax like I usually do. I did not realize that you have to pay $39.99 to export your data, but I felt like at this point, I had worked so hard I might as well do it.
Sadly, the weirdly formatted document that Keeper gives you is unnecessarily challenging to read for an average person. The categories did not entirely line up with what Credit Karma asked me to enter for a Schedule C, so I STILL needed to tally everything up myself.
I sent an email to Keeper Tax about my experience, and I received no response from customer support.
What I Enjoyed
Overall, it wasn’t all bad until I tried to file taxes. The great parts were:
The free trial. It felt good not to have to pay a fee to try out the service.
The helpful tips. One reason that taxes can be so confusing is that the information out there is either hard to understand or scattered everywhere. I appreciated having the ability to find tax info related to freelancing in one place.
The bookkeepers. I asked my bookkeeper a couple of questions via text and email, and I got prompt, useful responses.
Some Drawbacks
The website. The site itself is simple and appealing to the eye. However, navigation is not very user-friendly. It’s hard to get back to the homepage after going to any other page. I didn’t download the Keeper Tax app, so this was a major inconvenience for me.
The fees. I canceled after the free trial, so I didn’t pay the $24 per month for the service. But even though it’s a tax write-off, this cost feels steep for a service so clearly in its beginning stages. There are more in-depth bookkeeping services at this price or lower. Not to mention the extra cost of filing taxes and exporting your data.
Tax filing. It’s just not good enough. And customer service does not seem very helpful in this regard.
FAQ
Is Keeper Tax Safe?
Keeper Tax is BBB accredited. The company uses Plaid, a secure service, to view your bank account transactions. They do not store your bank login information. However, I lost money using Keeper Tax since I paid them to file my taxes and they did not.
How Much Does Keeper Tax Cost?
After a free one-month trial, you can expect to pay $24 per month for the bookkeeping service. To export your data when it’s tax filing time, you pay an extra $40 depending on how long you’ve been a member.
Are there Keeper Tax Reviews Reddit?
Currently, there are no Keeper Tax reviews on Reddit. There are, however, some plugs from the company in the comments sections of many threads. There are not many reviews of the service in general.
What are Keeper Tax Alternatives?
There are several bookkeeping programs for freelancers and small business owners. Many people recommend QuickBooks, as it is one of the most comprehensive and scalable services. Other programs include Honeybook, Xero, and Bench.
Final Thoughts
As a ghostwriter, editor, and performer, I have many random monthly freelance expenses that can take time to track and categorize. To me, there is a clear need for a tax service geared to freelancers. I do believe that Keeper Tax has the potential to be that service.
Honestly, I may still have a membership had I not had such bad luck with filing my taxes through them. Some of their offers are super useful, and the interface is easy to use. But there’s a lot of work to be done there before Keeper Tax can replace any of the bigger bookkeeping names out there.
If you want to try Keeper Tax, please use this link to help me continue doing honest reviews. Want to read more reviews? Here is a review of Grammarly’s services.
Jae Nichelle is a professional ghostwriter, editor, and spoken word artist. Ready to start working on your book? Contact Jae today.