Tax season is freelancer anxiety season. You know that sinking feeling: opening a spreadsheet in March, trying to reconstruct what you spent over the past year, praying you kept enough receipts. Then paying an accountant $400 to tell you that you owe more than expected.
QuickBooks Self-Employed exists but costs $15/month and does way too much. Most freelancers don't need double-entry bookkeeping — they need to know three things: how much they made, how much they can deduct, and what they owe.
A dead-simple tax calculator that connects to your bank account and automatically categorizes expenses into deductible vs. non-deductible would save freelancers both money and panic attacks. No invoicing. No payroll. Just taxes. The one thing every freelancer dreads and nobody makes easy.
💰 Revenue Blueprint
Three-tier value ladder to monetize from day one
Enter your income and expenses manually. Get an instant tax estimate for your state. See how much to set aside.
Connect your bank. Auto-categorize expenses. Quarterly tax estimates with reminders. Export for your accountant.
Multiple income sources, receipt scanning, mileage tracking, year-over-year comparison, accountant collaboration mode.
Why Now?
The gig economy and remote work created millions of new freelancers since 2020, many filing taxes independently for the first time. IRS enforcement budget increased significantly, meaning more audits. Plaid makes bank connections easy. AI can auto-categorize expenses with 95%+ accuracy. The pain is universal and recurring (literally — every quarter).
📊 Market Evidence
The Market Gap
QuickBooks Self-Employed is bloated and confusing for simple freelancers. Wave is free but lacks tax-specific features. Keeper Tax is close but clunky. Nobody owns 'dead simple freelancer taxes' at $12-25/month with modern UX and smart auto-categorization. The opportunity is in doing LESS, not more.
🏆 Competitor Landscape
How existing players stack up in this market
| Competitor | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Self-Employed | $15/mo | Feature bloat |
| FreshBooks | $17/mo | Invoice-focused |
| Keeper Tax | $16/mo | Tax-focused |
Feature bloat
Invoice-focused
Tax-focused
Launch Strategy
Launch the free tax estimator as an SEO play ('freelancer tax calculator'). Convert free users during tax season (January-April peak). Target freelancer communities: r/freelance, Upwork forums, designer Slack groups. Partner with accountants who serve freelancers. Seasonal marketing push Q4 → Q1.
🛠️ Recommended Tech Stack
Suggested tools and technologies to build this idea
Why this stack: Plaid connects to bank accounts for automatic expense imports. Custom tax rules calculate quarterly estimates. Recharts visualizes spending categories and tax projections.
Strengths
- ✓Evergreen need
- ✓Can focus on simplicity vs bloated competitors
Risks
- ⚠QuickBooks free tier
- ⚠Trust issues with bank connections
Score Breakdown
Good market signals with room for growth
Market (20%) + Revenue (20%) + Trend (15%) + Competition (15%) + Build (15%) + Pricing (15%)
FreshBooks, QuickBooks Self-Employed, Keeper Tax
Dominated by bigger players; indie proof limited
Freelance economy stable/growing
Crowded; QBO has free tier
1-2 weeks; Plaid for bank connection
$10-30/mo typical
🚀 Start Building
Copy a prompt into your favorite AI coding tool and start building this idea right now.
Build a SaaS product called "Freelancer Expense & Tax Calculator". ## Product Overview Auto-track expenses and calculate quarterly taxes for freelancers. Connect bank, get tax estimates. ## Problem Freelancers hate tracking expenses and estimating quarterly taxes ## Solution Dead simple app - connect bank, auto-categorize, show tax owed ## Target Audience US freelancers, contractors, gig workers ## Tech Stack - Next.js 15 (App Router) with TypeScript - Tailwind CSS v4 for styling - Supabase for auth, database, and storage - Vercel for deployment - shadcn/ui for UI components - Framer Motion for animations ## MVP Features to Build 1. Landing page with clear value proposition 2. User authentication (sign up, sign in, forgot password) 3. Core product functionality based on the solution above 4. Dashboard for users to manage their data 5. Pricing page with at least 2 tiers (free + paid) 6. Basic settings/profile page ## Known Competitors QuickBooks Self-Employed, FreshBooks, Keeper Tax ## Key Risks to Address QuickBooks free tier Trust issues with bank connections ## Deployment 1. Set up Supabase project and configure environment variables 2. Deploy to Vercel with `npx vercel --prod` 3. Set up custom domain 4. Configure Supabase RLS policies for security ## Instructions Start by creating the project structure, then build the landing page first. Use server components where possible. Make it mobile-responsive from the start. Focus on getting the core value loop working before adding polish.