We’re all about a good side hustle around here. Whether that’s a freelance gig, selling textbooks, or even taking some surveys, there’s nothing wrong with making a few extra bucks no matter how much money you earn.
However, the one problem is there is a lot of bookkeeping that goes on with these activities. And while Uncle Sam won’t notice if you sell $35 worth of stuff online, he will probably see if you’re now raking in an additional $35,000.
Thanks to Hurdlr, however, income and expense tracking is a breeze. Additionally, you can use Hurdlr to maximize your deductions and get reimbursements and track your mileage.
Find out what you need to know in this Hurdlr Review!
What Is Hurdlr?
Hurdlr’s catchphrase is “simple finances for the 1099 economy.” With more than 55 million gig workers in the US alone, they couldn’t have shown up at a better time.
Hurdlr is a mobile and web app specifically designed for the freelancer and side hustlers of the world who need a little assistance tracking income and expenses and forecasting their taxes.
But the best part about Hurdlr is that it’s automated. After you link all of your accounts, it estimates all of these things for you, saving you countless hours and frustration manually tracking these things.
From here, it creates excellent monthly, quarterly and annual reports so you can have a clear understanding of exactly where your personal finances stand.
Hurdlr Features
- Income, expense, mileage tracking
- Reports
- Tax forecasting
- Time and task tracker
How Does Hurdlr Work?
Hurdlr offers a free version of their app that we recommend you check out after reading this review.
It’s mainly built around the features listed below.
Income Tracking
If you’ve had or seen apps like Mint or Digit, then you’ll easily understand how Hurdlr income tracking works. Basically, you just connect your accounts (especially PayPal, Uber, Upwork, etc.).
Then just let it go to work, and you’ll see exactly how much is coming. Upgrading to Premium, unlock automatically categorizing based on custom rules too.
Expense Tracking
If you’re self-employed, almost everything you spend is deductible (within reason). Did you take a potential client out for coffee? That’s deductible. Did you buy a new computer for work? That’s deductible. Did you buy yourself a cake? That’s maybe deductible, but you’re cutting it close.
Whether you use Hurdlr or not, the best thing you can do is have a separate credit card or bank account for all work-related expenses to simplify your life. This will make it easier to track. Otherwise, you’ll have to manually flag which is personal and which is work-related.
You can just link all your bank accounts and credit cards, which will take a look more work to organize but give you a clearer picture of your financial health.
Tax Estimator
We’ve all heard of Al Capone, one of the most famous criminals of all time. But despite all the terrible things he did, including murder, bootlegging, kidnapping and more, do you know what he finally was arrested for? Tax evasion.
You have to report your income. At a minimum, you’ll have to deal with the inconvenience of re-filing if the Feds find out you’ve lied to them. At worse, you’ll have an audit or even face fines and jail time.
Hurdlr makes sure that doesn’t happen to you. The tax estimator projects your taxes, so you know exactly what your liability is. Just be aware that many users have recommended that you use the Quarterly section rather than Annual to get a more complete picture of what you owe and prevent the risk of underpaying.
Mileage Tracker
Mileage Tracker is perfect for those who drive for Uber or Lyft or if you drive a lot for work. While Uber and Lyft are straightforward, what you might not realize is that the miles you drive for your work, including meeting potential clients or deductible from your taxes.
It’s also a really cool tool to get a better sense of how much you’re driving and for how long and how that’s impacting your finances.
Time/Task Tracker
Hurdlr also has a solid time tracker you can use to track the time you’ve spent on projects and activities. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s an easy way to track and invoice time for your clients.
How Much Does Hurdlr Cost?
The basic version of Hurdlr is free and includes access to all of those features. Upgrading to one of their paid plans, starting from $5 and $10/month, gives you a few handy extra features that mainly automate the existing tools.
It will automatically categorize all your expenses and income and give you real-time calculations for Self-Employment Taxes.
The last feature alone is worth the $5/month because you can use it to get a better sense of what you owe and how you reduce that burden down to its absolute minimum.
It’s up to you, though. If your finances are a little messier and it’s a little harder to peel apart your business and professional income and expenses, then it might be worth it to stick to the free account and spend 15 minutes each week staying on top of things.
Who Should Use Hurdlr?
If you can’t answer these questions in under a couple of minutes, either from the top of your head or with your personal finance app of choice, then Hurdlr might be for you:
- How much income do I receive each month?
- What are my business expenses?
- What can be reimbursed?
- What will be my approximate tax burden for this quarter or year?
- How much time does do “X” take me?
If you’ve just decided to sell your old phone once on Swappa, then you won’t need Hurdlr. But if you have an emerging side hustle or even a potential new career emerging, you need to better handle your finances.
That’s why even if you have something like Mint, we still recommend using Hurdlr to get a more direct and clearer picture of business-related income and expenses.
Is Hurdlr Worth It?
Start with the free version. Give it a shot and see how much you can learn and whether or not your life would be easier with an automated version of all these reports.
Overall, while Hurdlr may come in handy to save your neck during tax season, to prevent the stress of that from happening in the first place, you should be using it well before the deadline.
Pros
- Mostly free/very affordable
- Automated mileage tracking
- Saves time.
- Makes it easy to track tax burden.
- Syncs across accounts.
- Great educational materials on personal finance
- Monthly reports
- Time tracking
Cons
- Premium isn’t a huge upgrade.
- No live chat support.
Hurdlr Vs. A Real Accountant
Hurdlr won’t be a qualified accountant taking a look at your finances. But for many gig workers, that’s just simply unaffordable or not necessary. Accountants typically charge $150-400, while even a lesser trained bookkeeper might run $30-50. Until you rake in the big bucks, you may want to try your hand with tools like Hurdlr.
Hurdlr Vs. QuickBooks Self-employed
Tools like QuickBooks have always been popular for entrepreneurs. QuickBooks Self-employed starts at just $15/month, so it still is relatively affordable.
However, it’s not exactly easy to use. Plus, you don’t get charged more as you increase the number of transactions, unlike QuickBooks.
For those just starting out, stick to Hurdlr for now, and when the time is right, you might decide to get a more fully-featured app, or you might have put away enough cash to just hire a real professional.
Hurdlr Review: The Verdict
Hurdlr is the flashiest app out there, but it’s great for those in the gig economy to better track their income, expenses, taxes and potential deductions/reimbursements. If you want an easy-to-use and affordable tool that does all this and more, then try out Hurdlr today.
