Intuit Targets Uber Drivers, Contractors With New Service

Jack Clark for Bloomberg writes: Intuit Inc. (INTU) is looking to benefit from the swelling ranks of people working part-time for companies and startups like Uber Technologies Inc. by targeting them with software to help with their taxes and finances.

The company announced new products and upgrades today, including QuickBooks software for the self-employed, to lure people who may work for multiple companies like drivers for Uber that also rent out their rooms or apartments with Airbnb Inc.

“I take UberX all the time and my new favorite thing is to ask the drivers how they’re managing their finances,” Dan Wernikoff, general manager of Intuit’s small business group, said in an interview, referring to one of the mobile car-booking company’s services. “They have no sense of what the tax obligation on that is. Nor do they have a sense of how consistent that payment is going to be.”

People who work as contractors for small, growing companies in new markets, like Uber, Lyft Inc., another car-sharing service, and housework service TaskRabbit Inc., or rent out their home on Airbnb, have a “fragmented income from lots of different sources,” and need help managing it, Wernikoff said.

There were 2.89 million temporary or contract workers in the U.S. in July, up from 2.66 million in 2013 and 2.52 million in 2012, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number may be much higher as people who do part-time work alongside their main jobs aren’t included in the data, Wernikoff said.[snip].  The article continues @ Bloomberg, click here to continue reading...