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Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

painless1099.com

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Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#61

Post by acallwood »

tdicola wrote: post #45
tommynicholas wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Each account is a separate, FDIC insured account held with Lincoln Savings Bank. Your account is your account, there is no money pooling done. Painless 1099 is a front end to that account to let you do various things automatically and easily. Does that make sense? I suppose technically just like your accountant could steal your money because they have access to your accounts there's some risk but not really.

Perfect, thanks for clarifying! Yeah it wasn't really obvious if this is an account Painless 1099 owns or the user owns. Thanks!

Hi gents - a little late to the party here, but yeah, tommynicholas is absolutely right here. We help you open an account with our bank (Lincoln Savings Bank) and your money goes into an account in your name at LSB. If anything were to happen (heaven forbid) this cash is secure and guaranteed.

If anything, you could make a solid case about a bank going out of business before anything. But all jokes aside, before building anything, security of funds is something we made sure our users feel really good about and we found a great partner to make sure your accounts and deposits are insured!

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#62

Post by acallwood »

character wrote: post #36
ents wrote: post #32

"Confirm Password must contain an uppercase and a lowercase letter, a number, and must be at least 8 characters long" C'mon.

strict password requirements are usually a requirement for regulated businesses (such as those creating back accounts). Having a secure password for an account that manages your money is a good thing!

+1 =)

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#63

Post by trentbigelow »

I think Painless1099 IS on to something: taxes for freelancers are a pain, and no one wants to learn how to do it.

However, I think asking some people to change their bank accounts is going to be resisted. Also, waiting an additional 2-3 days to access your money when you're living paycheck to paycheck (as most independent contractors are) is not an option.

My cofounders and I are working on solving this same problem, however we took a different approach. (https://www.track.tax)

Track.tax creates a savings account in the user's name (same as Painless1099), but we also connect to the user's existing financial accounts to calculate taxes. Our chatbot (named Aida) communicates via SMS to ask simple questions to hash out the gory details. This means:

1. You can get paid via check, cash, or any other way you (or your clients) would like.

2. Money comes into your account first, then taxes are calculated and moved to your tax savings account.

3. Saving for taxes is as simple as responding "yes" to a text.

We'd love your feedback, and any comparison (strengths/weaknesses) you see between us an Painless1099.

Although we know solving this problem is really worth it, we'd greatly appreciate honest additional feedback from you guys, so feel free to text "HN" to TRACK (87225) and we'll give you a full year on the service!

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#64

Post by clabasky »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #16
meesterdude wrote: post #13

First off, let me echo what an amazing pain in the ass it is to be a 1099er, and how big a deal this can be for people. Kudos there. I'd ask for a little more transparency on how you guys make money and all - a $5 monthly fee for example, wouldn't be insulting. If you start talking about percentages, GTFO. And also data privacy and being clear that you do not profit off my data would also be important. Really just a…

> But I always got paid via check, which went into my bank account. I think the thing that would make the most sense is to be able to setup a separate account with your own bank, so you can still direct deposit without worrying about ATM fees or what have you, and still be able to keep painless1099 in the loop of money by giving them access. Anything else introduces friction / fees that would deter usage; and i reall…

Check out https://www.track.tax

It works exactly as you described- money goes into your account first, then taxes are calculated and moved to your tax savings account. You can get paid via check, zero friction.

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#68

Post by strictpassword »

character wrote: post #36
ents wrote: post #32

"Confirm Password must contain an uppercase and a lowercase letter, a number, and must be at least 8 characters long" C'mon.

strict password requirements are usually a requirement for regulated businesses (such as those creating back accounts). Having a secure password for an account that manages your money is a good thing!

But it rejects some of the best passwords practice, Diceware http://world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.html

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#69

Post by rwhitman »

A tool that does automatic withholding of business deposits in a savings account for taxes is something I've been dreaming of for a while, to the point where I even sat down for a bit to see if I could cook up my own tool to do it. Alas banks do not exactly go out of their way to expose a money transfer API...

This sounds exactly like what I wanted.. but I don't know if I want to be the early adopter guinea pig for something that involves setting up new bank accounts and automatically routing my finances around. I was kind of hoping my bank would eventually build conditional features into the automatic transfer / bill pay, as I'd much rather keep all my cash within my banking institution rather than sending it to an unproven 3rd party. Either way, I will be watching this closely..

Re: Show HN: Painless1099 – automated self-employment taxes

#70

Post by xivzgrev »

toddmorey wrote: post #52
meesterdude wrote: post #13

First off, let me echo what an amazing pain in the ass it is to be a 1099er, and how big a deal this can be for people. Kudos there. I'd ask for a little more transparency on how you guys make money and all - a $5 monthly fee for example, wouldn't be insulting. If you start talking about percentages, GTFO. And also data privacy and being clear that you do not profit off my data would also be important. Really just a…

From the FAQ: "For now, we make small returns of interest on the money held in accounts. If we offer a Painless1099 Debit Card, which will allow us to track expenses, then everytime you swipe the card, we will get a small cut that is generally charged to a vendor." I think the hard sell will be getting contractors to accept that payment will be delayed three more days by use of this service. A lot of clients pay late…

It's basically like Digit, but instead of helping you save, it's helping you withhold
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