Practices join forces to launch TaxGo digital service
A digital-only tax service aiming to be the ‘biggest UK firm’ by client numbers has launched for entrepreneurs and micro-businesses, by the heads of two successful accounting practices.
TaxGo has been set up by d&t’s Carl Reader and Ben Herbert, plus Tayabali Tomlin’s Aynsley Damery and Sophia Maynell. The offering, for which clients pay £20 per month, intends to build on the requirements of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital plans – where quarterly tax reporting will be imposed on self-assessment-registered individuals and small businesses.
Maynell said the new service will leverage technology to keep the pricing down to a minimum – something many accountants to sole traders fail to achieve.
“In fact, by re-engineering our processes and starting with a blank canvas, we’ve been able to offer accounting and tax compliance for less than the retail price of the software itself,” said Maynell.
No hand-holding
Herbert described the service as “different” to that offered by a traditional accountant.
“There is no handholding, no human error from the accountants’ adjustments, and no meetings to run through what happened 18 months ago. Instead, we are using technology, together with a human review, to make sure that things are done on time and correctly, each and every time,” Herbert said.
While there is a “risk” that the service could cannibalise their existing practices, it should instead create an offering aimed at a part of the market they can’t afford to currently serve with their current models.
“It’s very similar to comparing Ryanair to a business class flight – there’s room in the market for both,” Herbert added.
Swindon-based d&t won the 2013 British Accountancy Award for Independent Firm of the Year, Wales and South West England. Reader is a regular columnist for Accountancy Age on practice development, and was a judge at the 2016 British Accountancy Awards.
Cheltenham-based Tayabali Tomlin has also scooped a number of industry awards.
Source: AccountancyAge – Practices join forces to launch TaxGo digital service
