Who likes doing their taxes? Raise your hands. Didn’t think so.
Berlin-based Taxfix has set out to make filing taxes easy through its mobile app. Instead of filling out forms, users can answer an average of 70 questions, and most data can be uploaded by scanning a document. The startup has now raised €27 million in a Series B round, which it will use to further its product development and drive its global growth strategy, building on its Series A round of €11.6 million in August 2018. Valar Ventures led the round, with participation from Creandum and Redalpine.
“We are incredibly proud that with Taxfix, we are helping especially those people who have never been able to file a tax return before and have until now been forgoing their average refund of €974, either because it seemed too difficult for them or because they were afraid of the bureaucracy,” said co-founder & CEO of Taxfix, Mathis Büchi. “With our customer-friendly interface and smart technology, we have finally made it possible for anyone to claim their full tax refund. Our users have given us over 10,000 positive reviews in the app stores, and we receive daily thank-you letters from users who appreciate the additional income that often truly affects their life.”
Every week, Taxfix sends thousands of tax returns to tax offices throughout Germany, with many of these users filing for the very first time. More than €5 million per week in tax refunds flows back to Taxfix users — an amount that would not otherwise be claimed.
Germany is not the only country that suffers from a lack of fast, user-friendly tax filing options. More than 700 million tax returns are submitted worldwide each year, and so Taxfix has plans to go global – revolutionising the tax market by greatly simplifying the process to help millions of taxpayers receive and optimise their refunds, while reducing the time spent to a mere 22 minutes.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved thus far,” added Büchi. “We’re grateful that our existing investors continue to invest in our mission and recognise its global potential. Together with Valar Ventures, Creandum and Redalpine, we can now make further investments to fundamentally change the tax market, not only in Germany but on an international scale.”
“It is time for a digital revolution in the tax market, and Taxfix is leading the way,” said James Fitzgerald, General Partner of Valar Ventures. “The company fits perfectly into our investment strategy in the financial service industry, where traditional providers are burdened by legacy systems and saddled with cost structures that make it increasingly difficult to compete with new tech-forward entrants. The team’s unity of purpose and speed of execution over the past year has made it particularly easy to want to lead successive financing rounds in the company.”
By the way: If you’re interested to join a fast-growing startup like Taxfix, make sure to check out the EU-Startups Job Board.
