As Making Tax Digital launches today, Coconut, the current account and bookkeeping fintech, announces plans to add integrated accounting services to its offering this month. This will be a UK first, and the fully mobile app will offer an end-to-end accounting service, from current account through to filings with HMRC and Companies House.
With Coconut’s new addition, which is fully ready for Making Tax Digital, customers will be able to see the movement of their money instantly, receive guidance on how to manage their expenses, speak directly to a growing network of partner accountants that are on hand to give advice through an in-app chat and get their filings done or tax returns done.
This is particularly timely, as a survey commissioned by Coconut revealed that over half (52%) of all self-employed and small business owners would prefer a tool that does everything to support Making Tax Digital and helps manage their finances from end to end.
Currently planned to cost customers £100 per month, the combination of both current account and accountancy advice will be more efficient and helpful to people than any other service in the market offered by banks and cloud-accounting suppliers.
Sam O’Connor, co-founder and CEO of Coconut said, “We are transforming how freelancers, self-employed people and small businesses owners experience accounting and tax. Our vision is to create a product that has everything someone needs to run their business and our new integrated accountancy service will be unlike any other offering in the UK, replacing the wide array of tools on offer like cloud accounting and receipt apps.
“We are moving people away from a fragmented proposition, and bringing everything together in one place in a seamless, real-time product.”
The survey of 500 self-employed and small business owners across the UK showcases the need for more support. Over three in five (64%) UK self-employed and small business owners say that HMRC has not given them enough notice about Making Tax Digital.
Half (50%) of respondents saying the HMRC hadn’t given guidance on what tools are best to use and over a third (35%) felt that a cloud accounting package wouldn’t fully support them with Making Tax Digital.
2019 has seen a huge amount of progress for Coconut since the launch of the first product in 2018. Today, Coconut also announces that it will be applying for Pool D of the RBS Remedy Fund, a £25m prize fund they will use in an effort to service a market that has been woefully undeserved by British Banks.
O’Connor added, “We are finally seeing funds being poured back into innovative tech that can help self-employed people and small business owners with their finances. People have been left out in the cold for too long, underserved by banks that use antiquated legacy systems or cloud accounting packages that require a level of expertise people simply don’t have.
“We have created a radically simplified proposition, with everything you need to do business in one place. If we are selected, the prize will help us develop richer features to help manage business finances and reah hundreds of thousands of customers in the UK.”
Coconut has a strong community already it smashed its Crowdfunding target by four times, driven largely by Coconut’s customer community. Additionally, Coconut was awarded £200,000 as one of Nesta’s Open Up Challenge winners, designed to support innovative SME focused fintech products that utilise open banking.
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