Do I still need an accountant if I use TaxLayer?
Short answer
TaxLayer does the preparation, not the judgement. It captures documents, reconciles them and drafts the figures. A person still reviews, approves and files. Many owners run their day-to-day books on TaxLayer alone and share a portal with their accountant for review and filing.
What TaxLayer takes off the desk
- Collecting invoices and receipts from email and uploads.
- Reading each one and suggesting the account and VAT treatment.
- Matching bank lines to documents and to myDATA.
- Keeping a running view of income, expenses, VAT and budget.
- Drafting returns with the workings shown.
What stays with a person
Nothing is filed by itself. Returns are drafted and queued as proposals; someone reviews the workings and approves before anything reaches the tax authority. The items TaxLayer cannot settle, such as a payment with no document or an invoice missing from myDATA, come to a person as a short list with the evidence attached.
Whether your filings need an accountant’s signature depends on your legal form and how your books are kept. Software does not change that rule. If you are unsure which side of it you are on, ask your accountant.
If you are an accounting firm
The work that scales badly is the part before the judgement: gathering, keying, matching. TaxLayer runs that for every client and brings your team the exceptions, so their hours go on review and advice. Your name stays on the filing and the relationship with the client stays yours.
If you are a business
Snap a receipt or forward an invoice and your books stay current between month-ends. When your accountant needs to review or file, they see the same reconciled figures you do, with every action logged, instead of a folder of documents to start from.