Thomson Reuters has acquired tax automation firm SafeSend in an all-cash transaction valued at $600 million.
Based in 2008, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based SafeSend serves a cloud-based platform designed to streamline the processing and sharing of delicate monetary paperwork. This consists of instruments for delivering tax returns, gathering e-signatures, amassing funds, automating workflows, assembly compliance obligations, and extra.
SafeSend, which has some 235 workers, beforehand raised an undisclosed determine from Lead Edge Capital, and says it’s utilized by 70% of the highest 100 accountancy companies within the U.S.
Whereas Thomson Reuters is understood for its information company, the Canadian firm additionally operates a variety of merchandise spanning the authorized, tax, and accounting spheres. In actual fact, SafeSend already affords native integrations with Thomson Reuters’ tax preparation software program, and by bringing the corporate underneath its direct stewardship, it will go a way towards serving to Thomson Reuters’ assist the so-called “last mile” of the tax return course of.
“This acquisition underscores our commitment to addressing the evolving challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers alike,” Elizabeth Beastrom, Thomson Reuters’ president of tax, audit, and accounting professionals, stated in a press launch saying the acquisition. “By integrating SafeSend’s innovative technology with our existing solutions, we’re simplifying tax preparation workflows, and meeting the dynamic demands of businesses we serve to help them thrive in an increasingly complex tax landscape.”
SafeSend isn’t the primary such tax automation firm that Thomson Reuters’ has acquired — it snapped up SurePrep in a $500 million transaction in 2022. Certainly, there are clear parallels between SafeSend and SurePrep each by way of their product lineup and the way that they had began to embrace AI and automation. In early November, SafeSend launched a brand new AI product dubbed SafeSend One, which automates the whole tax course of, from doc gathering by tax return supply.
Thomson Reuters says it plans to proceed providing SafeSend as a standalone product, and can proceed to assist a number of distributors throughout the tax software program sphere.
