1. Accounting + Tax Filing in one.
Coconut has built an accounting software that’s simple and efficient for self-employed people, landlords and their accountants and bookkeepers. It helps prepare the figures needed for tax filing, but doesn’t do the submission to HMRC.
Since 2015, GoSimpleTax has been providing tax filing software to cater to not only self-employed and property income, but all other types of tax including employment income, capital gains and more.
The combination of Coconut’s accounting product plus GoSimpleTax’s tax submission expertise is going to enable Coconut to provide its accountant partners with an end-to-end bookkeeping to filing product.
Whilst the quarterly filing requirements under MTD ITSA have been delayed to 2026, they are still written into legislation. The combined product will be able to cater to both the quarterly submissions as well as the full end of year declarations across all income categories in one place.
2. Some goodbyes
Sam and I will be taking a step back from operational involvement in Coconut in the coming weeks once we have handed over to the GoSimpleTax team. We are remaining small shareholders and are fully invested in helping steer the business forward to deliver on the vision for Coconut.
3. The GoSimpleTax team
GoSimpleTax is owned by Glyn Rigby, James Cryne and Anthony Boggiano. Between them they have a hundred years of experience in the software business, and more specifically in tax and bookkeeping. Alongside them, directors Mike Parkes and Amanda Swales who I’ve personally worked closely with for the last few weeks and have a lot of respect for.
Coconut is understood and respected by them, and they share our view as to the potential and opportunity of a combined Coconut and GoSimpleTax offering to individuals and sole traders across the UK.
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4. New faces
The support team has been getting set up for the last few weeks, and some of you may have already received help from Aiden, Louise and Zak. They have been supporting the GoSimpleTax product for years and so picking up support for Coconut customers has been second nature to them.
You’ll start to hear from Anna in marketing from now on, and Devon has rejoined the team to help our accountant partners. They are backed up by Erica and Sara in the finance and admin team.
Everyone is excited about Coconut joining forces with GoSimpleTax and are looking forward to working with you over the coming months and years.
5. Big Plans to support accountants & bookkeepers
Throughout 2022 in the run up to the original MTD ITSA timeline, Coconut had been onboarding a large number of new accountant partners looking to find a software suited to the needs of their sole trader and landlord clients. As practices continue to digitise their client base, Coconut continues to be a great option for accountants looking for a simple and efficient solution.
The team behind GoSimpleTax previously started Keytime which they built into one of the biggest suppliers of practice software for accountants in practice. They have a lot of experience providing software to accountants, and Coconut provides an ideal opportunity for them to use it.
6. Bringing tax filing to Coconut for accountants
In the immediate term, we will be linking Coconut and GoSimpleTax so that Coconut users will be able to file a tax return. Your clients are your clients, and by default we’ll make sure that they don’t see GoSimpleTax in their version of the software, unless you decide you want them to. We’ll also ensure this approach is applied to newsletters and any communications we send out.
It will be more cost effective to file a tax return for a small sole trader client via Coconut than it will be to use one of the large corporate suppliers, giving the option of a hybrid approach to filing tax returns, mixing Coconut with existing tax return software.
7. Filing your taxes yourself with Coconut
If you’re using Coconut without an accountant, you’ll be able to file your taxes using the GoSimpleTax using the data from your Coconut account, as an alternative to submitting directly through HMRC.
8. Creating an end-to-end MTD ITSA solution
MTD ITSA will be landing in 2026, with a soft start in 2025, so we will continue developing Coconut in line with HMRC’s plans so direct customers and accountants and their clients will be ready.
We will be combining Coconut’s ability to manage month-to-month bookkeeping and its HMRC-recognition for its MTD ITSA quarterly filing solution, with GoSimpleTax’s pedigree in providing end of year self-assessment software. This will create a formidable end-to-end solution for MTD ITSA in the years to come.
Thanks to everyone that we have worked with in the last few years. We are happy to be joining the GoSimpleTax family and excited to see what the future holds.
Thanks, Adam.
