Six reasons to choose a tech startup over a tax corporate

Tax experts Lucie Gall, Daniel Nitschke, and Juliane Kutzke get candid about their transition from ‘Big Four’ tax corporations to Taxfix and why there’s no looking back.

As a fintech startup that helps taxpayers file quick, easy, and secure tax returns, Taxfix knows a thing or two about personal income tax. And the secret sauce that makes this possible is our team of tax experts — or taxperts. Embedded directly into our cross-functional product teams, tax experts help us deliver an accurate and reliable experience to our users. They utilise our self-built tool, ‘Workbench’, to model the question flow that leads users through their tax filing journey with us. Taxperts are also responsible for developing and maintaining the logic used to calculate a tax return and electronically file it with the tax authorities.

Naturally, this critical role requires a deep hands-on experience with income tax, which means that many of our tax experts come from more traditional corporate backgrounds. ‘Big Four’ firms like PWC, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Deloitte, offer highly specialised — if not slightly rigid — careers within the world of taxes. So what prompts someone to turn from the typical tax path and join a fintech startup like Taxfix? We sat down with three of our tax experts to learn more.

Six reasons to consider a career with a tech startup

1. Combine tech and taxes

Juliane Kutzke, tax lead — I was so excited about the connection between taxes and technology — it’s the reason I joined Taxfix. Previously, I had worked for a ‘Big Four’ tax firm as well as the tax office. When I learned about the Taxfix product, a chat-like app that enables users to answer questions directly into a tax form, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. This concept was non-existent elsewhere in 2017.

Daniel Nitschke, senior tax expert — There’s minimal overlap between taxes and tech in big tax corporations — they struggle with that. With 300,000+ employees, they can’t be as innovative as a startup. They don’t have the flexibility to risk building something that’s completely new. I had a little exposure to tech at my past ‘Big Four’ firm, helping develop an online questionnaire for users. But it was very basic and not efficient in finding or solving user problems. In my current role at Taxfix, I’m actively engaged in many tax-related projects, like writing app logic, designing the question flow, proofread texts, and undertaking tax-related data analysis. I see myself as a hybrid between a tax expert and a software person.

Lucie Gall, tax expert — I began my tax career in a ‘Big Four’ firm working on global mobility — or supporting clients with taxation topics for their global workforce. There, I had no crossover with tech. I had nothing to do with implementing a modelling language or anything like that. So when Taxfix contacted me at the end of last year, I thought, ‘this is a great opportunity to do something very different.’

2. Have a larger impact

Daniel — Looking back on where the Taxfix product was when I started in 2019 to now, a lot has changed based on our feedback. They take your input seriously, and you can see the influence of your work directly. Whereas in a big company, ideas kind of vanish into thin air very quickly. And if changes do move forward, they move at a snail’s pace. In a massive corporation, it’s easy to feel like a little piece in a huge machine. It’s sometimes hard to see that you’re making an impact.

Juliane — When you’re working in a tax corporation, it’s satisfying to successfully serve one client. But here, it feels completely different because you can help a lot of people at once. As a tax expert at Taxfix, if I make one small change in the tax logic of the product — I immediately simplify tax filing for millions of people. It’s a very special position. We’re the key to the product.

3. Explore new challenges

Daniel — Your work in a tax corporation is very niche. And after years and years of the same routine, I started to get bored. It’s very stiff in that you have a process for everything, and there’s very little flexibility in the career path you take. It’s always the same issues, the same clients, the same pain points. I was afraid that if I stayed in this niche for much longer, I wouldn’t be able to get out of it anymore. Coming to Taxfix and having the chance to help build tax software from the ground up is an entirely new challenge. You need to dig deep into the maze of tax calculations and regulations.

Juliane — I’ve gained a much broader picture of income tax law. In my previous work, you usually only handled one tax return preparation for one customer at a time. Now we’re covering millions of customers with millions of unique tax cases. So we need to consider any case that could happen for our users when developing the logic of our product. I’ve gotten way more into the calculation of the tax return itself because of this, which is something you nearly never do in a ‘Big Four’ company. Tax corporations rely on internal software to calculate a return, so the tax experts rarely need to think twice about it. Helping develop this calculation at Taxfix has given me a much deeper understanding of what actually goes into an accurate income tax calculation.

4. People matter here

Lucie — I don’t feel so much pressure anymore. Back when I worked for a ‘Big Four’, there was always pressure about the numbers. How many tax returns did you review? You had to log every single minute of your work throughout the day. That made me very unhappy, especially in home office times. Now I’m much more relaxed. When I talk to my teammates in meetings, it’s a lot lighter. We have fun.

Juliane — The way we talk about problems is completely different here. We have a monthly Q&A session with the entire company where we can ask anything we want. We’re encouraged to ask ‘why?’ and to challenge leadership decisions. There’s a lot of room to influence change at Taxfix. When I started here, for example, we had 24 annual vacation days. Then a working group of employees got together and made a case for 27* days, and we got it. It was a huge change initiated by employees that wouldn’t have been possible in another company.

5. The open culture

Juliane — I’ve changed a lot in the three years I’ve been with Taxfix. Beyond not having to wear a suit every day, I’m way more open. If I notice a bias in myself, I take a step back to understand the situation and ask questions. In doing this, I’ve learned a lot about the people I’m interacting with. There are so many different and interesting people working here. I feel way more comfortable now because of it.

Lucie — For me, the onboarding here was much easier than with my former employer. Taxfix offers a whole intro week, where you get to know the different departments. They really take care of the new joiners and give them a warm welcome. Instantly, I felt like I can be open and honest and myself. You don’t have to play a role — you can just be who you are.

6. Collaborate across departments

Lucie — When I worked at a tax corporation, my team didn’t collaborate with anyone else. You worked in your little bubble and did the same tasks every day for the same clients. When I came to Taxfix, I was a little shocked. Suddenly I was in meetings with engineers and designers and content people. It’s nice to get to know other people and what they do and what’s important to them. I’ve learned a lot about UX design, tech, product management, and data. I would also say that I learned more soft skills from collaborating with so many different people.

Daniel — Not only is collaboration completely different here, but it’s also much more genuine. Instead of this ‘elbow mentality’ where everyone is looking out for their own interests, we’re trying to build something together. It’s a shared responsibility. Whenever there are challenges, we have to ask, ‘how can we fix this together?’ There’s no blame culture. Taxfix embraces making mistakes if you can grow and learn from them.

The drawbacks

Of course, working in a fast-paced, collaborative startup isn’t the right environment for everyone. Our three tax experts agreed that there is one major tradeoff to life after working in a tax corporate — carving out deep focus time.

Lucie — At my previous company, we had maybe one or two meetings a week. Since our tasks were repetitive, I could go days without asking any questions or talking to anyone. You just got stuff done. Now, I have at least one or two meetings every day. That’s the tradeoff to close collaboration. You have to block out focus time to work through complex tasks.

Daniel — At the moment, we have additional meetings because there aren’t enough hands to support everything we want to accomplish. That’s why we’re hiring. It helps to step back and assess: how can I structure my days better? If I feel a meeting doesn’t add value to my work, I skip it.

What advice would you give to tax experts making the switch to a startup?

Juliane — If you want to revolutionise the tax industry and be part of the exciting digitalisation of tax returns, a tech startup is the right place for you. Here at Taxfix, change can happen very quickly. You need to be open to failing fast. Don’t be afraid to try new things and learn from them.

Daniel — Working at a ‘Big Four’ company, you have processes for everything. The workflows are already set in stone, more or less. It was a drastic learning curve for me coming to Taxfix. Because we’re growing and maturing so quickly, we’re sometimes exploring uncharted territory. You need to push yourself to ask questions, even if it feels uncomfortable. You can’t look at what’s right in front of you. You need to understand things beyond the scope of your role. We really embrace that we’re a team, and everyone is working together to build the best product possible.

Lucie — I can only encourage everyone not to be afraid of taking on a new challenge. A ‘Big Four’ company gives you a very well defined career path, and you have highly organised days with set processes for almost everything. The thought of leaving such a safe environment can be quite intimidating. However, if you are looking for a change and want to grow and challenge yourself in new ways, a startup is worth the risk.

*We now offer 30 days of annual vacation!

Interested in joining our Tax Team? Explore our open positions.