Tax Titan

Problem Space 

‍Problem Statement  

I think we can all agree that tax time is the most stressful time of the year, especially for small business owners. So, how can we make filing taxes and organizing business expenses easier for small business owners?

Problem Background  

As a small business owner myself, every year filing taxes becomes more and more chaotic, and anxiety-driven. It can get overwhelming to keep up with everything, especially if you have little to no help, which most small business owners don’t.

Tax related issues rank high among small business problems. In fact, 77% of small business owners reported that federal business income taxes were very or moderately burdensome according to NFIB’s 2021 Tax Survey (William Dunkelberg, 2021). Which in result means that about 20% fail in their first year, and about 50% fail in their fifth year. If there was a way to provide resources for small business owners, we could possibly decrease that percentage.

Our target audience is any small business owner- nail techs, photographers, videographers, creatives, car detail service providers, personal trainers, wedding planners, private chefs, lash techs, etc.

Research Insights

User Pain Points

After collecting feedback from 10 small business owners on their experience with filing taxes, there was a mix of challenges that they faced. Some wrote that they wished they understood the nuances of taxes and how to avoid the government screwing them over by taking more money from them. Others wanted to keep better track of their expenses.

Supporting Data

50% of people surveyed file their own taxes and 50% use an accountant.

50% of people use an app to help with taxes and 50% don’t.

Feedback

Our preliminary user research to validate this problem found that most small business owners do not understand how taxes can work to their advantage and how to track their business expenses.

Landing on the Solution

Based on our target users’ pain points, we knew we wanted to work on the following features:

• Provide resources for small business owners to better understand taxes
• Help them connect with local tax professionals
• Add in ways to help them budget business expenses
• Include an expense tracker & organizer 
• Have a dashboard/summary report of their expenses

Future Steps

Possible additional problems to address is helping small business owners kick start their education on taxes while also helping them maximize their profits over loss.