april, the AI-powered tax platform and Team8 portfolio company, has revolutionized tax filing by translating the 70,000+ page tax code into a user-friendly, mobile-first experience. This year, april partnerships with over 20 financial brands, including popular payroll, neobanking, and investment apps, to make the tax season a lot more pleasant for Americans. And the response was overwhelmingly positive, with 98% of users filing on a phone or tablet.
As reported in Fintech Nexus, april’s personalized filing flow turned this year’s tax season into a sprint, with 47% of taxpayers crossing the finish line in under an hour, averaging just 43 minutes. Even better, 95% of april users filed for free, thanks to the company’s flat fee or 100% free filing pricing structure—a welcome departure from the hidden fee schemes that DIY filers have grown accustomed to.
On the subject of sprints, april offered tax filing services to Americans in all 50 states this season. They’re on track to extend eFile coverage availability and to become the first national e-File provider in 15 years. And just a few months ago, april entered into a strategic partnership with Chime, allowing the mobile banking app to now offer tax services. This move not only highlights april’s knack for forging strong alliances with top fintech players but also underscores growing demand for their product.
Combining Superpowers: Embedded Finance + Vertical Integration
Managing taxes has always been a headache, often out of sync with the tools people use daily to manage the rest of their finances. There’s huge potential in tax services that’s been hampered by complexity and regulatory hurdles. Using advanced AI and machine learning, april tackled these challenges head-on, pioneering automated personalized tax solutions that embed seamlessly into our banking and business apps. By partnering with payroll providers like Gusto, Rain, and Dayforce Wallet, april combines the powerful force of embedded finance with vertical integration.
By integrating tax data with financial and business data, april is also changing the way taxpayers manage their taxes year round. Their service extends well past tax season, providing users with actionable insights and opportunities like tax estimation and paycheck optimization. Data that can dictate how much money you have in your pocket. It’s a big deal.
Financial services companies are also cashing in, gaining access to a treasure trove of data points that let them offer comprehensive services, spot high-value prospects, and boost customer lifetime value. The proof is in the numbers: a whopping 94.8% of refunds during the 2024 tax season were captured by april’s embedded banking partners. And about half of all users logged into the app multiple times over the course of the tax season to work on their taxes, highlighting how the platform drives stickiness.
We All Love Really Effective AI
Let’s dig deeper into what makes this work so well. april’s AI goes beyond faster, cheaper tax filing by offering a personalized experience designed to serve a broad range of taxpayers. The company’s advanced language models, trained effectively on vast amounts of tax-related information, are continually refined by veteran tax experts, ensuring a filing process that’s both streamlined and precise. By pulling data from partner apps, april’s AI zeroes in on the questions that matter most for each user’s tax situation. This ensures not just efficiency, but accuracy, helping users uncover deductions and credits they might have missed.
april also has this phenomenal AI-powered chatbot. Skeptical? Fair. No one talks that way about a chatbot. That said, their NPS (Net Promoter Score) is 58. For context, H&R Block’s is -19. april’s AI makes tax filing not just easier, but smarter. And people like smarter.
Redefining TaxTech From the Ground Up
april isn’t just tweaking the edges of tax technology; they’re rebuilding the infrastructure from the ground up. This foundational work is setting the stage for broad, meaningful change across the fintech ecosystem.
As april integrates tax into a user’s broader financial picture to enhance their overall wellness and unlock liquidity, they’re poised to quickly set a new industry standard. Their strong start is promising and we’re thrilled to support the team as they lead the charge in embedded tax management.
