TaxTrail

Making tax obligations
easier to follow.

TAX MANAGEMENT PLATFORM / MVP PROTOTYPE

A shared workspace for accountants and their clients to see what is due, what has happened and what needs attention.

↓
CONTEXT
Tax platform developed by Finspire
MY CONTRIBUTION
Early UX/UI design & prototype screens
DESIGN FOCUS
Accounting firms & company tax visibility
SCOPE & STAGE
Initial MVP scope · Prototype stage
TaxTrail / Accounting Firm SuiteVAT WORKSPACE · ORIGINAL PROTOTYPE
One company. Its obligations, balances and return history.Sample data / Click to inspect ↗

01 / THE SHORT STORY

Defining the initial MVP
through a focused prototype.

Finspire was building TaxTrail to bring UK tax deadlines, liabilities and reminders into a shared platform. My brief involvement focused on the initial MVP scope. I left the company while the app was at prototype stage.

01

The challenge. Help accountants understand multiple clients’ tax obligations without losing the detail of each company and tax period.

02

The design. A client list, a company overview and a VAT workspace, connected through a consistent navigation structure.

03

The result. A connected prototype that made the initial MVP direction tangible and established the core client, company and VAT views.

02 / UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

The information exists.
The work is keeping track of it.

An accountant needs to understand obligations across a portfolio, then look closely at a particular company when something needs attention.

The brief framed the problem around fragmented tax visibility, deadline tracking and repeated client follow-up. A useful workspace therefore needed to connect three questions: which client am I reviewing, which tax am I looking at, and what is its current position?

THE DESIGN QUESTION

How can we make many clients’ tax obligations understandable, while keeping the detail close at hand?

Three audiences. One starting point.

The wider vision covered individuals, limited companies and accounting firms. The initial MVP scope focused on Corporation Tax and VAT tracking for accountants. My work covered this early prototype stage. The available screens explore the accounting-firm workspace, with VAT as the most developed tax view.

AUDIENCEPRIMARY NEEDPROTOTYPE COVERAGE
Accounting firmsReview clients and coordinate follow-up.Client list and firm workspace.
Limited companiesUnderstand liabilities and deadlines.Company overview and VAT view within the firm workspace.
IndividualsTrack personal tax obligations.Part of the wider product vision.

03 / INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Portfolio first.
Company next. Tax detail when needed.

The interface moves from breadth to depth, giving each level a clear job.

01 / FIRM WORKSPACE

Client portfolio

Search companies.
Check tax connections.
Choose a client.

Explore the client list ↓
02 / COMPANY CONTEXT

Company overview

Keep identity visible.
Review tax areas.
See the calendar.

Explore the overview ↓
03 / TAX WORKSPACE

VAT detail

Read balances.
Filter status and period.
Inspect return history.

Explore the VAT view ↓
ILLUSTRATIVE REVIEW TASK

Find a client → Open its company workspace → Select VAT → Review a period

Reminders, imports and sharing appear as entry points. Their complete workflows were still to be developed.

04 / DESIGN DECISIONS

Three levels of detail.
Three distinct design jobs.

The prototype’s value is in how its screens connect, and how each one helps the user understand a different part of the work.

01

THE CLIENT PORTFOLIO

Make clients easier to scan
before opening their records.

The need

An accountant works across multiple companies. Finding a client and understanding whether its tax accounts are connected should not require opening every company.

The design choice

The client table puts company identity, contact details, VAT and PAYE connections in one row. Search and tax-specific connection filters support a more focused review.

Why it matters

This gives the portfolio view a practical purpose: locate a company and check the available data connections before moving into tax detail.

Client identity and tax connections sit together at portfolio level.Original prototype / Cropped
THE TRADE-OFF

A table supports comparison but can become crowded as more tax types are added. The prototype keeps the portfolio focused on clients and connections; balances and return history sit within the company workspace.

02

THE COMPANY OVERVIEW

Keep the company in view
as the tax context changes.

The need

Switching between clients and tax areas creates a risk of losing context. The accountant needs a clear answer to “whose information am I looking at?”

The design choice

A persistent company heading, VAT number, breadcrumb and tax tabs establish the current record. The overview combines headline information, tax history and a calendar.

Why it matters

The company becomes the stable centre of the experience. Users can move between its tax areas while retaining the same identity and navigation structure.

Company identity stays above the tax-specific content.Original prototype / Detail
TIME AS A SECOND VIEW

Give deadlines a place in the month.

The calendar brings different tax categories into one time-based view. It complements the table, which is better suited to comparing statuses and amounts.

Labels alongside category colours help explain the events. A next iteration would add an agenda for finding upcoming and overdue items quickly.

Calendar dates are illustrative prototype content.
A time-based view alongside the tax history.
THE TRADE-OFF

Showing future tax areas communicates the wider vision, but locked tabs can distract from the available experience. Corporation Tax and dividend declarations should be read as planned areas, rather than completed modules.

03

THE VAT WORKSPACE

Start with the financial position.
Then explain it by tax period.

The need

A balance alone does not explain what needs attention. Accountants also need to see overdue amounts, penalties, credits and the return periods behind them.

The design choice

The VAT view starts with four summary figures. A period selector and status filters then narrow the table, where dates, amounts and balances can be reviewed together.

Why it matters

This creates a clear reading order: understand the overall position, then inspect the records behind it. The summary and detail serve different levels of the same task.

Summary figures separate the overall balance from overdue amounts and additional charges.Original prototype / Detail
WHAT I WOULD REFINE

The early status column mixes submission, payment and processing states. These can coexist. A more precise model would show each separately, so a submitted return can still have an overdue payment.

NEXT ITERATION / STATUS CLARITY

One obligation can carry more than one state.

An illustrative example, proposed after reviewing the prototype.

Example VAT period / Jan–Mar 2025
Submission
✓ Submitted
Payment
! Overdue
Data connection
↻ Last synced 09:15

Show a relevant next action, such as reviewing the amount or reminding the client.

05 / REUSABLE INTERFACE PATTERNS

A consistent structure
for information that changes.

The screens use recurring tables, filters, tabs, summary panels and status tags to make a complex domain more familiar.

The same patterns connect the portfolio and company views. That consistency gives the product a foundation for adding tax areas without inventing a new layout for each one.

01 / NAVIGATION
OverviewVATPAYE

Tax tabs preserve the company context.

02 / STATUS
✓ Connected! Overdue

Text and icons give colour a supporting role.

03 / FILTERING
VAT Period2025 ⌄

Period and status controls narrow the record set.

Pattern samples above are simplified illustrations of the original interface. A production system would still need documented states, keyboard behaviour, responsive layouts and accessibility checks.

What would need to be resolved for delivery +
Trust in the data

Show retrieval time, failed syncs and reconnection needs. “Connected” alone does not establish that the information is current.

Reminder behaviour

Define who receives a reminder, how it is sent, its timing and the action history.

Integration scope

Confirm data availability and authorisation separately for each tax type before promising a unified live view.

06 / OUTCOME & REFLECTION

A concrete starting point
for a complex product.

The prototype translated the proposition into connected screens: a client portfolio, company context and VAT detail.

My involvement was brief and focused on the initial MVP scope. I left Finspire while TaxTrail was at prototype stage. This case study covers the design work completed during my time at the company.

Made the vision tangible

The brief’s accounting-firm proposition could be explored through visible screens and a clear hierarchy.

Established the core views

Portfolio, company and tax-level information each had a distinct place in the workspace.

Exposed the next design questions

The prototype made status clarity, data freshness and reminder behaviour concrete topics for further work.

REFLECTION

In tax software, clarity depends on the meaning behind the status.

A clean table is only useful when people understand which period it represents, whether the data is current and what they need to do next. That is where I would focus the next iteration.

WHAT I WOULD TEST NEXT

Can an accountant find and interpret an obligation?

  • Find a client with a missing tax connection.
  • Explain the difference between a submitted return and a paid liability.
  • Locate an upcoming deadline and identify the relevant next step.
  • Review a proposed reminder before it is sent.

These are proposed validation tasks, not tests completed during the project.

ENES GUNDOGDU / PRODUCT DESIGNER

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Enes Gundogdu 2026

Making complex

work easier to use.

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