Taxfix misses sales targets

The Berlin start-up achieved a unicorn rating in the summer. But the 2021 annual financial statements show that the company is not growing as strongly as expected.

Taxifix publishes its annual financial statements for 2021 and reveals large deficits. The Berlin-based start-up generated around 21.8 million euros. Although this represents an increase in turnover of around 63% compared to the previous year, the start-up actually wanted to achieve an increase of 100 to 150%. This contrasts with a loss of 43 million euros, as Gründerszene first reported.

According to the company, this was mainly due to sluggish business in Italy and France. Founded in 2016, the tax start-up offers users the opportunity to complete their income tax return using an app. Taxfix currently charges EUR 39.99 for the final step and form submission, which also accounts for the majority of its revenue.

The company spent 29.8 million euros on marketing last year to raise awareness of its core business and other features. This is an increase of around 70 percent compared to the previous year. The original plan was to limit the increase in marketing expenditure to 50 percent. Because all employees on short-time working had to complete a tax return, Taxfix made its services available to new customers free of charge and advertised them heavily. This enabled the company to gain users, but it fell well short of its sales targets. Taxfix raised more than 200 million euros in the spring and was rated as a unicorn as a result.