AI Startup Filed Secures $17M to Automate Tax Prep

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Published by Stephen Oluwadara at May 23, 2025

Filed is Reducing The Boredom in Accountancy

Accountancy can be time-consuming, but industry leaders are looking at ways technology can speed things up. A recent study by Thomson Reuters found that a single accountant could save up to four hours a week through AI to perform tasks such as data entry or document summarisation.

Leroy Kerry, Field’s co-founder and CEO, teamed up with Atul Ramachandran, its current CTO, in August 2024, to help firms work faster. “Tax firms are drowning in paperwork while their best talent walks out the door. This isn’t just a talent gap–it’s a slow-moving collapse,” Kerry wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Filed automates tax preparation from upload to review-ready returns, which allows firms to increase capacity and reduce manual work. “It reads documents, uses reasoning to apply each firm’s specific approach to tax strategy, and then enters that data into their existing software systems,” Kerry told TechCrunch.

He adds that when AI identifies a situation that requires human work, it flags it for review. Similar startups, such as Black Ore and Basis, exist that use AI for tax preparation and accounting. However, Kerry says his product differs from others because the AI was explicitly created for tax workflow.

Focusing on The US Market Over Europe

Filed will focus on the US market because the need for its product is much greater there. Not only are 75% of US-based accountants soon to retire, but cofounder Leroy Kerry also points out that, compared to Europe, about 60% of U.S. taxpayers seek professional help for tax filing. This is possibly due to severe penalties for mistakes.

“There is a real fear amongst US taxpayers not to mess about with their taxes,” says Kerry.

Unlike generic AI tools with no tax expertise or narrow point solutions, Filed uses a foundation model trained specifically on tax returns and a coordination layer that manages tax-related tasks. This layer operates natively on top of existing software.

Tax firms don’t need to replace their current software, they say. The AI tool can also, through customisation, mirror existing workflows and conventions, as well as firm-specific practices. According to Kerry, by gaining access to this historical data, the Stockholm-based platform enables the AI to make decisions based on how the firm has conducted its work previously.

“Every firm has its own way of working, storing documents, and assessing risk for a particular customer. So all of these things are stored and transmitted when a new employee joins. They teach their new employees how their firm works — in the same way, they can teach the AI,” Kerry says.

How Filed Will the New Fund

Filed will use the new funding to expand its team of 20; It plans to add more engineers in Stockholm and build a sales and marketing team in the US.

One of its investors is Northzone partner Jessica Schultz, who said about the AI Accounting startup, “Filed is the first platform we’ve seen that delivers immediate ROI without disrupting critical workflows. “While others talk about AI potential, Filed is already multiplying capacity for firms caught in the talent squeeze—exactly what the market needs right now.”

Based in Sweden and the United States, Filed already have some large firms as customers, such as JCG Tax, Smith CPA, and KBS Tax. Filed integrates directly with CCH Axcess, UltraTax, Lacerte, Drake, and other major tax software.

Main Image: Atul Ramachandran and Leroy Kerry, Filed Co-founders. Image Source: Filed