Thomson Reuters acquires tax automation company SafeSend for $600M

Thomson Reuters has acquired tax automation company SafeSend in an all-cash transaction valued at $600 million.

Founded in 2008, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based SafeSend serves a cloud-based platform designed to streamline the processing and sharing of sensitive financial documents. This includes tools for delivering tax returns, gathering e-signatures, collecting payments, automating workflows, meeting compliance obligations, and more.

SafeSend, which has some 235 employees, previously raised an undisclosed figure from Lead Edge Capital, and says it’s used by 70% of the top 100 accountancy firms in the U.S.

While Thomson Reuters is known for its news agency, the Canadian company also operates a range of products spanning the legal, tax, and accounting

spheres. In fact, SafeSend already offers native integrations with Thomson Reuters’ tax preparation software, and by bringing the company under its direct stewardship, this will go some way toward helping Thomson Reuters’ support the so-called “last mile” of the tax return process.

“This acquisition underscores our commitment to addressing the evolving challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers alike,” Elizabeth Beastrom, Thomson Reuters’ president of tax, audit, and accounting professionals, said in a press release announcing the acquisition. “By integrating SafeSend’s innovative technology with our existing solutions, we’re simplifying tax preparation workflows, and meeting the dynamic demands of businesses we serve to help them thrive in an increasingly complex tax landscape.”

SafeSend isn’t the first such tax automation company that Thomson Reuters’ has acquired — it snapped up SurePrep in a $500 million transaction in 2022. Indeed, there are clear parallels between SafeSend and SurePrep both in terms of their product lineup and how they had started to embrace AI and automation. In early November, SafeSend launched a new AI product dubbed SafeSend One, which automates the entire tax process, from document gathering through tax return delivery.

Thomson Reuters says it plans to continue offering SafeSend as a standalone product, and will continue to support multiple vendors across the tax software sphere.