Yearend
Tax Advisor Experience
Make a complex return feel finishable.
- Product Designer
- 2020
- Web · FinTech SaaS
- 1 PM, 2 Engineers, Tax advisors, 1 Designer (me)
- Startup founders, employees with equity compensation, tax advisors
- FinTech · Tax · Workflow
I led the return architecture, section flows, and review states end to end.
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Overview
Yearend turned a fragmented tax process into one visible sequence: input, review, file.
Founders managed one filing across documents, spreadsheets, and advisor email.
- 6-step
- Federal + State
- 2020
- 2021
Problem
No One Knew When the Return Was Done
Forms were not the hard part. Confidence was: what is complete, what changed the total, and what still blocks filing?
- Income and deductions changed the return continuously
- Federal and state progress drifted apart
- Advisor review happened outside the product
Core decision
Turn the 1040 Into Visible State
A fixed sequence, running totals, and explicit review states gave users a stable mental model from the first form to final filing.
- Totals update as inputs change
- Each section exposes completion and review state
- Federal, state, review, and file remain persistent
Impact
Confidence Before Filing
The final screen does not promise that taxes are simple. It proves that every required section has been reviewed.
- Checklist
- Single flow
- Higher
- Acquired
Reflection
Key Learnings
Structure Creates Trust
Visible progress built more confidence than another paragraph of reassurance.
Serve the Expert and the Client
The same state had to make sense to filers and advisors.
Software Frames Judgment
The product made expert review visible; it did not pretend to replace it.