$2M+ · AI + Accounting

What they're building

Record OS is not automating accountants out of the picture. That is the explicit design choice and it is the product's strongest market insight. Co-founder Dhruv Chadha stressed that the technology is designed to be assistive rather than autonomous: "We want the accountant to be in control. We show the accountant if something came from AI, and they can add or change something if it isn't quite right. The goal is not to replace accountants but to help them work faster." The platform works in two layers. The AI layer ingests the client's financial records, cross-references them against HMRC data, identifies discrepancies, flags potential deductions, and drafts the return. Every AI-sourced item is marked as such. The professional layer puts a qualified tax accountant in the review seat: they see the AI's work, can accept or modify any item, and sign off before submission. The result is submitted to HMRC as a fully compliant return with a full audit trail. The product is specifically designed around Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD IT), the HMRC programme that moved from optional to mandatory in April 2026. Since April 2026, self-employed workers and landlords earning over £50,000 must submit quarterly digital updates to HMRC. The threshold will decrease to £30,000 in 2027 and £20,000 in 2028. The platform integrates with accounting software and HMRC's API directly.

Why this matters

Another 1.7 million people will need to file taxes digitally by 2028. That is not a market projection. It is a statutory obligation with a published schedule. The demand for MTD-compliant filing software is legally mandated. The question is only which platforms capture it. The founder's own experience is the product's origin story: Dhruv found a £38,968 error on his 2023-2024 Self Assessment, even with professional help. He was not a first-time filer. He was a CFO who had worked at Google, Wise, and Nansen, who hired a qualified accountant, and still had a nearly £40,000 mistake in his return. That is the market. It is not under-served amateur filers. It is sophisticated people with legitimate income complexity who need a system that finds errors the current process misses. Chadha's product framing reflects this: "No one becomes an accountant to mechanically fill tax returns, and taxpayers often think of self-assessments as almost a punishment for success or for starting a venture." The framing is precise. Self-assessment complexity correlates with financial complexity which correlates with willingness to pay. The best customer for Record OS is not a salaried employee who files one P60. It is a startup founder, contractor, landlord, or high earner whose tax situation reflects genuine economic activity and whose accountant is doing more administration than strategy. Harvey, Legora, and Clio are taking legal AI to large law firms. No comparable institutional-quality product is targeting UK self-assessment at the accountant-in-the-loop architecture. That gap is the market.