Record OS raises £1.8m led by Episode 1 for Making Tax Digital filing
This article covers Record OS, a fintech startup, which has raised £1.8m in a pre-seed funding round to build a modern self-assessment and Making Tax Digital platform for individuals, sole traders, freelancers and professionals. The development aims to help individuals and self-employed taxpayers comply with HMRC's expanding digital filing requirements by pairing automated filing workflows with qualified tax professional review.
Record OS, a fintech startup, has raised £1.75 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Episode 1 to build a modern self-assessment and Making Tax Digital platform for individuals, sole traders, freelancers and professionals — a timely move as HMRC’s digital filing requirements expand and many taxpayers seek simpler, more reliable options.
Why it matters
The UK’s Making Tax Digital programme is changing how the self-employed and landlords report income, with quarterly digital updates becoming mandatory for those earning more than £50,000 from April 2026. That shift is increasing the burden on people who file self-assessments irregularly or have more complex affairs, such as trusts, offshore income or investment income. Record OS positions itself as a bridge between full-service advice and DIY software by pairing automation with human review, which it argues could reduce errors and surprise liabilities for taxpayers.
Inside the product
Record OS combines a web-based filing workflow with a quality-control step: every submission is checked by a qualified tax professional before it is sent to HMRC. The platform was initially developed for accounting firms handling self-assessment returns and later opened up direct to consumers after the founders found the same pain points persisted at an individual level.
Pricing tiers start at £125 for standard filings, £250 for more complex returns and £500 for specialist cases involving trusts, offshore income and complex investments. The company is a six-person team based in central London, with engineers and tax specialists. The new funding will be used to continue product development and to expand the UK customer base. Customers filing in June 2026 are eligible for 20% off their self-assessment filing.
Who are the investors?
The round was led by Episode 1 and included a syndicate of angel investors — described by Record OS as former CFOs and senior leaders from Wise, Revolut, Deliveroo and Alphabet. Episode 1 has backed a range of European fintech and enterprise software companies; its lead role signals typical early-stage VC interest in companies addressing large legacy markets with regulatory-driven demand.
In the announcement, Hector Mason, General Partner at Episode 1, said:
The UK tax system is undergoing one of its biggest shifts in decades. Dhruv and José combine deep operational experience with a genuine obsession for solving customer pain points. We're excited to back them as they build what we believe could become the default platform for self-assessment and digital tax filing.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Dhruv Chadha, Co-founder at Record OS, said:
We started by building software for accountants, but realised the problem still existed on a personal level. When I found an error in my own tax return while testing the platform, I was shocked - I'd paid for professional help, I work in finance, and I was still left wondering whether everything had actually been done correctly. That simply shouldn't still be the case in 2026, and is the inspiration for the business today.
In the announcement, José Luis De La Peña, Co-founder at Record OS, said:
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. We want this friction gone and we know there's a better way. As Making Tax Digital brings more people online, we're building a platform that combines the speed of technology with the reassurance of expert review.
Both co-founders are former early employees at Wise, which the founders say informs their approach to building operationally robust, customer-focused workflows for finance tasks.
The bigger picture
Record OS is targeting a crowded but underserved segment: people who do not want a traditional accountant’s full retainer but need more assurance than a purely automated tool can offer. The regulatory timetable for Making Tax Digital is creating a steady addressable market for products that simplify compliance. For fintech investors, the combination of repeat transactional revenue, regulatory tailwinds and the potential to expand into adjacent tax or bookkeeping services is the core attraction.
The deal also reflects growing investor interest in startups tackling legacy financial infrastructure and consumer-facing tax tools in the UK. As HMRC continues its digital transition, expect more startups to position hybrid human-plus-software approaches as a compromise between cost and confidence for taxpayers.
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