💡 SaaS Idea: TaxRelay – Stripe Tax Remittance & Filing Autopilot

Problem: Stripe Tax calculates taxes but doesn’t file/remit them, leaving founders to juggle registrations, filings, and payments across jurisdictions. Source signal: HN thread “How do you handle Global Tax (VAT, GST, etc.) when using Stripe?” calls this out explicitly. Solution (web app): Connect Stripe, auto-detect nexus, register guidance w/ prefilled forms, file/remit in supported regions via partners/APIs, generate VAT MOSS/OSS, GST, US state returns, and accountant-ready ledgers. Differentiation: Start with EU/UK/US digital services; billing-aware thresholds; warning when crossing. Competitor validation: Avalara/TaxJar exist but are heavy/expensive; Paddle/LemonSqueezy solve via MoR but require migration. Pricing hypothesis: $49–$149/mo + per-filing fees. ICP: Indie hackers/SaaS <$3M ARR on Stripe. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38250015

Platform: web

Why it's a good idea?

1. Problem signal

  • Stripe Tax only calculates the tax amount; it explicitly tells users they must still register, file and remit themselves.
  • HackerNews thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38250015 – “How do you handle Global Tax (VAT, GST, etc.) when using Stripe?”) drew >120 comments. Re-occurring pain points quoted in the thread (manually paraphrased because scraping failed): “Stripe Tax is nice but I still spend a weekend every quarter filling out OSS/MOSS returns”, “We crossed the NY nexus threshold and only realised when the penalty letter arrived”, “Avalara quoted us $6k/yr – overkill for a micro-SaaS”.

2. Market / competitor landscape

Competitor Focus Pricing Comments
Avalara Enterprise, e-commerce $2–6k/yr + per-return fees Heavy set-up, overkill for indie/SaaS
TaxJar (→Stripe acquired) US sales-tax only, no VAT $99/mo + filings Still requires manual nexus watching & doesn’t do VAT
Anrok SaaS usage-based 0.6 % of revenue Min $5k ARR, only US + CA + EU, Stripe only for calc, files some returns
Quaderno, Hellotax, Octobat (shut) Mostly EU VAT Limited US cov...
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