The global media organization and technology services provider Thomson Reuters Corp. said today it has acquired the tax automation software company SafeSend in a $600 million all-cash deal.

Michigan-based SafeSend, officially known as cPaperless LLC, was founded in 2008. It built a cloud-based platform that’s designed to automate the processing and management of sensitive financial documents, including tax filings. It provides tools for filling out tax returns, collecting payments, gathering e-signatures, automating financial workflows and compliance reporting, among other things.

The company has 235 employees at its Michigan headquarters. It claims its platform is used by 70% of the top 100 accounting firms in the U.S.

Thomson Reuters is mostly known for its global news agency, but it also dabbles in software, offering enterprise-grade products and tools that span accounting, financial management and law.

Indeed, SafeSend looks to be a great fit for Thomson Reuters’ existing tax preparation software, called UltraTax CS, and already boasts native integrations with that platform. By better integrating SafeSend’s capabilities with its own tax offerings, Thomson Reuters says it will be better able to automate the “last mile” of the tax return process.

Elizabeth Beastrom, who is Thomson Reuters’ president of tax, audit and accounting professionals, said the acquisition reinforces the company’s commitment to addressing the challenges faced by tax professionals and taxpayers.

“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,” she added.

The company said it will continue to offer SafeSend as a standalone product for now, and will continue to maintain its native integrations with rival tax software products.

It’s all about generative AI

One likely reason for the acquisition is that SafeSend can help Thomson Reuters to improve its artificial intelligence capabilities. In November, SafeSend launched a new generative AI-powered tool called SafeSend One, which is said to automate the entire tax return process by gathering documents and automatically compiling the necessary documents for customers.

Thomson Reuters made a similar move in October when it bought a U.S. startup called Materia Inc., which has developed AI agents for accounting professionals, for an undisclosed price.

Materia’s platform gives accountants the tools they need to create and customize AI assistants that can automate knowledge work for tax, auditing and research, so as to improve their ability to assist their clients. The startup’s AI agents do more than just provide answers and summaries, as they have the ability to perform certain actions without human intervention, such as generating reports, emails and analyzing documents.

Thomson Reuters said in November that it will invest more than $100 million in AI technologies this year, with the goal of integrating them with its information technology products. It said it intends to leverage its vast trove of data, accumulated by its software platforms and its news agency, to train its AI models.

In November 2022, Thomson Reuters acquired the accounting automation startup SurePrep LLC in a deal valued at $500 million.

Image: SiliconANGLE/Freepik AI