CEO David Wyle founded SurePrep in 2002, twenty years ago this month.
Prior to his life as an entrepreneur, Mr. Wyle worked as a CPA. He saw first-hand how tax and accounting lagged other industries in technology. His first software venture was a trial balance-based engagement solution, purchased by CCH in 2001 and rebranded ProSystem fx Engagement. A year later, Mr. Wyle founded SurePrep to focus on 1040 tax preparation.
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The company began as an outsource service provider, but Mr. Wyle quickly identified tech gaps in the 1040 space. In 2007, SurePrep released 1040SCAN and SPbinder. Together they formed the first complete 1040 automation and workpaper management solution. Until SPbinder, tax professionals were limited to Adobe Acrobat plug-ins and “off label” software. Nothing was purpose-built for 1040 preparation. For the next 15 years, SurePrep aggressively re-invested in product development. 1040SCAN and SPbinder are now the most advanced 1040 solutions on the market.
Following this success, SurePrep turned its focus to another technology gap: taxpayer collaboration. Many firms still send paper organizers to their clients. Some use online portals that require taxpayers to print, sign, scan, and upload. In 2016, SurePrep released TaxCaddy: the first taxpayer collaboration platform to include native mobile apps for iOS and Android. Today, the app has 4.5+ star ratings in the Apple and Google Play app stores. It has helped tens of thousands of tax professionals collaborate more efficiently with their 1040 clients.
Together, SurePrep’s solutions form a 1040 workflow that is digital end-to-end. During the pandemic, SurePrep customers had the flexibility to pivot toward remote work thanks to SurePrep’s cloud-based process. In 2020, the Orange County Business Journal named SurePrep one of the top 10 fastest growing companies in the county.
In 2021, SurePrep hired a VP of AI to work with the company’s dedicated Innovation Team. Later that same year, the company released its first wave of AI enhancements. SurePrep’s AI-powered technology can now auto-verify Optical Character Recognition (OCR) data for 65% of standard documents—and that number is only expected to grow. SurePrep’s AI roadmap includes OCR and auto-indexing of non-standard documents.
Today, SurePrep’s 750+ employees serve over 25,000 tax professionals. Three of the Big 4, seven of the Top 10, fifty-five of the Top 100, and approximately 2,000 small- to mid-sized firms use SurePrep solutions. SurePrep continues to grow and lead the curve in technological innovation.