NEW FEATURE
Compound Tax: Expanding Tax Filing
Compound Tax caused significant friction for both clients and advisors, who had no visibility into return status. The redesign addressed transparency gaps and introduced guided product discovery to improve the filing experience.
Role
UX/UI Design, part of 2-person team
Timeline
4 weeks
Tools
Figma
Methods
User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Stakeholder Management
Challenge #1
Transparency into filing status
In the year prior, Compound outsourced their tax experience which caused significant friction for both clients and advisors, who had no visibility into return status or expected timelines.
Clients didn’t know who was handling their return or where it stood while advisors spent too much time manually tracking progress.
"Who is handling my filing?"
"Has my return been submitted?"
Challenge #2
Discoverability of new tax options
Compound also expanded its partner network to better support a wider range of tax needs. With new partners in the mix, the design challenge also included routing clients to the right provider—by pre-determining complexity where possible—and guiding unassigned clients through clear product discovery.
Design Strategy
Discoverability
Show pricing tiers: Show upfront pricing and include examples of complexity for each price tier.
Guided discovery: Allow proactive routing on the advisor-side to reduce decision fatigue and route clients accordingly based on known information.
Clear FAQ: Embed FAQs so clients could better understand timelines and set expectations before committing.
Design Strategy
Transparency post-filing
Through shared transparency, clients and advisors could reference the same source of truth, cutting down redundant back-and-forth.
On the Client dashboard: Add a “Received” timestamp, and dedicated status page once a return was filed.
On the Advisor dashboard: Support all client filings in one place, with visibility into status, firm assignment, and payment/refund details.
Outcome
Visibility, routing, and scalability
By offering transparency early on and at each stage, clients felt reassured knowing which firm was handling their return, and support ticket decreased. Advisors were also able to proactively monitor progress and escalate issues when needed.
Final Thoughts
Clear pathways and transparency are critical
When introducing multiple service options, client education and subtle guardrails are essential to reduce decision fatigue and avoid costly errors.
Future iterations will focus on smarter advisor alerts, expanded filing analytics, and deeper client education at the discovery stage.
