Acquisition boosts cloud accounting tools portfolio for Oldham business

Oldham-based Pennine Ventures – the team behind GoSimpleTax and Coconut accounting tools – has acquired payroll software business, MyPAYE, for an undisclosed sum, which it says will better support sole traders, landlords and accountants.

This deal follows news in April last year that Pennine Ventures acquired Coconut, which has since been integrated with GoSimpleTax.

Pennine Ventures, MD, James Cryne, said: “As GoSimpleTax and Coconut grow we’re getting more enquiries for a simple payroll.

“The MyPAYE platorm is a leading cloud provider for our segment and makes payroll preparation easy for both accountants and individuals.”

Tim Sheppard, CEO of Oldham-based MyPAYE, said: “We’ve been looking for a good home for MyPAYE as I approach retirement.

“The team at Pennine Ventures provide that in abundance, giving MyPAYE a place to prosper and grow. I look forward to working with them over the coming years to bring these ambitions to reality.”

GoSimpleTax and Coconut are cloud bookkeeping and UK tax filing solutions, providing 24,000 customers with innovative bookkeeping, self assessment and VAT MTD filing software.

Adding MyPAYE continues this growth, establishing the business as a challenger in the UK cloud software space, with bookkeeping, seamless bank account integration, income tax filing and payroll for small businesses and their accountants.

The acquisition creates immediate value for MyPAYE, Coconut and GoSimpleTax customers. Tim Sheppard will be joining the team to continue to provide knowledge, updates and support its customers.

GoSimpleTax continues the journey in tax started by James Cryne, Anthony Boggiano and Glyn Rigby through their business Keytime Objective Limited, which grew to be one of the biggest independent tax software houses in the UK, with a complete range of tools for accountants in practice, until acquired by Iris Group in 2015.

Since then, the focus has been on GoSimpleTax, making easy to use, sophisticated, fully featured tax return filing software for individuals, ready for Making Tax Digital. Tax Calculators and ‘VAT for MTD’ filing have been added in as demand grew, expanding the offering for specific users such as Landlords, Self Employed and Accountants in Practice.