Stephanie Wickham, a former senior accountant from the ‘big four’, has ambitious objectives for her expat tax advisory platform. She voiced her goal for expattaxes.ie to achieve a turnover of €1 million in the coming two years, as the firm establishes its position in a highly competitive sector.
The website, which was established by Wickham in 2019 after her relocation back to Ireland from Australia where she spent eight years, has made significant progress. While abroad, she was part of KPMG’s global mobility practice, assisting employees with their relocations.
Fast forward five years, the firm has amassed over 3,000 clients and its expected revenues are projected to surpass €700,000 by the end of the current year. This represents a staggering 700 percent rise since 2019.
The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of the company shows an average 70 per cent margin over the last four years of operations.
Wickham is steadfast in her goal to reach the €1 million revenue landmark in the next couple of years, confidently stating that there is no obstacle preventing the company from hitting that target in the coming year.
She highlighted that while revenue isn’t the sole measure of success, it was an important focus. She further mentioned that the firm’s revenue in the first two months of 2024 outstripped the previous year’s equivalent period by 57 per cent. Reflecting on these numbers, she believes that the company could replicate this success in 2025.
Wickham attributed some of the company’s success to the pandemic which made people comfortable with virtual tax advice and shifted attitudes towards remote work. She discerned a desire among people in competitive markets to return to the flexible work arrangements that were established during the pandemic.
In a crowded market place with several large online competitors, Wickham asserts that her firm has been able to set itself apart by focusing exclusively on expat tax guidance, alongside targeted marketing strategies and innovations.
She believes there will be a surge in business transactions from the UK to Ireland following the recent announcement by the British government to discontinue the non-domiciled tax system next year. A web-based application is currently being developed, with financial support from the Local Enterprise Office, to make the taxation process for non-domiciled individuals more straightforward.
Instead of opposing AI, we should embrace its potential, she maintains. She believes or the public’s inclination towards AI and technology, in general, reinforces the need to keep evolving and striving to excel in our area of work, even if it means thinking unconventionally. She’s aspiring to roll out a basic product variant of the application this year.
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