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Taxfox

Redefining the way Australians manage taxes and maximize their refunds.

Redefining the way Australians manage taxes and maximize their refunds.

Live site

TaxFox

The Context

TaxFox is a Sydney-based mobile tax app serving individuals, sole traders, and freelancers across Australia.

Founded in 2018 by Maz Zaman, TaxFox helps Australians calculate income tax, track deductions, store receipts, and lodge returns under ATO laws. I was brought on to redesign key screens of the existing mobile app, improving usability, visual clarity, and overall user experience across both iOS and Android.

The Problem

The existing app had powerful features that users struggled to discover, understand, and trust.

Despite offering AI-driven deduction scanning, digital logbooks, and secure receipt storage, the app's interface was cluttered and complex, making tax management feel overwhelming rather than empowering. Users, especially freelancers and sole traders, were not getting the full value of what TaxFox offered.

Client

TaxFox

Year

2025

Duration

3 Months

Type

Tax Management

Industry

FinTech

Scope

UI/UX
Wireframe
Digital Design
Design System

The Objectives

Redesign key screens of the TaxFox mobile app to make tax management simpler, clearer, and more trustworthy for Australian individuals, sole traders, and freelancers, with a focus on usability, visual clarity, and feature accessibility.

This involved a full UX design thinking process: deep user research, synthesis, visual language refinement, design system, and high-fidelity screen redesigns across 6 core areas of the application.

The Approach

  1. EMPATHISE

2. CONCEPTUALISE

3. DESIGN

  1. EMPATHISE

2

3

I lacked real understanding of what was stopping Australian taxpayers from getting full value out of TaxFox.

  1. What made tax management feel stressful rather than straightforward?

  2. Which features were being ignored due to poor discoverability?

  3. What did freelancers and sole traders specifically need that the app wasn’t delivering?

I ran an intensive research sprint across multiple channels to build real empathy with users.

  1. Analysed App Store and Google Play reviews of TaxFox and key competitors.

  2. Studied competing apps, ATO MyTax, Etax, MyTaxExpress, and TaxReturn Australia.

  3. Investigated Australian taxpayer discussions on Reddit and Facebook groups.

App Store & Review Research

  1. Users praised the concept but consistently cited a confusing onboarding experience.

  2. Recurring complaint: key features like AI Smart Finder were hard to discover.

  3. Many users felt uncertain whether their calculations matched ATO standards.

Competitor Analysis

  1. ATO MyTax is trusted for accuracy but has no design polish or user delight.

  2. Etax uses a guided step-by-step flow that reduces cognitive load significantly.

  3. Opportunity: TaxFox could lead on both usability and visual quality.

  1. ATO MyTax is trusted for accuracy but has no design polish or user delight.

  2. Etax uses a guided step-by-step flow that reduces cognitive load significantly.

  3. Opportunity: TaxFox could lead on both usability and visual quality.


Community Research

  1. Freelancers on Reddit were confused about which expenses qualified as deductions.

  2. Sole traders wanted faster mileage logging, ideally one tap while on the road.

  3. Receipt storage was valued highly but users wanted clearer security messaging.

Key Insight

  1. The app’s complexity was eroding trust, users felt they might be doing it wrong

  2. The dashboard needed to provide an instant tax snapshot, not require users to dig for it

  3. Plain language and contextual guidance mattered more to users than additional features

  1. The app’s complexity was eroding trust, users felt they might be doing it wrong

  2. The dashboard needed to provide an instant tax snapshot, not require users to dig for it

  3. Plain language and contextual guidance mattered more to users than additional features.

  1. The app’s complexity was eroding trust, users felt they might be doing it wrong

  2. The dashboard needed to provide an instant tax snapshot, not require users to dig for it

  3. Plain language and contextual guidance mattered more to users than additional features.


1

2. CONCEPTUALISE

3

I was overwhelmed with insights, needed to prioritize and form a clear design strategy.

  1. Understand and rank the most critical pain points across user types.

  2. Classify insights by frequency and severity to focus the redesign scope.

  3. Present the synthesis to the client team for alignment before designing.

I translated research into a product strategy and experience framework for the redesign.

  1. Created affinity maps to cluster pain points by theme across all user types.

  2. Built a customer journey map across Sarah’s full tax return process.

  3. Prioritised the 6 core screens for redesign based on drop-off risk and user impact.


  1. Created affinity maps to cluster pain points by theme across all user types.

  2. Built a customer journey map across Sarah’s full tax return process.

  3. Prioritised the 6 core screens for redesign based on drop-off risk and user impact.

Affinity Map

  1. 4 major clusters: Complexity & Confusion, Trust & Security, Feature Discoverability, Visual Clarity.

  2. Most critical moments: onboarding, dashboard orientation, and refund calculator results.

  3. Secondary: pricing page conversion and profile settings organization.

Customer Journey Map

  1. Mapped Sarah’s journey from app download through to lodgment.

  2. Biggest friction: the transition from onboarding to the dashboard, no clear next step.

  3. Emotional low point: viewing refund calculator results with no context or explanation.

  1. Mapped Sarah’s journey from app download through to lodgment.

  2. Biggest friction: the transition from onboarding to the dashboard, no clear next step.

  3. Emotional low point: viewing refund calculator results with no context or explanation.



Key Takeaways

  1. Clarity and trust matter more than feature depth for this audience.

  2. The dashboard needed to immediately answer “what do I owe and what can I claim?”.

  3. A refined design system was critical to bring consistency to a fragmented interface.

  1. Clarity and trust matter more than feature depth for this audience.

  2. The dashboard needed to immediately answer “what do I owe and what can I claim?”.

  3. A refined design system was critical to bring consistency to a fragmented interface.


Strategic Direction

  1. Redesign: onboarding, dashboard, pricing, refund calculator, profile, expense tracker.

  2. Refine the existing visual language rather than rebuilding from scratch.

  3. Anchor every decision to one principle: make tax feel manageable, not intimidating.

1

2

3. DESIGN

Working on an existing app meant key design decisions had to respect what was already there.

  1. Should we refine the existing visual language or establish an entirely new one?

  2. Which screens needed a full rethink vs. targeted, surgical UX improvements?

  3. How do we introduce consistency across 6 screens without alienating existing users?

Once the direction was clear, we refined the system and executed all 6 screen redesigns with full consistency.

  1. Reviewed and refined the existing colour palette for accessibility and contrast.

  2. Built a reusable component library: cards, inputs, buttons, navigation, and badges.

  3. Designed all screens optimised for both iOS and Android.


  1. Reviewed and refined the existing colour palette for accessibility and contrast.

  2. Built a reusable component library: cards, inputs, buttons, navigation, and badges.

  3. Designed all screens optimised for both iOS and Android.

From the start, there were layers of complexity to navigate, redesigning a mobile tax app deeply tied to Australian tax law while making it feel approachable and clear for everyday users. It was a real challenge to work from an existing interface that had grown organically without a UX foundation, figuring out which screens needed targeted improvements and which needed to be rethought entirely from the ground up.


Throughout the project, I went through multiple wireframe iterations and had extensive conversations about the nuances of each screen, from the onboarding flow to the refund calculator results. On top of that, the UI was designed to feel trustworthy and reassuring, so users could focus on maximising their refund, not deciphering the app.

From the start, there were layers of complexity to navigate, redesigning a mobile tax app deeply tied to Australian tax law while making it feel approachable and clear for everyday users. It was a real challenge to work from an existing interface that had grown organically without a UX foundation, figuring out which screens needed targeted improvements and which needed to be rethought entirely from the ground up.


Throughout the project, I went through multiple wireframe iterations and had extensive conversations about the nuances of each screen, from the onboarding flow to the refund calculator results. On top of that, the UI was designed to feel trustworthy and reassuring, so users could focus on maximising their refund, not deciphering the app.

"Sodiq humanized our machine learning, architecting an effortless real-time tracking system that bridges the gap between complex ATO data and a frictionless mobile UX. His work directly streamlined the 'path-to-refund,' making tax season truly manageable for our users for the first time."

"Sodiq humanized our machine learning, architecting an effortless real-time tracking system that bridges the gap between complex ATO data and a frictionless mobile UX. His work directly streamlined the 'path-to-refund,' making tax season truly manageable for our users for the first time."

Maz Zaman

Chief Growth Officer at TaxFox

The before screens (Existing TaxFox Designs)

The before screens (Existing TaxFox Designs)

The after screens (New TaxFox Designs)

The after screens (New TaxFox Designs)

Live site

TaxFox

The TaxFox redesign delivered a complete overhaul of the app’s core experience, making it clearer, more trustworthy, and significantly easier to use for Australian taxpayers. Six core screens were fully redesigned with a focus on usability and clarity, serving three user types: individuals, sole traders, and freelancers. The project also produced a refined design system and component library, giving the team a consistent foundation and a smooth handoff.


The results were validated in usability testing, where zero users asked “am I doing this right?”, a strong signal that the new design builds confidence. Both personas completed their core tasks without prompting, and participants described the redesigned app as “cleaner,” “clearer,” and “more reassuring.” Together, these responses show the redesign successfully shifted TaxFox from feeling complex to feeling genuinely manageable.

The TaxFox redesign delivered a complete overhaul of the app’s core experience, making it clearer, more trustworthy, and significantly easier to use for Australian taxpayers. Six core screens were fully redesigned with a focus on usability and clarity, serving three user types: individuals, sole traders, and freelancers. The project also produced a refined design system and component library, giving the team a consistent foundation and a smooth handoff.


The results were validated in usability testing, where zero users asked “am I doing this right?”, a strong signal that the new design builds confidence. Both personas completed their core tasks without prompting, and participants described the redesigned app as “cleaner,” “clearer,” and “more reassuring.” Together, these responses show the redesign successfully shifted TaxFox from feeling complex to feeling genuinely manageable.

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Let’s work together

arilewolasodiq@gmail.com

+234 703 666 1092

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Let’s work together

arilewolasodiq@gmail.com

+234 703 666 1092

Explore

About

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Contact

Socials

LinkedIn

X (Formerly Twitter)

TikTok

Instagram

Others

Upwork

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2026 Arilewola Sodiq. All rights reserved.

Let’s work together

arilewolasodiq@gmail.com

+234 703 666 1092

Explore

About

Services

Work

Contact

Socials

LinkedIn

X (Twitter)

TikTok

Instagram

Others

Upwork

Contra

2026 Arilewola Sodiq. All rights reserved.

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