TaxAssist and Crunch are two of the most searched-for names when a UK business owner outgrows doing their own books. They are also close to opposites in how they work. TaxAssist is a franchise network of local offices you can walk into. Crunch is an online-only firm built around its own software, with no physical offices at all.
We are an independent accountancy firm, not affiliated with either, and we checked both firms' websites in August 2026 before writing this. Every factual claim about TaxAssist or Crunch below is date-stamped to that check, because the most common defect in comparison articles is pricing that quietly went stale years ago.
The Short Answer: Who Each Suits
If you want a local office, a named accountant you can sit across a desk from, and someone else keeping the records, TaxAssist's model is built for you. If you are comfortable doing your own bookkeeping inside a cloud platform, want real-time figures, and are happy with digital-only contact, Crunch's model is built for you.
Neither publishes a full price list as at August 2026, so the decision genuinely cannot be made on headline price alone. Both quote per client: Crunch through an online quote builder, TaxAssist through a free consultation with your local office. The businesses that get this decision wrong are usually the ones that picked on brand rather than on how they actually want to work.
How TaxAssist Works
TaxAssist Accountants describes itself, as at August 2026, as a national network of accountants across the UK, with 393 locations listed on its website. It is a franchise: each office is an independently owned business trading under the TaxAssist brand, and the firm actively recruits new franchisees. That structure is not a criticism, but it has a practical consequence: the accountant you deal with is a local business owner, and service quality, capacity and working style vary from office to office.
The offering is traditional accountancy delivered locally. TaxAssist's website lists small businesses, limited companies, contractors, CIS subcontractors, landlords, business sellers and employed individuals as its client types, and offers meetings in person, by video call or by phone. Its resources include a dedicated support hub for QuickBooks users. As at August 2026 there is no published price list: the firm offers a free video or face-to-face consultation, then provides a fixed-fee quote, valid for up to three months, with the option to spread the fee by monthly Direct Debit.
How Crunch Works
Crunch is a fully online accountancy firm built around its own software. As at August 2026 its website describes a combined model: you run your day-to-day bookkeeping in the Crunch platform (invoicing, expense tracking, bank reconciliation, with iOS and Android apps for receipts), and its UK-based certified accountants prepare and file from the same system. There are no physical offices, and support runs through the platform, phone and email, including "ask an accountant" style access.
Crunch started as a contractor-focused firm and still carries that DNA: as at August 2026 it advertises an IR35 add-on and directors' payroll within its limited company tiers. Its software is advertised as compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, which becomes a live requirement from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, so the software's MTD readiness is now a real selection criterion rather than a future feature.
Pricing: What Is Actually Verifiable in August 2026
Older comparison articles, including an earlier version of this one, quoted flat Crunch packages at fixed monthly prices. That is no longer how either firm presents pricing, so treat any article quoting flat package prices for these firms with suspicion. Here is what each firm's own website supports as at August 2026:
| What you can verify | TaxAssist | Crunch |
|---|---|---|
| Published price list for full accountancy service | No. Fixed-fee quote after a free consultation, valid up to three months, payable by monthly Direct Debit. | No. Tailored quote from business type, turnover, monthly transactions, directors and employees. |
| Software-only option | Not offered; offices work with accounting software including QuickBooks. | Yes, advertised from £10 plus VAT per month. |
| Advertised one-off and add-on prices | None published centrally. | Self Assessment filing £240 plus VAT (discounted to £156 plus VAT when checked); registered office £8 plus VAT per month; virtual office £8 plus VAT per month; company formation £100; employee payroll £20 to £30 plus VAT per month; IR35 add-on £7 plus VAT per month. |
| Free trial or consultation | Free initial consultation, in person or by video. | 14-day free trial advertised on accountancy services. |
The practical consequence: comparing these two on price means getting both quotes for your actual workload and reading them line by line. Check whether VAT returns, payroll, Self Assessment for directors, and confirmation statement filing are inside or outside the quoted fee, because that is where two similar-looking quotes diverge. Our guide to UK accounting fees sets out the market-wide benchmarks to judge any quote against.
Service Model: Franchise High Street vs Software Plus Accountant
This is the real fork in the road, and it matters more than price.
The TaxAssist model
You hand over records and someone local does the work. The strengths are relationship and accessibility: a named person, an office you can visit, and continuity if your affairs get complicated mid-year. The structural caveat is franchise variance. Because each office is independently owned, the experience two towns apart can differ. The sensible mitigation is to meet the actual accountant who will handle your work before signing, and ask directly about their capacity, their software, and who covers for them.
The Crunch model
You do the bookkeeping; the platform and team do the rest. The strengths are visibility and cost structure: your figures are current because you maintain them, and the service is priced for standardised work. The structural caveat is the mirror image: the model depends on you keeping the bookkeeping up to date, and you must use Crunch's own software. If you already run Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent and want to keep it, Crunch's platform-first model is not built for that; TaxAssist's QuickBooks support hub suggests the network is, at least for QuickBooks users.
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What Neither Model Includes
Both firms are built for straightforward owner-managed businesses, and both are good at that. Situations that usually sit outside a volume service model, whichever brand delivers it:
- Groups with associated companies, where the corporation tax limits are shared and structure planning matters.
- Substantial or contested R&D claims, where HMRC enquiry risk demands specialist handling.
- Overseas subsidiaries, non-resident directors or cross-border VAT.
- Businesses raising investment that need audit-ready accounts and due-diligence support.
- Exit planning, where sale structure and Business Asset Disposal Relief timing can move the outcome by more than several years of accountancy fees.
If any of those describe you, the comparison you should be running is not TaxAssist vs Crunch but volume service vs advisory firm.
Switching: The Practicalities
Changing accountant is easier than most owners expect, and there are no tax implications from the switch itself. The incoming firm writes to the outgoing one for professional clearance and your records. Three things smooth it:
- Time it after year-end. Let the outgoing accountant file the year they hold the records for; start the new relationship on a clean year.
- Plan the software move. Moving to Crunch means migrating bookkeeping into its platform. Leaving Crunch means exporting your data out of it into whatever comes next. Ask any prospective firm exactly how the migration works and who does it.
- Settle the final bill. Outgoing accountants can hold work, though not your own records, pending payment. Clear it before the handover date.
Alternatives Worth Knowing About
If you searched for an alternative to Crunch, or to TaxAssist, the field is wider than these two. Online providers such as Mazuma and Gorilla Accounting compete in the same space with different pricing models and target clients; we compare the online options in more depth in our Crunch vs TaxAssist vs Mazuma comparison.
The other alternative is the one comparison articles tend to skip: an independent fixed-fee firm. That is the category we sit in at Holloway Davies, so weigh this paragraph accordingly, but the trade-off is real. An independent firm typically gives you a named qualified accountant, works with mainstream software rather than locking you to a platform, and includes advisory scope, such as extraction planning, structure and exit, that volume services price as extras or do not offer. It will rarely be the cheapest quote on the table. If that trade-off sounds like the right one for where your business is heading, you can get in touch for a fixed-fee quote to compare against the other two.
Making the Decision
Be honest about how you want to work before you look at a single quote. If you want to drop into an office and hand the records over, start with your local TaxAssist and meet the accountant who would handle your work. If you want to run your numbers in an app and have the filings happen behind it, take Crunch's trial and see whether the software fits how you operate. Then get both quotes in writing for the same list of services and compare them line by line.
And re-check anything you read, including this page. Both firms change their pricing presentation; everything above reflects their websites as at August 2026.