YC-backed tax help startup Zen99 is shutting down August 25, users getting QuickBooks discounts

Y Combinator-backed Zen99 is shuttering, the company announced in a blog post today.

Zen99 helped on-demand economy workers and other freelancers to file 1099 tax forms with the IRS. In addition to logging income and expenses, its dashboard also helped users to sign up for health insurance. On August 25, 2015, the company will officially go offline.

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Zen99 says it won’t be selling any user data, but will be deleting all user files for security reasons at the end of the month. Those who have filed with the service are encouraged to download all of their tax data before then.

Though Zen99 is kaput, it hasn’t totally left its users hanging. In its final days, Zen99 struck up a partnership with Intuit, so that current Zen99 users can move over to QuickBooks Self-Employed service. Existing Zen99 customers will get their first month free, as well as 50 percent off their first year of service with Intuit.

In recent years, a number of promising startups have tried to nibble at Intuit’s back office and accounting services business. While some are growing successfully (like Xero), that doesn’t mean Intuit isn’t a difficult rival to come up against. After all, where small startups have innovation and flexibility, Intuit has an existing large user base.

In total, Zen99 raised $2.6 million in funding.