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TaxBridge vs Manual ETA Entry: What Each One Really Costs
Every invoice you raise has to reach the Tax Authority. You can retype each one on the ETA portal, or let TaxBridge send it from the system that raised it. Neither has a price list: manual entry costs your team's time, and we price the integration after scoping it. This page gives you the arithmetic to find your own number.
| Feature | TaxBridge (automated) | Manual portal entry |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | Sends the invoice you already raised, from your system to the Tax Authority. | Someone opens the portal and types each invoice a second time. |
| How the cost behaves | A one-off integration plus a running cost. Doubling your invoice volume does not change it. | Nothing up front, and the cost grows with every invoice. |
| Working out your number | The integration plus a year of running cost, divided by the invoices you issue in a year. | Invoices a month × minutes per invoice × your team's hourly cost. Time ten real invoices to get the minutes. |
| Accuracy | The Authority receives exactly what you booked. | Retyping is where your ledger and your submissions start to differ. |
| Rejections | Come back on the invoice record, with the reason. | Sit in the portal; matching each one to its invoice is a second job. |
| Leave and holidays | Sending is part of issuing the invoice, so nobody has to remember it. | The month the person who does it is away, the invoices wait. |
| When the specification changes | The integration is maintained against the Authority's specification as it changes. | Your team finds out when a submission fails. |
| What automation does not fix | A wrong chart of accounts, a missing tax code or a customer without a tax number. Bad data goes out faster, not better. | The person typing at least sees every invoice. |
| Best fit | Enough invoices that someone spends real hours a month on the portal. | A handful of invoices a month. Manual wins here: nothing to pay up front and nothing to maintain. |
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Want to know how this works out for your company? Send us the question as you would ask it.
Which one should you pick?
At a handful of invoices a month, stay manual. An integration would take too long to pay for itself.
Above that, time your team on ten invoices and multiply by your monthly volume and their hourly cost. That is what manual entry costs you every month, and it is the number to set against the integration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does manual invoice submission cost?
Nothing you pay anyone, which is why it gets underestimated. It is your team's time, per invoice: monthly volume × minutes to key and check each one × the hourly cost of that person. Time ten of your own invoices; the minutes depend on how complex your invoices are.
Can we keep our accounting system and automate submission?
Yes — that is what a bridge is for. TaxBridge sends the invoice you already raised, and your accounting system stays as it is. The work is mapping your document types, tax codes and customer records to what the Authority expects, not a migration.
Is automation worth it at low volume?
Usually not. With a handful of invoices a month the integration takes too long to pay for itself. Do the ten-invoice timing above; the monthly total answers the question.
Will automation fix our invoice errors?
No. A wrong chart of accounts, a missing tax code or a customer without a tax number gets submitted faster, not fixed. Cleaning that data is usually part of the same project.
Tell us how many invoices you issue a month and what system raises them, and we will tell you what the integration involves — and say so if your volume does not justify it yet.