Found vs. Lili: Tax Automation for Freelancers Compared

The single most common freelancer money mistake isn't a bad rate or a hidden fee, it's spending tax money before quarterly estimates come due, because nothing in a standard checking account distinguishes "money you have" from "money the IRS already has a claim on." Found and Lili both built their core product around solving exactly that problem, and while they're often compared as interchangeable options, their actual feature sets have diverged enough that the choice isn't arbitrary.

Found: Bookkeeping-First, Filing Recently Scaled Back

Found's core mechanism is a real-time tax estimate that updates continuously as money comes in and goes out, paired with automatic set-aside so a portion of every deposit moves toward the account's tax-estimate balance rather than sitting available to spend. On top of that, Found auto-generates a Schedule C, the tax form most sole proprietors and single-member LLCs need, based on the transaction and category data already flowing through the account.

That's a real change worth building into your planning if Found's original all-in-one filing pitch is what drew you to it. The underlying tax-estimation, set-aside, and Schedule C-prep functionality remains, you're just handling the actual filing step through a separate tool or a tax professional now, rather than end-to-end inside Found.

Found is FDIC-insured through partner bank Lead Bank, confirmed directly on Found's own site, worth noting since some older third-party reviews reference a different prior partner bank.

Lili: Yield-Forward, With Its Own Named Tax Tools

Lili's tax automation runs through two specifically named features: a real-time Write-Off Tracker that flags likely-deductible expenses as they happen, and a Tax Bucket, a dedicated sub-account that automatically captures a set percentage of each incoming payment for estimated taxes. Functionally similar in outcome to Found's set-aside mechanism, structured differently, as an explicit separate bucket rather than a running balance calculation.

Lili has also moved further from its original solo-freelancer positioning than Found has. As of its 2026 platform expansion, Lili now serves multi-employee small businesses directly, not just individual freelancers, and pairs that with a 4.00% APY on its savings feature, a meaningfully competitive rate if yield on your working capital matters alongside the tax automation. Lili is FDIC-insured through partner bank Sunrise Banks, N.A., with additional program-bank coverage extending protection up to $3 million through a broader sweep network, worth knowing if you carry a larger balance than the standard $250,000 single-bank limit would cover.

Choosing Between Them

If comprehensive bookkeeping and Schedule C accuracy are your priority, and you're comfortable handling the actual tax filing through a separate tool or preparer, Found's structure is built around exactly that workflow. If a stronger savings yield alongside straightforward tax-bucket automation matters more, or your business has grown past a solo operation into a small team, Lili's current positioning fits better.

Neither is a substitute for a CPA if your tax situation has real complexity, multiple income streams, significant deductions requiring judgment calls, entity structure questions, both platforms automate the mechanical part of setting money aside and estimating a baseline liability, not tax strategy. For the cash-flow-management side of running a small business rather than the tax-specific side, our guide to Relay's sub-account structure and Profit First covers a complementary approach worth pairing with either platform.

This is educational information, not personalized tax or financial advice. Product features and partner-bank relationships change; confirm current details directly with Found or Lili before opening an account, and consult a CPA for anything beyond basic estimated-tax set-aside.