How Graphite Helped Blue Onion Navigate Multi-State Tax Complexity and Claim $200K in R&D Credit

At a Glance

From navigating multi-state complexity to audit-ready confidence

As a new SaaS B-to-B company, Blue Onion planned to add remote staff and sell across state lines, which would trigger complex corporate and sales tax regulations. CEO Lyndsey Bunting knew she needed expert guidance to handle these multi-state implications, but she wanted to focus her time on growing the business rather than learning and navigating tax laws or managing a full-time internal hire.

A referral sent her to Graphite, which took over Blue Onion’s tax compliance and advisory work from the start, setting the company up for long-term success. Graphite provided scalable tax support that kept the business compliant across jurisdictions, while ensuring Blue Onion's financials were thoroughly prepared for investor scrutiny.

• Claimed approximately $200K in R&D tax credits, which provided an unexpected boost to the company's cash flow.
• Avoided the cost and burden of hiring an internal tax resource while maintaining compliance across multiple US states.
• Delivered highly dependable, audit-ready numbers, giving Blue Onion confidence in its numbers during diligence for a $10M Series A raise.

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About Blue Onion

A Better Way to Process Financial Data

Lyndsey Bunting, CEO of Blue Onion, came from a $200M global online monthly make-up subscription service where she was the VP of Finance. She saw first-hand how an e-commerce business struggles to reconcile data and understand the numbers, especially as it scaled and started using multiple systems that didn’t talk to each other. Understanding that frustrating process led Lyndsey to create Blue Onion.

Blue Onion formed in 2020 after the startup was accepted into and completed Y Combinator's highly selective early-stage accelerator program. Blue Onion, serving B-to-B brands mostly between $20M and $500M in annual revenue, automates parts of the accounting process for the e-commerce and retail industries through its financial intelligence platform. It’s helped customers like Sunday Riley, Veronica Beard, and Little Sleepies.

Unlike other platforms, Blue Onion reconciles every transaction—order, payout, fee, refund, and bank deposit—across every customer sales channel, payment processor, bank, and ERP into one reconciled financial foundation. The platform then provides insights into margins, profitability, and cash flow.

In 2025, Blue Onion announced a $10M Series A raise and now has 28 remote employees in multiple states.

The Background

Prepping For Multi-state Growth

Because Blue Onion was a remote-first company, Lyndsey knew that adding staff in multiple states as the business grew would mean complex tax implications. Blue Onion would need to register the business as an employer in each state and then file individual state and federal income tax returns.

Selling SaaS across state lines also introduced complex, location-specific tax rules, forcing Blue Onion to determine where it had tax nexus, sales tax remittance obligations, and corporate filing requirements. Staying on top of changing sales tax rules by state seemed overwhelming to Lyndsey, but not realizing Blue Onion’s sales tax obligation could have big repercussions for the business.

Even with her background running a large global finance team at a multi-million-dollar company, Lyndsey knew tax wasn’t her specialty. She needed tax guidance to navigate the complexities.

“SaaS isn’t that complicated when you compare us to other industries, but I would never consider handling our taxes because of how many hours it would take and the level of expertise that's required.”

Lyndsey Bunting | CEO, Blue Onion

The Challenge

Avoiding In-house Tax Work, Navigating Complexities

For Lyndsey to even think about handling Blue Onion’s taxes, she’d have to spend countless hours of research to understand the complex tax regulations her business would face. She didn’t have the time nor the desire to take on the taxes. She wanted her time and efforts focused on growing the business, not on learning the intricacies of tax laws and regulations.

Lyndsey knew Blue Onion needed a high level of tax expertise to address the implications of hiring and selling in multiple states, but she didn’t have enough year-round tax work to justify the significant expense of hiring a full-time internal resource. Blue Onion needed a trusted partner it could lean on for tax advice, not just someone to file returns. As a venture-backed company, it was important to Lyndsey to always keep the numbers “super buttoned up” for audits and due diligence.

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The Solution

A Trusted Partner From the Start

Blue Onion wanted not only accurate and timely filings, but also consistent, responsive support and tax expertise to help the company set up the books properly from the beginning to work and sell in multiple states. Lyndsey knew they’d require advice, prep, and filling around corporate, federal, state, and local returns.

Lyndsey connected with Graphite through a referral from the Y Combinator network, liked what she heard, and hired the team for tax compliance and advisory work in 2020.

During onboarding, Lyndsey says Graphite took time to thoroughly review the books, understand the business, ask questions, and look through some of the tax schedules Blue Onion developed. She was impressed that Graphite offered advice and feedback early on to help them get their books set up correctly for the long haul; for example, instructing Lyndsey to keep track of the states where company-issued computers were being used for tax purposes.

Lyndsey says she felt comfortable knowing she could leverage Graphite’s broad experience working with similar SaaS and venture-backed startup clients and could trust the team’s expert answers about complex issues around sales tax nexus and state and federal tax requirements.

“With my finance and accounting background, I could have gotten away with doing our taxes that first year, but I didn’t want to go down that road. I wanted to make sure everything was super buttoned up for when a third party says, ‘show me your taxes.’ With Graphite, I know everything is aboveboard. I think that helps me sleep at night.”

Lyndsey Bunting | CEO, Blue Onion

The Transformation

Unexpected Cash Flow

One perk Lyndsey wasn’t expecting—getting back $200K. Blue Onion engaged Graphite to see if the company had any eligible research and development activities that allowed it to claim tax credits. It did. Over the years, Graphite prepared supporting documentation that let Blue Onion claim approximately $200K in R&D tax credits, significantly improving cash flow. Lyndsey said, “At one point, there were a bunch of startups handling R&D tax credit work for companies. A lot of those startups are no longer around. When we hired Graphite, we made sure we were working with a stable firm who would be here long-term.”

Confidence in the Numbers During Big Moments

Since 2020, the business has expanded into numerous states as planned and continues to grow. Lyndsey says with all the complexities that come with scaling, she still consistently believes in the numbers Graphite provides. She trusted the numbers when she put them in front of investors during the fundraising process. That reliability mattered. “We felt confident and they (investors) felt confident in our numbers,” Lyndsey said. Blue Onion secured a $10M Series A raise.

A Lasting Partnership

Six years after Blue Onion hired Graphite, the firm handles the company’s federal and state filings across multiple jurisdictions, R&D tax credit work, 1099s, and sales tax and strategic record-keeping advisory. Lyndsey says she values the advice and honest feedback, noting, “Having a true partner like Graphite—someone who will push back, keep us compliant, and not just say yes to everything—is important. They save us so much time and worry.”

Lyndsey notes that Blue Onion works with a lot of different accounting firms on behalf of clients and as clients. Because of her familiarity with these other firms, Lyndsey says it wouldn’t be hard to move her company’s tax work to another firm. “As much as I’ve loved working with these other firms,” Lyndsey says, “we’ve had such a positive experience with Graphite since the beginning that there’s not been a reason for me to even think about switching. I’m always impressed by the team, the quality, and the responsiveness. It’s been six years of using Graphite’s tax services, and it’s been exactly what we need.”

When it comes to considering an internal hire to take on the taxes, Lyndsey doesn’t consider it. “One of the things that's changed in venture over the years is you used to raise a lot of money and then hire a lot of people. That was a signal of success. But now you see more companies who are so much more efficient because of companies like Graphite.”

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“A company can now build a business and get the required expertise in certain fields and flex right when you need it without carrying the burden of full payroll. From a cost perspective, that’s helpful.”

Lyndsey Bunting | CEO, Blue Onion 

What's Next

International Growth and Product Expansion

Blue Onion is currently focusing on new product launches and going deeper into the e-commerce and retail verticals. As Blue Onion’s global footprint expands and regulations inevitably shift, the company plans to continue relying on Graphite’s scalable support to handle its increasing tax complexities seamlessly. As they grow, Lyndsey said they still won’t need to hire an internal finance team, and don’t expect that to change.

How Graphite Helps B2B SaaS Brands

If you're building a remote-first, venture-backed SaaS company, you already know the problem isn't just revenue—it's the compliance and tax complexities that come with hiring and selling across multiple states and preparing for investor due diligence and audits. That's the exact tax complexity Graphite takes over. From multi-state tax filings and R&D tax credits to sales tax nexus analysis and 1099s, Graphite provides expertise delivered from a dedicated team, not an expensive full-time hire you have to manage. Walk into your next fundraising round or third-party audit with financials you can stand behind!

Let us take on the tax complexities so you can focus on growing your business.