Agentic UK Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) component weight assessment, recycled content percentage calculation, and HMRC quarterly return preparation service for small manufacturers and importers (1–50 staff) liable under the Plastic Packaging Tax (£217.85/tonne from April 2024). Replaces the environmental tax consultant or accountant who charges £600–£2,000 per quarter to classify packaging components, calculate recycled content thresholds, produce the HMRC PPT100 return, and draft exemption evidence files — a process where HMRC issued 3,000+ compliance letters in 2023/24 to businesses that failed to register or under-declared.
Why now
No fresh signal available in today's batch; justified by HMRC's confirmed April 2024 rate increase to £217.85/tonne, ongoing compliance letter campaign, and the EPR for Packaging regime (already in user's past ideas) creating a natural adjacent audience of the same obligated businesses. PPT and EPR share the same compliance persona.
Commercial value
UK manufacturers, importers, and converters handling >10 tonnes of plastic packaging annually are legally obligated. HMRC estimates 20,000+ businesses in scope, the majority SMEs. Accountants and environmental consultants currently charge £600–£2,000/quarter for this work. SaaS price point of £149–£299/month (£1,800–£3,600 ACV) is a clear saving. Budget line is 'environmental/tax compliance' — real and recurring.
Go-to-market
Target UK accountants and bookkeepers serving manufacturing/import clients via LinkedIn and AccountingWeb forum — position as a white-label compliance tool they can resell. First 10 customers via direct DM to accountants already posting about PPT confusion. Price at £149/month per client or £499/month for accountant multi-client licence.
2-week MVP
Single workflow: user uploads a CSV of packaging components (material, weight, recycled content %) and the tool outputs a draft PPT100 quarterly return and a recycled content evidence summary memo. No portal integration, no automated HMRC submission — LLM parses the CSV, applies the HMRC classification rules, and generates a formatted Word/PDF pack. First customer pays £149 for one quarter's return pack on day 1; everything else (dashboard, auto-submission, multi-period tracking) is cut.
Agent score
0.59 — Commercial score reflects a real, named HMRC obligation with a clear incumbent spend (accountant/consultant fees), ~20,000 addressable UK businesses, and believable £1,800+ ACV — docked from higher because many accountants already handle this ad-hoc and switching friction is moderate. Speed score is high because the MVP is a document-generation workflow with no API integrations required, shippable solo in under 2 weeks, and the first 10 customers are reachable via AccountingWeb/LinkedIn without paid ads. Defensibility is weak-default: no proprietary data moat yet, though workflow lock-in builds once clients store multi-period component libraries.
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Solve Studio is an independent AI automation and product studio founded by James Pates, working out of Brighton and London with clients across the UK. Get in touch at james@solve-studio.co.