How TaxSey Achieved SOC 2 Type II Affordably with LowerPlane

SOC 2 Type II is table stakes for any tax platform handling sensitive financial data. For a company like TaxSey, that means proving to every enterprise, PwC-style RFI, and Free Zone finance team that our controls hold up over months, not just on paper. Here's how we got there without the six-figure budget most vendors quote — by running the entire program through LowerPlane.

Why SOC 2 Type II Matters for a Tax Platform

When a UAE business hands over ledgers, invoices, and Corporate Tax filings to a third-party platform, they're trusting us with data that is regulated by the Federal Tax Authority, the UAE Personal Data Protection Law, and — for enterprise customers — their own internal audit and procurement teams. SOC 2 Type II is the accepted evidence that our security, availability, and confidentiality controls actually operate the way we say they do.

A Type II report goes further than Type I. It covers a review window (typically 6–12 months) during which an independent auditor tests each control repeatedly. That's what buyers ask for. And that's what we now hand over — under NDA — during procurement.

The Old Way: Why SOC 2 Usually Costs a Fortune

Historically, getting SOC 2 Type II meant paying three separate bills:

• Compliance tooling — a platform to collect evidence, monitor controls, and manage policies. Usually AED 40,000–90,000 per year.
• Consulting and support — vCISO, compliance analysts, or a Big 4 advisory team walking you through the framework. Easily AED 60,000+ for readiness alone.
• The audit itself — a licensed CPA firm delivering the actual attestation report. AED 50,000–120,000 depending on scope.

Add it up, and a first Type II report often runs past AED 200,000 before you've written a single control narrative. For an early-growth SaaS company, that's the difference between hiring two engineers and hiring none.

How LowerPlane Changes the Math

LowerPlane bundles all three pieces — tooling, expert support, and the audit report — into one predictable subscription. Instead of stitching together a vendor, a consultant, and an auditor, we run the entire program on one platform with one accountable partner.

What we get inside a single package:

• Compliance automation tooling — integrations with AWS, Google Workspace, GitHub, our HRIS, and Jira automatically pull evidence, monitor controls continuously, and flag drift before an auditor ever sees it.
• Hands-on expert support — a dedicated compliance advisor who runs readiness assessments, drafts policies, coaches us through control design, and prepares the team for auditor walkthroughs.
• The SOC 2 audit report — the licensed CPA firm is engaged through LowerPlane, and the final Type II attestation is delivered to us as part of the same subscription. No separate RFP, no separate scoping call, no separate invoice.

What "Affordable" Actually Means

LowerPlane's model works because the platform automates the parts that used to justify consulting hours. Evidence collection, control testing, access reviews, vendor risk tracking, and policy acknowledgements all run on the same rails. The advisor spends their time on the judgement calls — scope, control design, auditor negotiations — instead of chasing screenshots.

For TaxSey, the total cost of our first Type II window landed at roughly a third of what standalone quotes would have added up to. Just as important, it's a subscription — the next report window is already priced in, so we're not renegotiating from scratch every year. See how the bundled tiers work on this affordable SOC 2 compliance platform.

Our SOC 2 Journey with LowerPlane

1. Scoping and readiness (weeks 1–4) — LowerPlane's advisor mapped our AWS-hosted infrastructure, defined the audit boundary, and identified the Trust Services Criteria we needed to cover: Security, Availability, and Confidentiality.
2. Policy and control build-out (weeks 4–8) — We adopted LowerPlane's policy templates, tailored them to TaxSey's UAE data residency requirements, and rolled them out via the platform for employee acknowledgement.
3. Automated evidence collection (weeks 6–12) — Integrations went live across AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, our identity provider, and Jira. From that point on, evidence was pulled continuously.
4. Type I attestation — The auditor engaged through LowerPlane issued a Type I report, confirming controls were designed correctly at a point in time.
5. Observation window and Type II (months 4–10) — LowerPlane monitored every control across the observation window, flagged exceptions as they happened, and pre-packaged evidence for the auditor's fieldwork.
6. Report delivery — The final Type II attestation was issued directly through the platform. We now share it with enterprise prospects and RFI teams under NDA.

Why This Matters for TaxSey Customers

Our customers see three concrete outcomes from running SOC 2 through LowerPlane:

• The report is real, and it's current — issued by a licensed CPA firm, refreshed on every observation window, and available on request during procurement.
• Security controls are continuously monitored, not annually attested — LowerPlane watches drift in real time, which means the control environment behind your tax data doesn't degrade between audits.
• Compliance costs stay predictable — the savings we get from the LowerPlane model go back into product engineering and customer support, not into audit invoices.

The Takeaway

SOC 2 doesn't have to be an enterprise-only luxury. By consolidating tooling, expert support, and the audit report into a single subscription, LowerPlane made it possible for TaxSey to reach the same compliance bar as much larger players — without diverting capital away from the product our customers actually use to file with the FTA.

If you're evaluating tax software for your UAE business and want to see our SOC 2 Type II report, reach out to our security team. We'll share it under NDA as part of your procurement review.