Wise to cover customers' UK tax bills after a vendor's software produced wrong tax statements

What happened? The Financial Times reports that Wise contacted about 4,000 UK users of Wise Assets (its Interest and Stocks products, with $9bn invested globally) this week about incorrect tax statements covering 2021 to 2025. Errors in a third-party supplier's software produced wrong capital-gains and income figures for self-assessment returns.

What Wise is doing: Wise is negotiating a "bulk settlement" with HMRC to cover any shortfall and will compensate customers who overpaid. Not everyone who received a wrong statement paid the wrong amount of tax. Wise says the issue is fixed, corrected statements have been sent and there is "no ongoing risk to customers". No total liability figure has been reported.

Context: The FT recalls that Belgian authorities were reported in June to be investigating Wise over possible money laundering, that US regulators rejected its banking-licence application in July citing anti-money-laundering deficiencies, and that the UK regulator fined CEO Kristo Kaarmann 350,000 pounds in 2024 over conduct rules and failing to notify it of significant tax issues. Wise has 19 million users and moved its primary listing to the US last year.

Why it matters: For a fintech that keeps pushing into investing products, a vendor's reporting error becomes the platform's own regulatory and reputational liability. That reading is our analysis.

Source: Financial Times: Wise to pay customers' tax bills after errors (8 October 2026).

Image credit: Financial Times