ClearTax Lays Off 145 Employees Amid Peak ITR Filing Season

On August 1, 2025, a company named Clear, previously known as ClearTax, went through a fresh round of layoffs and removed around 20-25% of its total workforce. Meaning, around 145 employees lost their jobs. This action has adversely affected several newly hired employees working in the firm, including freshers who had joined only a couple of months ago. For instance, some joined in June and were laid off just two months later, without getting the opportunity to prove their worth.

Clear confirmed that layoffs did take place; however, only 16% of its staff were let go, not 25%, which is incorrect as reported by internal sources. The company said this was part of a larger organisational restructuring, meaning they are changing the way the company is set up to run more efficiently. They described this decision as strategic, something they had to do to adjust the business model. The company also mentioned that to support the employees who were let go, they have provided them with enhanced severance packages, continued health insurance, and outplacement assistance.

Many affected employees shared their frustration and disappointment on the social media platform LinkedIn. Among them, one employee named Anoop Singh, an IIT Guwahati graduate who had just joined in June as a software engineer, said it felt extremely unfair that he was laid off so soon. He shared his story, not asking for sympathy but for new job opportunities. Similarly, there was another employee from the same firm named Harshit Swarnkar, a software engineer, who shared that his job offer was cancelled before he even joined, with the company referring to “difficult business decisions” as the reason.

Clear is a well-known fintech (financial technology) company that helps both businesses and individuals with tax filing, e-invoicing, invoice discounting, accounts payable, and other financial services through their platforms such as Finance Cloud, Compliance Cloud, and Supply Chain Cloud. This current layoff was not the first time. This situation also took place three years ago, in September 2022, when the firm laid off around 20% of its employees across departments like tech, sales, product, and support.

This news is a little surprising because the layoff took place right in the middle of the income tax filing season, an important season for the company. Then the firm generates most of its revenue from taxation-related and corporate secretarial services. The Indian government’s deadline for filing tax returns is September 15, and this period usually brings in a large part of the company’s annual revenue.

Sources say there are signs of financial pressure behind these layoffs. According to insiders, the company has been facing a cash crunch (running low on money). They have not been able to raise new funding since October 2021. The company has raised $140 million from investors such as Kora, Composite Capital, and Stripe.

However, Clear’s financial performance for the financial year ending in March 2024 (FY24) showed some positive numbers: Revenue almost doubled, jumping 93% to Rs. 209.84 crore from Rs. 108.77 crore the previous year. Losses were reduced by 59%, bringing them down to Rs. 96.24 crore. Total expenses also dropped by 10%. But the company has not filed its annual report for the financial year 2024-25 yet; hence, the full scenario is not clear yet.