Tax Preparers Are Using AI to Help You File Your Returns

Photo collage: AARP; (Source: Dan Saelinger/Trunk Archive; Getty Images) Facebook Twitter LinkedIn In this story Tax filing options • Advances in AI • Your questions answered • Reasons to be

wary • AI’s personalized answers • Tax pros vet the AI • No AI automation

These days you have more options for preparing your taxes than filling out forms by hand.

paperwork yourself and have your accountant review the forms before you submit your return.Put your financial information into tax software and file your own taxes — though you might have to

summon a human expert along the way.

About 45 percent of people 55 and older said they planned to use an accountant or other professional tax preparer to file their taxes in 2024, according to a survey from CivicScience, a

Pittsburgh-based opinion research firm. That compared with 14 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds.

But in all, 52 percent of the adults surveyed paid a human tax preparer, bought tax software or used an online tax preparation service. Some of the reason is likely a confusing tax code.

Now some tax preparation companies as well as independent tax professionals are looking at another alternative: artificial intelligence (AI).

isn’t replacing your human tax expert

AI won’t replace a living, breathing certified public accountant (CPA) or tax attorney anytime soon. But even if it’s not this year or next, AI will increasingly play a role in the way many

folks get their taxes done.

Already two of the largest tax prep companies, H&R Block and Intuit, have added generative AI into their products and services, both behind the scenes and in ways more visible to users.



Senior Planet from AARP has free online classes to help you discover more about artificial intelligence.

In simple terms, generative AIs can generate text, images and other content based on how a user prompts them and the massive amounts of data on which they were trained.

In fall 2023, Intuit, which produces the popular TurboTax do-it-yourself software, announced a generative AI financial assistant called Intuit Assist. It works across the company’s product

lines, including TurboTax software and TurboTax Live, an option with on-demand live help.

H&R Block followed with its own AI-fueled offering starting last tax season. H&R Block AI Tax Assist is billed as a product designed to streamline tax preparation for individuals, the

self-employed and small-business owners.

Whether you’re doing your own taxes or relying on a professional tax preparer, numerous questions are likely to pop up in the weeks ahead of the April 15 tax deadline, especially if your

return is complicated.

You may be asking:

from a side job or rental property?How do I deal with a larger-than-expected cash windfall I received this year?Why did I get a 1099-K?

AIs are designed to reliably tackle these types of queries. They also can play a larger role in helping you file your own taxes or helping the professionals who help you.

When you need it, human assistance is generally a click away with fees for a federal return that can exceed $200 or more based on the complexity of your tax situation. State tax prep costs

extra.