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Ask HN: Have you used an AI tax assistant?

1 points by LVB ↗ HN
I have reasonably complex personal taxes (AMT, foreign tax credits, K-1, rental, etc.). I've gone through four CPAs in 10 years, every time moving on because of the number of errors they're making, and the back and forth just takes more time. If I'm going to be scouring IRS pubs anyway, I'll just file my own taxes.

And I do... But it is undoubtedly complex and error-prone, and I'd like an independent review for diversity. That is, if I'm generating my return using HR Block's software, I'd love to be able to shovel the draft return and source docs into an AI and get an accuracy check, recommendations, etc.

There seems to be no shortage of services purporting to do stuff like this, but they're hard to evaluate since doing so means sending your sensitive data to them, something I'm hesitant to do without more knowledge of the service and company.

Has anyone here used a service like what I'm describing?

3 comments

[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 19.4 ms ] thread
nullindividual
CPAs have a legal responsibility to exercise due care for their clients. AI lacks any of this. Use a local CPA and be done with it. It sounds like you can afford the couple hundred dollars at most it costs for their services.
LVB
As I mentioned, I have been using local CPAs (though the costs are closer to $1k for my return)... a number of them. These are recommended, well-regarded folks. But when I check over the return closely, I'm routinely finding errors ("Why are you adding this income twice?" "Isn't this supposed to be a Long-Term gain?" "This Form 1116 looks quite wrong"). This stuff has added up to thousands if left unfixed. And in my most recent year, the return was so wrong that the IRS contacted me. The CPA ghosted me to resolve the matter, so I had to work directly with the IRS to fix the return the CPA prepared. That's the sort of stuff I'm trying to get away from.

So, while they might have a legal responsibility, it doesn't mean they necessarily fulfill it. And in the end it is my time and money and stake.

nullindividual
With AI being wrong so much, how could you possibly want to depend on it?

Sounds like your "well regarded" CPAs are awful. Time to find a competent one.