As people with tax filing extensions prepare for the Internal Revenue Service’s Oct. 15 deadline next week, and others begin to think about next spring’s return deadline, tax prep services are touting AI tools that can help answer questions, Fast Company reports.
H&R Block has, since December 2023, offered those filing through its online products a tool it calls AI Tax Assist, which can answer questions about tax law, particular filing situations, and using the H&R Block software itself through a chat interface similar to ChatGPT. Common subjects include deductions and credits for people with kids, issues around self-employment, and taxes on funds from retirement accounts, says Heather Watts, senior vice president of consumer tax products and support at H&R Block.
H&R Block isn’t the only tax service harnessing artificial intelligence, as the tax prep industry looks to differentiate itself from the IRS Direct File system, which the agency recently announced is expanding from 12 to 24 states for next year’s filing season. Intuit’s TurboTax can also answer questions through its Intuit Assist AI in both English and Spanish, and the software can spot potential errors and missing documents and even help quickly match users with an appropriate (human) expert if they want their taxes done for them.
