Think AI Can Do Your Taxes? The IRS Might Disagree

Deposit taxes is painful enough that many people will happily hand over the job to a robot. At the age of Generative AIwhere chatbots can create a school essay that looks decent in less than a minute, it’s tempting to think that your tax return could be next.

There’s just one small problem. The Internal Revenue Service expects financial data to be accurate, not just “close enough.”

I asked tax professionals if you should have a general purpose AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini Or Perplexity do your taxes for you. The answer was clear.

“I don’t recommend this at all,” said Travis Thompson, a tax attorney and director of the Fennemore firm’s business and finance group.

“My advice would be no,” said Sterling Raskie, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Tax season has everyone looking for shortcuts. Federal tax returns are nightmarish and complicated – and that’s exactly what makes them unsuitable for a chatbot. AI is very good at making it seem right, even if it’s wrong.

Still, if you can’t afford to hire a trusted, trained person to help you with your taxes, generative AI can be useful for some things during tax season.

You can’t trust AI to be accurate

The capabilities of a generative AI model are impressive. But let’s remember that at their core, these educated guess machines simply find patterns and come up with plausible results. They cannot distinguish approximation of the truth.

The numbers on your tax forms should be correct, not just approximate. This is why doing taxes is such a pain, and also why we’re not supposed to take shortcuts. Mistakes can cost your refund, or you could face costly refunds and fines, or worse.

“It is important to keep in mind that if an AI chatbot provides incorrect advice and a person uses it to file an incorrect tax return, they (the person) are responsible for the infractions or violations, which may include penalties, interest and lost refunds,” said Chris Linderwell, vice president of consumer tax products at H&R Block.

Some tax-specific AI tools are trained and leverage information specifically about the tax code. But the credits that you use for menu planning or travel research is not one of them.

Learn more: 2026 Tax Season: What Documents and Information Do You Need to File Your Income Taxes?

You can’t trust AI with sensitive documents

Very personal informationsuch as your Social Security number and financial statements, should be kept secure – or at least as secure as possible in today’s digital world, where data collection via email and social media is omnipresent, and data breaches are common.

Chatbots manage data in the cloud, which is just a computer owned by a private company. They have “memory” features which can regurgitate information in unexpected ways. You might find yourself asking a completely unrelated question and getting an answer drawn from data in your tax documents. You probably don’t want that.

Internet privacy risks are already significant, but chatbots are particularly notorious for compromise and disclose sensitive information. Grok, the chatbot created by Elon Musk’s xAI, recently revealed personal information to other users.

Be very careful about giving AI anything you want to keep private, such as your tax information.

“You don’t want these numbers floating around on the Internet,” Thompson said.

How AI can help you with your taxes

Even though you shouldn’t trust a large language model to fill out your tax forms, you can still use one as a beefed-up search engine for finding information, i.e. for educational purposes. Just be sure to verify its accuracy before relying on it.

I asked a representative from OpenAI, which creates ChatGPT, if the chatbot is something taxpayers should use for filing. ChatGPT cannot access bank accounts nor can it act as a licensed financial professional, lawyer or accountant. “You should always view the ChatGPT result as it is not a substitute for a licensed professional,” the OpenAI representative said.

But it can help you with basic gut checking or point you in the right direction, like translating tax terms, preparing checklists, or providing questions to ask your accountant. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in 2025 against OpenAI, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.)

For example, AI can help you decide what to discuss with a tax professional, what documents you will need to process, or even identify tax situations you may not have been aware of. What do you need to know if you made money from crypto? What is the difference between married filing jointly and head of household?

Also keep in mind that the quality of an AI response does not only depend on the model, but also on how do you ask the question. And repeating the same question multiple times can generate different answers, especially if you express an opinion or slant in the way you ask the question (AI sycophancy is real). If external links are provided in the AI ​​results, check the results against the original source and ensure the source is reliable.

Remember: you don’t know what you don’t know.

“The less expertise you have in this area, the less you can trust these programs,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t just depend on what the program says; it depends on what the user asks the program to say.”

Hire a human to do your taxes

Experts emphasize the importance of having a “human in the know” about AI systems, whether they’re writing LinkedIn posts or managing critical personal information. Mistakes are the fault of the person who decided to take on AI work, not the technology itself. Don’t blame the calculator if you did the math wrong.

A person using good judgment and responsibility should make the final decision. When it comes to a simple tax return, you could be that person.

Raskie said if you have a basic return and have the confidence to be thorough and double-check the numbers, you should be able to file on your own. “Basic income” generally means you earn only W-2 income and take the standard deduction – no complex investments, itemized deductions, or self-employment. You can complete the forms yourself, following step-by-step instructions through the IRS’ free fillable online forms, or by using a free file software option.

H&R Block Online uses AI to help automate your filing by reviewing receipts and uploaded documents to pre-populate fields on your behalf. AI, in this sense, saves time. But ultimately, you need to make sure the information is accurate.

If you need help from a tax professional, most DIY tax software, including H&R Block and TurboTax, offer the option to have a human professional review and file on your behalf for a fee or upgrade.

Many home tax software programs offer audit defense or audit risk assessment services before your return – but at an additional cost. H&R Block says it will provide audit representation and even financial reimbursement (if it made the mistake).

“If you’re feeling any anxiety, it’s worth hiring a certified tax preparer to prepare your returns, primarily a CPA or what’s called an enrolled agent,” Thompson said.

If you seek help from a trusted licensed professional, you may be able to turn to them if something goes wrong when you return. You will still be responsible for paying the government what you owe, but you may be able to hold a tax preparer accountable in the event of fraud or serious errors.

If you decide to trust a chatbot to do your taxes, be prepared for an IRS audit. And don’t expect to blame the AI.