Just use online file from H&R Block, people. In most cases it's free when you decline the upsells.
this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2026
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What could go wrong?
It's probably more of a replacement for Google than anything. IMO for stuff like this it isn't different than asking a forum and as long as you know that there's little room for fuck ups.
And another on a list of things you should not use AI for...
AI is not for:
- Therapy
- Tax Filing
- Planning Revenge
- Trying to make you win online arguments
- Trying to make it see things your way, like specific worldviews
- Trying to make it orchestrate protests
- Erotic Roleplay (Grok doesn't care about it though)
- Stalk people
- making memes
Rest make sense but Why not the role play?
Don't let computers steal your imagination and creativity
Im confused is the AI not the "other person in a erotic chat room" in this situation? Or in this example, is the Use case getting ideas for roleplay?
I'd say both
I wonder if I counted...
So I did the tax prep using a free offer from TurboTax. Everything seemed traditional.
Then, at the end it generated an AI summary of my return. I didn't have a choice, it just did it. I have the "unhelpful" feedback because:
- Despite saying it was "explaining" the numbers and why, all it did was just list the numbers from the fairly straightforward table right above the AI response in a more awkward form, not explaining anything.
- Further, despite the seemingly easy task of "Take a table of figures and repeat them in prose", it still screwed up and messed up and of the figures that all our had to do was repeat verbatim.
So AI was forced into my tax prep and did nothing substantive (thank goodness) and flubbed the cosmetic role it tried to play.
Why does nobody use FreeTaxUSA?
Turbox Tax worked hard to get AI some revenue.
If you didn't do the multi-step downgrade of your service (have to downgrade two or three times to get to the free version) then you might've counted. The AI doesn't do anything, but it starts as a way to justify charging you like $140. It'll default you paying for it even if its unused.
I don't know if cashapp uses AI or not to file their "free" tax returns. I know that prior to using it I had to agree to let them use any and all information for marketing and advertising. Nope!
Then I got an offer from someone to use TurboTax for state and federal for "free" but they spend plenty to lobby the government not to have free filing. Also nope, doubling down, because of the comment here by @prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
I Fucking hate turbo tax. They've gotten so intertwined in our tax system from all their lobbying. I couldn't find my w2 for an employer I quit in July, after some research I found out my former employer just automatically gives turbotax all their w2s. I didn't even want to do my taxes with them because I know about their bullshit but had to log in so I could get my w2 from turbo tax to take it somewhere else. I bet they get a lot of people that are just like "my w2 is here I'll just do it with them".
Yep. I paid the local indie service to do mine.
Hey LLM. I'm thinking of deducting my Corvette as a business expense for my landscaping business, is that a good idea?
What a creative way to lower your tax burden! This totally makes sense and you can be confident that your decision will be well received.
(Others can take the LLM tone better than me, and I don't have the patience for LLM verbosity).
Oh God, that's so fucking stupid.
Gotta keep the auditors busy!
There are like 100 for the whole country. No one gets audited, statistically speaking. It's why you've never learned anything about taxes from your parents or friends. They don't know either. People pay people at HR block who don't know about taxes either to file. No one gets in trouble because the only people who know tax laws work for the very wealthy. Or at the IRS where there are about 100 of them to 300m of us.
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So if we do this, and the AI fucks up, can we just blame the AI and not get in trouble? Isn't that why it exists?
You can't even blame your human accountant.
Use FreeTaxUSA or OnLine Taxes. Much more affordable online tax tools.
its free under certain AGI, or if you make alot money, might want to consider other alternatives,.
FreeFillableForms works regardless of your income or if you have other unconventional things to claim. It's just a bit more manual than some of the other apps, but does support e-File. I find the instructions are pretty easy to follow though, especially if you can reference your previous year's return.
Why are we filing and paying taxes anymore? They’ve stripped most things that help the common citizen including things like the SEC that allow the president to pump a stock ticker
Because my employer garnished my wages to pay taxes, and if I dont file my taxes, the federal will keep my refund.
Why did you incorrectly fill out your W4?
No American should be getting a tax refund if they've properly filled out their W4 using the instructions on the form.
yikes
i saw on a sub someone used it, and it gave wrong info back.
Last year I asked the HR block ai chat bot thing a question and it got it wrong.
Over 50% of Americans can barely read