Why You Shouldnt Use Chat GPT For Tax Prep - Or Anything Important

The problem is ChatGPT is vulnerable to leaks, putting your financial information at risk. It tends to guess at math which is not what the IRS or any other tax agency wants to see. And it does not yet provide the most up-to-date tax filing information.

So, in sum, it is likely to provide inaccurate data for which the tax filer can be fined significantly and it could lead to the leaking of banking, tax, investment and other personal financial information.

Nelson Aguilar reports in CNET:

With the hype around ChatGPT, it's tempting to think it could prepare your taxes for you, which are due April 15. If you're thinking about using ChatGPT to help you with your taxes, here's why you may want to reconsider. The knowledge cutoff date for ChatGPT 3.5 is January 2022, and for the paid ChatGPT 4.0 it's April 2023, so any changes to the tax code after those dates won't be found in ChatGPT's training data. Also, ChatGPT has leaks. Unauthorized users can gain access to  personal information - Social Security number, banking information or address -- with ChatGPT or any other AI chatbot which can then use that information to steal your identity or tap your bank account. Math is not its strong suit. It will spit out what answer it thinks looks best, but if it's is wrong, you're in trouble.

hen Shankland/CNET

I use ChatGPT nearly every day. If I'm curious about a new subject, I'll ask it to give me a simple explanation. If I need to read a rather long article and don't have much time, I'll ask ChatGPT to provide me with a summary and some key points. If I'm having trouble writing an email, I'll ask the AI chatbot to give me a first draft that I can then work from.

 

Despite my enthusiasm for ChatGPT, I understand it has its limitations, and I'm very familiar with the incredibly inaccurate answers it can sometimes provide. And so I would never use it for something critical; for instance, anything tax-related.

Well, what about tax-preparation software companies, like H&R Block, that have AI chatbots? Those generally can guide you through tax preparation by answering frequently asked questions, but they're not preparing your tax return, just helping you through the process. And they often are part of a paid service.

 

With all the hype around ChatGPT, it's tempting to think it could prepare your taxes for you (which, by the way, are due April 15). If you're thinking about using ChatGPT to help you with your taxes this year, here's why you may want to reconsider.

For more, here are our picks for the best tax software and how to track the status of your tax refund.

Reason No. 1: ChatGPT can't give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about taxes

In the world of taxes, things are constantly changing. For this tax season, for example, there have been several adjustments to tax regulation: The IRS increased tax brackets, adjusted tax deductions, raised mileage rates and expanded who is eligible to file their taxes for free via IRS Free File. And that's just in 2024.

So why is this a problem? Because the knowledge cutoff date for ChatGPT 3.5 is January 2022, and for the paid ChatGPT 4.0 it's April 2023, so any changes to the tax code after those dates won't be found in ChatGPT's training data. To file an accurate tax return, you want to prepare your tax documents using current tax rules, and ChatGPT can't help with that. 

"Tax is consistently changing," Scott Brillhart, a partner with Founder's CPA, a full-service accounting firm based in Chicago, told CNET. "It's confusing, especially state-level taxation. I don't think ChatGPT or other AI service is at the level yet to understand or to deal with those levels of complexities, especially if it is not consistently up to date."

Reason No. 2: You shouldn't share your personal financial information with ChatGPT because hackers

Never share personal information -- including your Social Security number, your banking information or your address -- with ChatGPT or any other AI chatbot.

ChatGPT stores your personal information and usage data when you use the service, including your prompts, input information and any files you upload. That isn't necessarily a major problem on its own, but ChatGPT has had data leaks. 

In March 2023, OpenAI took ChatGPT offline when it discovered that the chatbot had a bug that allowed some users to see other user's chat history. Later, in December, OpenAI fixed a data leak after a developer discovered the flaw and posted about it online.

During a data breach, unauthorized users can potentially gain access to any personal information you've entered into ChatGPT and then use that information to steal your identity, tap your bank account, scam other users and more.

Reason No. 3: Math is not ChatGPT's strength

ChatGPT can help you with many things -- language-related prompts or a creative task, for example -- but it's weaker with math and, as with other large language models (or LLMs), can struggle with complex calculations. 

Language models use prediction models to determine responses, and because it hasn't been trained on the exact tax-related math problem you enter as a prompt, ChatGPT will spit out what answer it thinks looks best. And if that answer is wrong, you're in trouble.

You may ask ChatGPT the right question but if it returns the wrong answer, you're on your own, Brillhart said. If you get a notice from the IRS that your tax return is wrong, "you can't go to them and say, 'well, this is what ChatGPT told me.' They are going to look at you and say, 'Sorry, that is on you.'"

"There are so many facets to an income tax return -- whether you are at the lower end of the spectrum from an income perspective or the 1 percent of the 1 percent," Brillhart said. "It absolutely makes sense why something like AI would be massively beneficial to the industry."

"It's going to be a valuable tool in the future," Brillhart said. "But the important thing is, it's the future. I don't think it's now."