this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2026
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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 55 points 5 days ago (9 children)

Oh God, that's so fucking stupid.

[–] socphoenix@lemmy.world 25 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Gotta keep the auditors busy!

[–] pdxfed@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

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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[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago

Why don't they just wait for the government collapse like everyone else. /S

[–] Jaegeras@piefed.social 16 points 4 days ago (4 children)

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
[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 3 days ago

things that require skill

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Rest make sense but Why not the role play?

[–] MrQuallzin@pie.eyeofthestorm.place 5 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Don't let computers steal your imagination and creativity

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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?

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[–] green_goglin@thelemmy.club 1 points 3 days ago
  • making memes
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[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Why does nobody use FreeTaxUSA?

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I actually had not used TurboTax before. And as a result I could do state and federal free with them this year, so it was cheaper than freetaxusa.

But won't be using it again next year, it was fine but not particularly impressive compared to usually cheaper alternatives.

[–] boraginoru@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

I do! And also got my dad to switch to it this year 🙌

It's always been good, and in the past few years they have been adding scanning for various documents, the lack of which was my only complaint about it before.

[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’ve been using it for like 4-5 years now I think? It’s awesome and does what TurboTax does but is muuuuuuuuuuuuch cheaper (if you choose to file online) or free (print and send via snail mail).

[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

It is pretty awesome. I'm in a state with no income taxes, so it's free for me to file with them.

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Use FreeTaxUSA or OnLine Taxes. Much more affordable online tax tools.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

its free under certain AGI, or if you make alot money, might want to consider other alternatives,.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

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.

[–] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] rmrf@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

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.

[–] ellen.kimble@piefed.social 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] GooseFinger@sh.itjust.works 16 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Because my employer garnished my wages to pay taxes, and if I dont file my taxes, the federal will keep my refund.

[–] architect@thelemmy.club 1 points 3 days ago

You can fix that…

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[–] bibbasa@piefed.social 13 points 5 days ago
[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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).

[–] architect@thelemmy.club 1 points 3 days ago

Mine will 100% tell me I’m an idiot for that.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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?

[–] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

You can't even blame your human accountant.

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[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] johnyreeferseed@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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".

[–] boraginoru@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

That's crazy, how is that even legal? You should have to deliver someone's W-2 either to their physical address or provided email address.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 3 days ago

Yep. I paid the local indie service to do mine.

[–] webkitten@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

Just use online file from H&R Block, people. In most cases it's free when you decline the upsells.

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