By Jennifer Mathews
26% of Americans are now using AI to file their 2025 returns, more than double the rate from the prior year
Only 36% of Black Americans earning $50,000 or more have a financial advisor, compared to 47% of white Americans in the same income bracket
As tax season collides with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, more Americans are turning to tools like ChatGPT for quick, free help filing their returns. Tax season is stressful enough. Now, add an AI tool that confidently hands you wrong information, and suddenly, you are staring at an IRS audit you did not see coming. Roughly 26% of people are now using AI to file their 2025 tax returns. That’s more than double the prior year’s share. For gig workers, first time investors, and small business owners already navigating a system that was not exactly built with them in mind, that number deserves a deeper look.
Why This Matters: AI tax tools can deliver guidance that is obsolete or flat out incorrect, partly because the government websites they pull from do not always reflect the latest legal changes. For instance, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in July 2025, reshaped significant portions of the U.S. tax code. Missing those updates is not just inconvenient; relying completely on AI to file could result in penalties for misapplying credits or claiming deductions that no longer exist.
The stakes are higher for communities with the least margin for error. When professional financial advice is out of reach, people fill the gap with whatever is available, and right now, that is often a chatbot.
Beyond accuracy, there’s a deeper issue when it comes to data security. Uploading tax documents like W-2s or 1099s into a chatbot might feel harmless but it can expose sensitive personal information. Experts caution that anything shared with AI tools could potentially be stored, reused, or accessed in unintended ways.
Situational Awareness: The promise of AI as a financial equalizer is real, but so is the risk of it becoming yet another system that punishes people with the smallest safety nets. McKinsey’s 2026 AI Trust Maturity Survey found that 74% of organizations flag inaccuracy as a top AI risk, even among enterprise level operations with actual guardrails in place. Individual filers navigating gig income, crypto gains, or new credits are working with far less protection. AI might feel like the plug for everything, but your taxes aren’t the place to gamble.
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