AI Chatbots Miscalculate US Tax Returns Routinely

With the April 15 filing deadline nearing, tax experts and tests warn against using general-purpose AI chatbots like xAI’s Grok to prepare or review tax returns due to accuracy and privacy concerns. New York Times testing and TaxCalcBench found chatbots miscalculate refunds by an average over $2,000 and often score below 50% on full returns. Practitioners are advised to use purpose-built tax software and avoid pasting W-2s or 1099s into chatbots.