Completing your tax return is no small feat. Between the income to declare, the charges to deduct, the tax credits and reductions to apply for, taxpayers can quickly get lost in the tax maquis. To help them, two start-ups had the idea of creating ChatGPT tax expertswho present themselves as virtual interlocutors capable of answering all their questions and guiding them step by step in their declaration.
A tax assistant just a click away
The two start-ups in question are called Climb and Tax Mind. Climb is a company specializing in tax optimization and investment management. She unveiled her robot on April 26 ClimbGPT, which presents itself as a “tax coach”. Tax Mind is a company that offers a simplified and secure online declaration service. She allowed to Echoes to test your robot in preview Tax MindGPT, which claims to be a “tax assistant”.
To use these ChatGPTs, all you have to do is connect to the start-up’s website or mobile application, and start chatting with the robot. This asks questions about the personal, family and professional situation of the user, as well as about his income and expenses. He then indicates the boxes to be filled in on the declaration, the amounts to be reported, and any tax credits or reductions to which he is entitled. It also explains how tax is calculated and how to reduce or pay it.
“Individuals make mistakes and frequently overlook certain tax reductions when reporting their income. We found that some were tempted to use ChatGPT for help. But the information he gives is sometimes false and above all obsolete. We therefore remedied this by supplying it with up-to-date reference sources from January 2023, such as the taxes.gouv.fr website and the Bofip (Official Bulletin of Public Finances, Ed), as well as documentation produced by our teams, including our table presenting the tax loopholes »details to Echos Aldric Emié, co-founder and CEO of Climb.
A former Climb employee also looked into such artificial intelligence. The name is TaxMind. “It is a tool on which we have been working for several weeks and on which we we will communicate soon, explains Pierre-Henri Janssens”at the origin of the project. “The sinews of war is not so much that the machine answer but that it brings exact answers”he insists.
Practical but not infallible tools
And mistakes, these robots make. If these tax ChatGPT have several advantages for taxpayers, they can make errors or approximations, especially on pointed or ambiguous questions. They do not replace the advice of a qualified professional, who can provide more in-depth and more reliable expertise. They also do not guarantee the compliance of the declaration with the tax rules in force, nor the absence of control or adjustment by the administration.
Taxpayers must therefore remain vigilant and carefully check the information provided by these ChatGPT tax specialists. They should also be aware that these tools are not neutral: they may have a business interest direct the user to certain products or services. In case of doubt or dispute, it is therefore preferable to call on a chartered accountant or a tax lawyer.
“ChatGPTs are practical tools, but not silver bullets. They do not dispense with careful verification of the information provided, nor with the possible use of a qualified professional”, warns Jean-François Desbuquois, President of the Superior Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants. An opinion shared by Anne-Laure Dreyfus, tax lawyer at Fidal:
ChatGPTs are innovative tools, but not without risks. They do not guarantee the compliance of the declaration with the tax rules in force, nor the absence of control or adjustment by the administration.
An innovation to follow
However, these tax ChatGPTs remain innovative tools that aim to simplify the lives of taxpayers. They are part of the trend of digitization and personalization of services and also bear witness to the progress of artificial intelligence, which can now deal with complex subjects such as taxation.
Still in the test and improvement phase, these tools will therefore have to prove themselves to users and the tax authorities. Above all, they must respect the deontological and ethical rules related to the use of personal data and the protection of professional secrecy. Impressive, but needs tweaking. Tax advisors still have a bright future ahead of them, but until when?
