I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free
6 hours ago
- #Financial Independence
- #Tax Filing
- #AI Assistance
- Author switched from TurboTax to Claude for filing taxes, handling a complex tax situation for free.
- Intuit's lobbying against free tax filing options and deceptive practices led to the author's decision to stop using TurboTax.
- IRS offers Free File Fillable Forms (FFFF) for all income levels, but lacks guidance and automation.
- Claude assisted in organizing documents, mapping form fields, verifying calculations, and detecting errors.
- Audit with Claude Opus 4.6 found errors in source document reading, incomplete worksheets, reconciliation mismatches, and form version confusion.
- Form 1041 for trusts was handled more efficiently by Claude, filling out forms directly without FFFF.
- Claude serves as a knowledge tool for tax filing, requiring user engagement but offering deeper understanding.
- Practical tips include using Claude to fill out PDFs directly, starting with prior year returns, and auditing with a separate Claude conversation.
- The author successfully filed a 42-page return with multiple forms, saving money and gaining tax knowledge.