Most people dread doing their taxes, even though 45% of Americans still do their own taxes. If you have waited to file, know that AI tech can help – especially ChatGPT.

This year, to speed up the time it takes to do your taxes, you can leverage the power of ChatGPT Teams: it offers enhanced data privacy and security and does not train on our data. The price is $25 per month per user, two users minimum.

Remember: Always use a secure version (like ChatGPT Teams) of an AI chatbot, never upload documents with personal or financial info to the free version, and double-check anything important with your tax pro.

That said, here are some ways ChatGPT Teams can help alongside TurboTax:

Creating a checklist: Not sure what you need before logging into TurboTax?  Or if you are having someone else do your taxes, do you know what to bring? Ask ChatGPT to create a personalized tax prep checklist based on your situation self-employed, filing jointly, rental property ownership – just explain who you are, what you do and the investments you have.

Organizing your documents: If you expense tracking is a mess of receipts, mileage logs and emails, if you can download it, turn it into a PDF or take a photo of it, upload it into ChatGPT Teams and it can decipher your data and organize it by IRS deduction categories, making entry into TurboTax a breeze.

Finding deductions: If you are already organized and have either PDFs of business expenses (credit card statements) or are tracking expenses in a spreadsheet, you can upload these into ChatGPT Teams too. Within seconds, it can look for potential deductions. It will provide complete IRS references – and web links to the sources if you ask – but more importantly, will explain the deduction rules. 

Search your inbox for more deductions: Export your email subject lines download your emails by searching for keywords like "donation," "subscription," or "ticket." Export those emails and copy them into ChatGPT to flag potential deductions you missed.

Answering basic tax questions: TurboTax is great at answering questions, but sometimes the answers raised more questions. ChatGPT often was better at explaining with realistic examples in plain English when we asked it to give us a few scenarios.

Asking specifically about common deductions for real estate agents: Unlike TurboTax, ChatGPT Teams understands what real estate agents do and the kind of expenses – and investments - they often have. It will let you know that the 2024 standard mileage deduction is 67 cents for 2024. It will show you the simplified method for a home office deduction is $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet, allowing for a $1500 maximum deduction. It will remind you to deduct your Continuing Education and Licensing Fees. It will give you great detail about the type of marketing expenses that are considered as an ordinary business expense and are fully deductible.

Highlighting what’s changed in 2024: Explain to ChatGPT that you are a real estate agent and an independent contractor and then ask what has changed in the income tax code this year versus last and ChatGPT will give you all the details.

TurboTax for most self-employed agents who are sole proprietors is great. Putting ChatGPT Teams alongside it can significantly reduce the time you spend this year on taxes. (-Kevin)