Will AI replace Tax Preparers?
AI reaches most of this job’s work.
63/100
Very high exposure
More exposed to AI than 94% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 25% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 100% of the work
What the job involves
Prepare tax returns for individuals or small businesses.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(4)
- Furnish taxpayers with sufficient information and advice to ensure correct tax form completion.
- Explain federal and state tax laws to individuals and companies.
- Check data input or verify totals on forms prepared by others to detect errors in arithmetic, data entry, or procedures.
- Schedule appointments with clients.
Within reach(8)
- Compute taxes owed or overpaid, using adding machines or personal computers, and complete entries on forms, following tax form instructions and tax tables.
- Use all appropriate adjustments, deductions, and credits to keep clients' taxes to a minimum.
- Interview clients to obtain additional information on taxable income and deductible expenses and allowances.
- Prepare or assist in preparing simple to complex tax returns for individuals or small businesses.
- Review financial records, such as income statements and documentation of expenditures to determine forms needed to prepare tax returns.
and 3 more
Also called
Tax Consultant · Enrolled Agent · Income Tax Preparer · Tax Specialist · Tax Associate · Tax Preparer · Tax Professional · Corporate Tax Preparer
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics