One of the more practical ways I used AI recently had nothing to do with flashy demos or big future predictions.
It was tax season.
This year, I used a combination of the paid version of Claude and the paid version of ChatGPT while working through both my tax return and my mother’s tax return. For my mother, we used H&R Block. For mine, we used TurboTax.
What stood out to me was how naturally AI fit into the process.
Any time I had a question, could not find where something belonged, or needed help understanding how to complete a section, I would ask ChatGPT instead of relying on the built in help. It was faster, easier, and honestly more useful than digging through support menus or trying to figure out whether I needed a more expensive version of the software just to get answers.
That got me thinking.
AI Changes the Value of Software Support
One thing I realized pretty quickly is that AI starts to chip away at some of the premium support value these tax platforms try to sell.
A lot of the higher priced plans are built around the idea that if you get stuck, you can pay more for help, expert guidance, or access to a live person. But if you already have a strong AI tool available, a lot of those smaller questions can be handled much more smoothly.
That does not mean AI replaces a tax professional in every situation.
But for normal questions, workflow help, and understanding what the software is asking for, it made the process feel much more manageable.
Instead of feeling stuck, I could keep moving.
That alone was a big benefit.
The Best Part Came After the Return Was Done
What I really liked came after I finished my mother’s return.
I uploaded last year’s tax return and this year’s tax return into Claude and asked it to compare the two and summarize what changed.
That turned out to be one of the best use cases I have seen so far.
Claude gave me a really solid two to three page summary that explained what changed from last year, what stood out, and what things she may want to think about going forward. It was the kind of summary that felt much easier to understand than handing someone a completed tax return and expecting them to make sense of it on their own.
That mattered to me.
Normally, walking someone through a return can take time, patience, and a lot of back and forth. This time, I was able to give my mother the summary and simply tell her to read that instead of trying to interpret the return itself.
Two days later, she let me know she had reviewed the summary, it made sense to her, and she was comfortable filing.
I really liked that.
It helped her understand things at her own pace. It reduced the chance of confusion. And it saved both of us from a long explanation that may not have been as clear anyway.
AI Helped With Next Year Too
I also asked Claude to generate ideas for next year’s tax strategy based on the return.
That was another moment where AI felt genuinely useful.
It raised a number of considerations around retirement income, Social Security, and required minimum distributions. Some of it confirmed what I was already thinking, but one item really stood out.
My mother donates quite a bit to her church, but because she was not itemizing federally, she was not getting the tax benefit of those charitable contributions.
Claude suggested that a qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, might be worth considering this year.
That was interesting because it was not something we had been focused on. Once I brought it to my mother’s attention, it made sense right away. If it works for her situation, it could help reduce taxable income while also satisfying part of her required minimum distribution.
That felt like a real benefit.
Not just help with entering information.
Not just help with filing.
But actual analysis that may lead to a better decision next year.
That is real value.
I Used It for My Own Return Too
I did something similar with my own return using TurboTax.
In that case, AI was less about finding something new and more about validating what I expected based on last year. Even that was useful. It gave me more confidence that what I was seeing made sense and that the overall result was in line with what I thought would happen.
That may sound small, but I think that peace of mind is part of the value too.
Tax returns are one of those things where even when you think you are right, it still helps to have another layer of review or explanation.
This Is the Kind of AI Use That Stands Out
What I like about this use case is how practical it is.
This was not AI doing something abstract. It was helping with a real task, during a real season, in a way that saved time, reduced confusion, and even surfaced planning ideas for the future.
That is the kind of AI use that sticks with me.
It shows that the value of AI is not always in replacing the whole process. Sometimes the real value is in making the process easier to navigate, easier to understand, and easier to explain to someone else.
That is what happened here.
It helped me complete returns more smoothly.
It helped me avoid paying for extra layers of software help I may not have needed.
It helped summarize complex information in a way that was actually useful.
And it helped identify at least one planning idea that could save money going forward.
That is a pretty strong return on investment for one tax season.
My Takeaway
This experience made me think about AI a little differently again.
A lot of people still think of AI as a writing tool, a research tool, or something you experiment with when you have time. But the more I use it, the more I see how helpful it can be in situations where the real challenge is not just doing the task, but understanding it well enough to move forward confidently.
That was tax season for me this year.
AI did not replace judgment.
It did not replace the software.
And it definitely did not replace the need to review what was being filed.
But it made the whole process easier, clearer, and more useful.
And to me, that is one of the best signs that AI is starting to matter in everyday life.
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