I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free • Hacker News Board

Re: I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free

#31

Post by techjamie » Tue, Mar 03, 2026, 10:03 PM UTC

rich_sasha wrote: post #16

I used Claude to successfully argue with a fraudulent supplier, by threatening to sue. They had sent me a detailed quote for their service. Upon cancellation they sent me a "final" bill with some bogus final fees inflating the quote by about 50%. Their claim, correct, was that the fee was present in T&C, buried somewhere in para 70. But under UK law, there are various protections against it - not to mention, if you s…

I did something similar with OpenClaw (using claude) and my SO's old work. They were going to deduct money off her final check without written consent, after she quit, and were also late on paying her at all. I told OpenClaw the basic situation, and I told it to research applicable laws and cite it's sources.

Once I verified what it found was good, I had it write a demand letter specifying all the statutes that were being violated, and what remedies we would be entitled to if we had to chase it up.

She got a phone call within an hour of delivery saying her pay is being sent to payroll with every penny intact.

Also: I don't give openclaw access to any of my personal info, I literally just tell it to research stuff for me and take advantage of it's ability to store stuff in files.

Re: I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free

#32

Post by soupfordummies » Wed, Mar 04, 2026, 3:39 AM UTC

furyofantares wrote: post #27

Lord_Zero wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do we know that Claude wrote the blog post?

The aesethetic tells are excessive headings for small sections, many of which are largely just a list. There's the numbered list but then the sections that are a sequence of "Bold Text: Single sentence." Plenty of em-dash too, but I don't really look at that much. It's basically a long list of factual statements all with the same weight, very little opinion expressed about the experience. I don't actually mind an inf…

Yeah we’re in a weird place where the prompt would still have to contain most of the content and then be “prettied up”. Since generic AI “prettied up” style is so same-y and dry it would be refreshing to just see whatever the original was, warts and all. Just blog-post the prompt!

Re: I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free

#33

Post by OutOfHere » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 10:16 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #23

hkhanna wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One political party created the free IRS Direct File program, a popular new technology that allowed anyone to file their taxes directly with the IRS. The other political party dismantled IRS Direct File immediately upon taking power. Imho, the fact that you can probably guess which party is which is some evidence that the cliche that both parties are the same isn't really true anymore.

Direct File is a bandaid. What they should be doing is what other developed countries are already doing - sending the tax invoice to taxpayers.

That doesn't give an opportunity to correct errors that exist in forms. Forms often give erroneous information or leave out details. Some forms or deductions may get skipped altogether. For these reasons, people can't just be sent an invoice. Direct File was appropriate.

Re: I Used Claude to File My Taxes for Free

#34

Post by OutOfHere » Fri, Mar 06, 2026, 10:18 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #6

> The IRS already has your W-2s, your 1099s, your brokerage statements. It knows the tax rules. For most Americans, the government could calculate their tax bill, send them a pre-filled return, and let them approve or dispute the result. This is how it works in the UK, Japan, Germany, and dozens of other countries. The reason it doesn’t work that way here is that Intuit and H&R Block have spent decades and hundreds o…

Our effective system of government basically is crony capitalism. Those who contribute the most to bringing the political party and administration in power reap the most rewards.