54% use AI in tax audits, but search engines remain prominent

Over half of taxpayers use AI in some way in their research. Most commonly, we investigate tax credits and general business issues.

a Recent surveys From a tax audit solution provider bluejworking with CPA.com, we find that 54% of tax practitioners use some form of AI in their research, and agree that 86% use AI has a competitive advantage over companies that do not. What they are studying is, precisely, the two most common topics are tax credits and general business issues, both at 13%. Then asked about tax rates, 8%. And finally, issues related to individual taxation, tax procedures, and partnership taxation, all three were concluded at 7%.

“For tax practitioners studying unfamiliar fields, these comprehensive responses are invaluable to quickly gain an overall understanding of the topic. For those working in more familiar fields, these answers can validate their knowledge and ensure that they are up-to-date and accurate,” the report states.

The report also found that adoption rates for what is called AI-based tax audit tools and legacy systems are significantly higher. Weekly or daily use of Bloomberg, Wolters Kluwer and Thomson Reuters Solutions ranged between 50-61%, while AI-enabled tax audit tools (one BlueJ) were used at 88%.

Search engines continue to be the main tool for tax audits. 81.3% of respondents have resorted to search engines for tax audits over the past month despite payments for a set of tools. The report says that this high percentage probably reflects people's complaints about traditional tax audit solutions. The poll found three main complaints: They take too long (42%), too expensive (42%), and difficult to navigate (37%).

The survey shows that AI is becoming a major part of tax audits, with 33.1% already adopting AI tax audit tools and 30.4% currently considering it, but currently there are no solid plans and 20.3% plan to adopt these solutions within the next few years, so AI knows that.

“The findings from the Blue J and CPA.com AI Tax Research Solution Outlook report reveal one thing: AI is no longer an experiment with tax practitioners,” the study concluded. “Already, AI-powered tax audits have produced measurable improvements in adoption rates and research speed, offering tangible benefits over legacy tax research solutions. Companies are still evaluating whether to jump or not, thus assessing narrower decision windows. These challenges can be overcome.”