Artificial intelligence to help prepare tax returns: report

By 2025 Australians may well see the application of artificial intelligence in the preparation of tax returns, according to a report by KPMG.

The report, 2025: People, economy and the future of tax, suggests a future world in which service industry professionals such as accountants will be replaced by robots and the size of revenue authorities such as the Australian Taxation Office will shrink.

“The technological changes … are likely to mean few mid-skilled jobs will be required,” the report says.

Tax in 2025 could  involve the application of artificial intelligence to the preparation of tax returns.

“This is beyond complex automation, which would involve picking up items in the general ledger and mechanistically using that data in the tax return,” it says.

Robotics now account for more than 80 per cent of work involved in manufacturing a car.

“The future will see this extend to the service industry,” the report says. 

“While we have seen ATMs become ubiquitous in the banking sector, the same could exist for dispatches from a chemist or even a fast food outlet.”

 Artificial Intelligence and cloud robotics will also help “provide a new level of rational decision-making“.

“We are at the beginning of this revolution now,” the report says. 

“Cloud robotics allows computers to draw on massive databases in the cloud for the learning experience.