Module 3 of 5 · Intermediate · 10 min read

Taxes and personal finance

Organise finances, understand concepts and prepare questions with AI, and check every figure against official sources.

Key takeaways

1Use AI to organise, explain and prepare, not to decide your taxes or investments.
2Tax rules, rates and thresholds change and vary by place: always check the official tax authority.
3Do the arithmetic in a spreadsheet, not in a chat.
4Strip account numbers and identifiers before sharing documents.

01Read this first

Money questions feel like they have one right answer, so AI's confident tone is especially risky here. Tax law differs by country, state and year, and depends on details of your situation. Models may be out of date or simply wrong about rules and figures.

Watch out

Not tax, financial or investment advice. Check rules and figures with your official tax authority and consult a qualified tax professional or regulated financial adviser for decisions about your situation.

02Where AI helps

The best outcome is arriving at a professional, or at the official forms, organised and informed.

Explaining concepts in plain language: deductions versus credits, marginal versus effective rates, compound interest.
Categorising transactions and building a budget from exported statements.
Checklists of documents to gather before filing or meeting an accountant.
Comparing options in general terms, such as paying off debt versus saving.
Spreadsheet models for budgets, loans and savings goals.
Drafting questions for your accountant or adviser.

03The workflow

Treat the model as a knowledgeable friend who might be out of date, not as the authority.

Export statements and remove account numbers and personal identifiers.
Have AI categorise transactions and build a summary in a spreadsheet.
Ask for explanations of concepts and a checklist relevant to your situation.
Look up every rule, rate and deadline on the official tax authority's website.
Compute numbers in the spreadsheet; check totals against your statements.
Take your questions and summary to a professional where stakes or complexity are high.

04Prompt: budget from statements

Ask for categories, totals and the code or formulas behind them.

Example

I've uploaded three months of transactions with account numbers removed. Using code, categorise each transaction (housing, groceries, transport, subscriptions, dining, income, transfers, other), show monthly totals per category in a table, list recurring subscriptions with their amounts, and flag anything unusual. Show the categorisation rules you used so I can correct them.

05Prompt: explain and prepare

Ask for concepts and questions, and where to verify, not for final answers.

Example

I live in {{country/state}} and I'm {{situation, e.g. self-employed for the first time with some employment income}}. Explain in plain language the main tax concepts that apply to someone in this situation, the records I should keep, and the kinds of expenses that are commonly deductible in general. Don't give me specific rates, thresholds or deadlines; instead, tell me which official pages or forms to look up for each. Then list 10 questions I should ask an accountant.

06Prompt: a loan or savings model

Let the spreadsheet do the maths.

Example

Build a spreadsheet layout to compare paying an extra {{amount}} per month on my loan versus investing it. Inputs (I'll fill in): loan balance, interest rate, remaining term, assumed investment return, and tax treatment notes. Show month-by-month balances, total interest paid, and the difference after {{years}} years, using standard formulas I can inspect. List the assumptions that most affect the result.

07Pitfalls

Use AI to understand and organise. Use official sources and professionals to decide.

Out-of-date figures: rates, thresholds and limits change, often every year. Use official sources.
Wrong jurisdiction: answers may assume a different country or state. Say where you are, and still verify.
Arithmetic in chat: compute in a spreadsheet and check totals.
Privacy: don't upload full statements with account numbers, tax IDs or passwords.
Investment hype: be sceptical of any tool that predicts returns or recommends specific investments.

Tip

Ask the model: 'What would change this answer?' It often surfaces the exact details your accountant will ask about.

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