Today is April 15. If you haven't filed yet, you have until midnight. And you are not alone - the IRS estimates roughly one in three small business owners files an extension, and millions of solo operators scramble through the last week of tax season every year.
This year, Intuit made a significant announcement that changes what's available to you right now: a new "done-for-you" AI tax experience across TurboTax and QuickBooks that connects your financial records, matches you with a live tax expert, and completes your return in about two hours.
Here's what it actually does, what it costs, and the part AI still doesn't handle well.
What Intuit Launched
The product is called Intuit's AI-Driven Expert Platform, and it bridges two things that used to be separate: your QuickBooks accounting data and your tax return.
The core pitch is "done-for-you." You connect your QuickBooks account, the AI pulls your income, expenses, and categorized transactions, and a live tax professional reviews the output and files the return. Intuit says the average assisted filing takes about two hours from start to submitted.
That's a significant compression. Traditional CPA-assisted filing for a small business typically takes one to four weeks of back-and-forth. Even the old TurboTax self-file experience required you to manually enter data across dozens of screens.
"We're laser focused on eliminating the work and worry of tax filing," Intuit's Mark Notarainni said in the company's press release. "Delivering the best 'done-for-you' tax prep experience on the market that puts maximum refunds guaranteed into customers' pockets faster."
The Numbers Behind the Pitch
Intuit isn't a scrappy startup making big claims. It files more than 70 million returns annually across TurboTax and its expert services. QuickBooks is used by roughly 8 million small businesses in the US.
The integration matters because the most error-prone part of small business tax filing has always been the handoff - getting your accounting records into your tax software accurately. AI now handles the translation, pulling categorized expenses, payroll records, and profit-and-loss statements directly from QuickBooks into the return.
For users who qualify for TurboTax Live Full Service, the experience is fully assisted: a tax expert prepares and files the return while the business owner stays in the loop through a live, real-time session.
What AI Still Gets Wrong
None of this means you can disappear for two hours and wake up with a perfect return.
There are three areas where AI-assisted tax filing still falls short for small businesses:
Depreciation and asset tracking. If you bought equipment, a vehicle, or property for the business, AI tools often miss the optimal depreciation strategy. The difference between Section 179 expensing and standard depreciation can be thousands of dollars. A human with context about your specific situation makes better calls here.
Home office deductions. The IRS has two methods for the home office deduction - simplified ($5 per square foot, capped at $1,500) and regular (based on actual expenses). AI defaults to whichever is easier to calculate, not necessarily whichever is larger. For business owners with high housing costs, this gap can be meaningful.
Mixed-use expenses. Software, a phone, a car used partly for business - AI struggles with the "what percentage was this used for work?" question without your input. If you don't flag these, they often go unfiled.
The takeaway: let the AI handle the heavy lifting on data assembly. But spend 15 minutes reviewing the deduction list before your expert finalizes anything.
If You Haven't Started Yet
If you're not filed and you're reading this on April 15, you have two practical options:
File an extension. Form 4868 gives you six more months to submit your return (until October 15). Filing an extension is free and takes about 10 minutes on IRS.gov. It does not extend the time to pay - if you owe taxes, you need to estimate and pay today to avoid penalties.
Use Intuit's platform. TurboTax Live Full Service is available through the filing deadline. If your books are in QuickBooks, the AI-to-expert handoff is the fastest route to a filed return today.
One more thing worth knowing: the IRS Free File program is available for businesses with annual gross receipts under $73,000. If you qualify, you can file federally for free at irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free.
Source: Intuit Press Release | IRS.gov Free File | TurboTax.intuit.com