We filed our income tax return with help from the tax authority’s “Siri”
The Portal das Finanças has a new virtual assistant, like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. Putting the program to the test while filing an income tax return was an... interesting experience.
It does not have a grand name like “Siri” or “Alexa”. But it tries to answer Portuguese taxpayers’ questions with the same commitment and dedication. “Apoio online da AT”, the tax authority’s online support, is the latest feature of the Portal das Finanças, a new service announced by the Government in the middle of the income tax filing season.
You do not need to be logged in to the site to chat with the tax authority’s chatbot. Even so, it can be useful to have the chat window open on your computer while filling in your income tax return. The program uses artificial intelligence methods to automate the answers to the most common questions and even “understands” some natural language.
AI translation from the Portuguese. First published in ECO on 11 April 2021.