You may have seen the headlines.
Liberty Tax—the 1,200 location chain known for discount returns—will be offering AI-powered “tax planning.”
At first glance, it sounds like progress. More tools. Greater access.
But let’s be honest:
This wasn’t a step forward. It was a step off a cliff. Let’s look at why a certified tax planner beats cookie-cutter AI tax advice.
What’s Really Happening?
Tax planning in the way we mean it—real, strategic, compliant tax planning—just got tossed into a blender and poured into a strip mall.
When Liberty Tax starts offering tax plans, people start thinking:
- “Tax planning is just a $97 PDF, right?”
- “Why do I need a CPA?”
- “Can’t AI do this for me?”
What we’re seeing is a race to the bottom led by companies who focus on volume, not value.
The biggest risk right now isn’t AI.
It’s being unable to distinguish mass-marketed tax plans from real, strategic, compliant tax planning.
If you’re relying on software to spit out strategies without customization, implementation, and judgment…
The IRS may have another word for it: fraud.
(They’ve already hit taxpayers with $162 million in penalties for social-media-style advice—and they’re just getting started.)
And the courts are backing them up.
- In Mississippi, a “tax planner” was permanently shut down for selling templated “tax plans” that promised huge deductions but lacked substance or support.
- In Texas, a planner and his firm were banned from preparing returns and providing tax planning after pushing boilerplate schemes using sham companies and bogus write-offs.
In both cases, the problem wasn’t just the aggressive strategies.
It was that the so-called “planning” was mass-produced, misleading, and not properly customized or implemented.
This is exactly what we don’t do at Bearden Stroup Tax Strategies.
We’re trained to dig into real facts, design tailored strategies, and walk clients through implementation—ethically and legally.
That’s what separates true tax planning from a tax scam.
Here’s what we do that AI can’t:
- Apply judgment to nuanced fact patterns
- Navigate legal complexity
- Understand our client’s goals beyond the numbers
- Defend your plan in front of the IRS
In a world where “anyone can be a tax planner” is being marketed to the masses, you need to look for a higher standard, with real tax planning that stands out from the noise.
Credentials matter. The Certified Tax Planner license is more than a badge—it’s a professional standard.
It tells the public:
- We’ve been trained in advanced, legal tax reduction.
- We’re held to a strict code of ethics and continuing education.
- We don’t guess—we guide, implement, and stand behind our work.
Software can’t do that.
Franchise chains don’t require it.
But our clients deserve it.
The best way to see the value is to experience it. You can have a proactive, customized tax plan, delivered with integrity, with strategy, and with the human connection that no machine will ever replicate. The moment your experience it, you realize you can’t get it anywhere else.
You need a real planner—not just a promoter with a printout.
And it all starts with a free evaluation of your tax situation.
Contact us today and see the difference it makes having a Certified Tax Planner on your side.