Watch this episode without interruptions.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
In a recent episode of The Jerusalem Post Business and Innovation podcast, host Anna Ahronheim sat down with April co-founder, CTO, and CPO Daniel Marcous to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping the US tax filing system and why the industry has remained largely unchanged for decades.
Marcous explained that April was created to simplify what he described as a fragmented and frustrating process that forces millions of Americans to spend hours, and often hundreds of dollars, filing taxes each year. Rather than operating as a traditional consumer tax app, April embeds its technology directly into banks, payroll providers, and fintech platforms, allowing users to file taxes through services they already use.
The company uses graph-based algorithms and AI to personalize the tax filing process in real time. Marcous compared the technology to his previous work at Waze, where algorithms dynamically optimized routes for drivers.
In April’s case, the system maps a user’s tax situation, removes irrelevant steps, and identifies the most efficient filing path. According to Marcous, this reduces the average filing process to around 20 minutes, compared to the 12 hours often cited by the IRS.
Challenges among tax laws
Marcous also discussed the challenges of entering one of the most heavily regulated software industries in the US. Tax laws differ across federal, state, and municipal jurisdictions, requiring companies to constantly update systems and pass annual compliance testing. April, founded in 2021, became the first new player in decades to secure the necessary approvals to operate at scale.
The discussion also touched on April’s recent partnership with PayPal, which allows PayPal cardholders to file taxes for free through the platform. Marcous described the deal as both a major business milestone and a vote of confidence from a leading financial institution.
Despite advances in AI, Marcous argued that one challenge remains difficult to solve: trust. Many taxpayers, he said, still want reassurance from a human accountant, even as automation becomes more capable.