The New York state tax department is sending hundreds of thousands of AI-generated letters to wealthy remote workers or people who need to change their tax residency, reports CNBC.
Robert Frank
Using AI to send the letters could be a way to help overcome staff shortages, but it's not clear if this is one of the reasons for the decision.
In 2022, the state saw an increase in the number of audits carried out, but a significant drop in the number of auditors available to carry them out, reports Business Insider.
Mikhaila FrielData from a recent report by the state Department of Taxation and Finance, cited by CNBC, indicates that in 2022, 771,000 audits were carried out in New York, an increase of 56% over the previous year.
According to Mark Klein, partner and president of a law firm specializing in tax matters and taxation, the tax department is using sophisticated technology "to determine the best auditcandidates ", with a focus on wealthy individuals who have moved from high-tax states to low-tax states such as Florida or Texas.
"As it's easy to guess, when you're looking for revenue, it's not going to be the person who makes $10,000 a year. It's going to be the person who makes 10 million dollars," says Klein.
New York City has 340,000 millionaires and 58 billionaires, making it the richest city in the world, according to data from residency and citizenship investment firm Henley and Partners.
According to Klein, US tax departments are using both human auditors and Artificial Intelligence to examine cell phone records, which will help find out where taxpayers spend their time and, consequently, where they should pay taxes.
"New York is being very aggressive," says the lawyer.
The issue of location is not uncommon when it comes to taxes. Celebrities and millionaires from all over the world have gotten into trouble for filing their taxes in the wrong state, apparently with the intention of paying less.
One famous example is Shakira, who in November was fined 24 million euros for failing to pay 14.5 million eurosin income tax during the period she lived in Spain, between 2012 and 2014. At the time, the American star was married to Catalan footballer Gerard Piqué.
According to Spanish prosecutors, during this period Shakira indicated the Bahamas as her main residence, where taxes are lower, despite spending most of her time in Spain.
Shakira, who always denied the accusations and eventually admitted to tax fraud, said that she had decided to "give priority to her career and the stability of her children", putting an end to the process and "thus avoiding the impact of media exposure and the often exhausting trial time".
Agencia EFE
