Treasury Declares US Insolvent, AI Does Taxes (with Kenji Kuramoto)

Can AI really prepare a tax return without a human touching the keyboard? Blake and David dig into a wave of new accounting tools that promise exactly that, from AI tax prep and bookkeeping agents to month-end automation. They’re joined by Kenji Kuramoto of Basis to discuss what this means for firms, pricing, and jobs. Plus: the U.S. government’s worsening balance sheet, Tether’s long-awaited audit, and why token costs may become accounting’s next big metric. Sponsors Cloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/cas OnPay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/onpay UNC - http://accountingpodcast.promo/unc Chapters (00:00) - TAP 481 (02:34) - US Insolvency Breakdown (06:04) - Household Budget Analogy (07:49) - GAO Disclaimer Explained (08:37) - AI Tax Prep Agents (11:45) - Kenji Joins the Show (15:07) - Kenji New Role at Basis (19:40) - Basis Agents for CAS (25:36) - AI Skills and Pricing Shift (28:04) - Token Billing and FinOps (33:55) - Tokens Not Timesheets (34:17) - Delve Compliance Fallout (36:18) - Xero Adds Claude AI (38:16) - Who Really Owns Data (41:06) - Ramp Accounting Agent (45:19) - Ramp Budgets Reality Check (48:27) - Canopy Bookkeeping Module (53:11) - Billcom Agents Soapbox (55:09) - Audit Tech Fundraising (56:37) - Tether Finally Gets Audited (59:52) - Costco Tariff Refund Lawsuit (01:02:16) - Wrap Up And CPE Show Notes The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. The media missed it. https://fortune.com/2026/03/23/us-government-insolvent-fiscal-crisis-fix/ TaxGPT AI agent aims to complete the whole tax return https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/taxgpt-touts-ai-that-automatically-completes-returns-from-start-to-finish As Tax Deadline Approaches, Consumers Are Going to AI Before Filing https://www.pymnts.com/taxes/2026/as-tax-deadline-approaches-consumers-are-going-to-ai-before-filing/ AI Efficiency Gains Push Accounting Firms to Reimagine Pricing https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/ai-efficiency-gains-push-accounting-firms-to-reimagine-pricing Accounting Jobs Requiring AI Skills Jump 67% https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/accounting-jobs-requiring-ai-skills-jump-67 Xero and Anthropic Collaborate to Bring AI-Powered Financial Intelligence to Millions of Small Businesses https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260326956055/en/Xero-and-Anthropic-Collaborate-to-Bring-AI-Powered-Financial-Intelligence-to-Millions-of-Small-Businesses Ramp Launches Accounting Agent to Automate Bookkeeping with Real-Time Close https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-launches-accounting-agent-to-automate-bookkeeping-with-real-time-close-302686214.html Ramp Launches Ramp Budgets https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-launches-ramp-budgets-302667840.html Canopy Unveils Canopy Bookkeeping to Eliminate Month-End Friction for Accounting and CAS Teams https://www.morningstar.com/news/business-wire/20260211348515/canopy-unveils-canopy-bookkeeping-to-eliminate-month-end-friction-for-accounting-and-cas-teams Canopy Expands Tax Workflow With AI-Powered Tax Preparation Through New Filed Integration https://www.getcanopy.com/blog/canopy-expands-tax-workflow-with-ai-powered-tax-preparation-through-new-filed-integration Double AI Journal Entries https://doublehq.com/ai-journal-entries/ Tech News: Ramp, Canopy Both Announce AI-Powered Bookkeeping Solutions (includes Bill.com AI agents coverage) https://www.accountingtoday.com/list/tech-news-ramp-canopy-both-announce-ai-powered-bookkeeping-solutions Exclusive: Founded By 2 Brothers In Their 20s, YC-Backed Denki Raises $4.1M To Automate Financial Audits https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/yc-backed-denki-raise-financial-audit-automation-ai/ Tether Taps Big Four Firm KPMG for First Financial Audit of $184 Billion Stablecoin Issuer https://www.theblock.co/post/395423/tether-taps-kpmg-for-first-financial-audit Americans Are Demanding Refunds from the $180 Billion in Tariffs They Paid, Including Suing Companies Like Costco https://fortune.com/2026/03/13/americans-demanding-tariff-refunds-suing-costco-fedex/ Need CPE? Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.com Subscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.com Get in Touch Thanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040. Sponsorships Are you interested in sponsoring The Accounting Podcast? For details,