Perplexity Deep Research is the best AI research tool on the market right now, and you can try it for free.
While it's not specifically built for tax, it delivers impressive results for tax and financial questions. You get five free deep research searches daily, and the Pro version ($20/month) hasn't shown me any limits yet.
What makes it special? Unlike ChatGPT or Gemini's deep research features, Perplexity gives you concise reports instead of endless pages to read through. It can take a few minutes to generate responses, showing its thought process along the way.
We discussed this in Episode 424 of The Accounting Podcast. My co-host, David Leary, pointed out that it's interesting how many startups have been trying to build specialized tax chat tools since ChatGPT launched. Now, we're seeing general AI tools that perform remarkably well for tax research “off the shelf.”
That said, specialized tools like TaxGPT (which just raised $4.6 million) may still have their place. They pair LLMs with tax research databases, ensuring answers come from correct, authoritative sources. This specialized approach matters for accuracy.
The big question: Will specialized tools be so much better than Perplexity that people will pay for them? I think probably yes. Perplexity relies on internet-available information, while private tax research databases contain valuable content not publicly accessible. For highly complex or niche tax issues, proprietary databases will likely remain superior.
But don't take my word for it—try Perplexity Deep Research yourself. Just remember that it takes a lot longer for each query, so save it for when you need deeply researched answers.
