In the quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve last year, CPA Busayo Ogunsanya introduced his first effort into the tech space, AskMyUncleSam. The product is a chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to answer tax and financial inquiries from tax filers, which has the potential to streamline the filing process when clients approach tax accountants. The bot integrates with Facebook Messenger and Slack.

In its current iteration, AskMyUncleSam can handle personal tax and financial queries. In the coming months, Ogunsanya and his developers plan to introduce the capability for business-related inquiries and start rolling out a more robust platform for 1099 workers and small businesses. The founder told Accounting Today that he also plans to license the AskMyUncleSam platform to accounting firms for white labeling. In addition, he hopes to integrate the bot with HR software solutions in order to help employees fill out their W-4s and other employment-related tax forms.

Ogunsanya, who is currently in the process of registering his startup as a C corporation under the name AMUS Inc., has a marketplace contract with a major U.S.-based payroll service provider, the identity of which he preferred not to disclose publicly because his fledgling company is in the midst of raising its seed round of financing.

Technology editor for Accounting Today.