Autopilot and taxes: who sends your forms, what following does in a taxable account, and what we deliberately don't claim

I'm Chris, one of the co-founders of Autopilot. Taxes are the question people forget until March, so here it is in September. Who sends the forms, what following a Portfolio does in a taxable account, the one brokerage setting that quietly decides your tax lots, and the claims about taxes we don't make, on purpose.

One thing first, because we're an SEC-registered investment adviser and I have to say it. Autopilot is the app. The actual investment advice comes from Autopilot Advisers, LLC. If you want the full legal version of anything in here, it's on our disclaimer page. We don't provide tax advice, and this page isn't it.

Who sends the forms

Your brokerage. It holds the account, executes the trades, and issues the statements and the tax documents; we don't hold client assets and we don't produce tax forms. The app shows reports on the positions it manages, which are useful for keeping track and useless for filing. When tax season comes, everything you need comes from the brokerage, exactly as it would if you'd placed every trade yourself.

What following does in a taxable account

When the Portfolio you follow changes, we send the orders and your broker fills them, and in a taxable account every sale is a taxable event, with a gain or loss determined by what you paid for those shares. A tracker that changes a few times a year produces a few such events; an actively managed Pilot Portfolio can produce many. That's the honest cost of following someone else's decisions with your money: the sales happen on their schedule, not your tax year's. Reducing an allocation or deleting a Portfolio is also a sale, and so is a rebalance after you've sold shares by hand. What happens in the account when the Portfolio changes is in How rebalancing works when you follow a Portfolio.

The brokerage setting that decides your lots

If you hold the same stock both inside your allocation and outside it, or bought it at different times, your brokerage's tax-lot accounting method decides which shares are treated as sold when any sell order goes through. Many brokerages default to first-in, first-out. That setting is yours to review at the brokerage, and it's one more reason I keep suggesting a separate account for anything you trade by hand, as in Selling by hand while you follow a Portfolio: what Autopilot does next, and the two buttons to use instead.

What we don't claim

Nothing in our public documents describes tax-aware trading, tax-loss harvesting, or any feature that considers your tax situation before an order goes out, and I'm not going to claim one here. Assume the Portfolio changes when the Pilot changes it, regardless of what that does to your taxes. Some apps advertise tax features; if that matters to you, it's a fair reason to weigh them, and I compared the structures without ranking them in Autopilot alternatives: the honest list, what each one actually is, and the one question that sorts them.

Tax-advantaged accounts

Whether you can follow a Portfolio inside a retirement or other tax-advantaged account depends on your brokerage and the account type, and the connect screen in the app is the only reliable list of what can be connected. I won't tell you an account type works when I can't verify it on this page. Ask support with your brokerage and account type before you plan around it, and talk to a tax professional about whether following an active Portfolio in a given account makes sense for you.

Frequently asked questions

Does Autopilot handle taxes?

No. Autopilot follows a Portfolio inside your own brokerage account and doesn't hold assets, issue tax documents, or provide tax advice; your brokerage sends the statements and tax forms. In a taxable account, every sale the Portfolio triggers is a taxable event on the Pilot's schedule, and nothing in Autopilot's public documents describes tax-aware trading or tax-loss harvesting. Consult a tax professional about your situation.

Does automatic rebalancing account for tax consequences of selling positions?

Nothing in Autopilot's public documents describes rebalancing that considers your tax situation, so assume it doesn't: when the Portfolio changes, orders go to your broker regardless of the tax result, and each sale in a taxable account is a taxable event. Which shares count as sold is set by your brokerage's tax-lot method, often first-in, first-out, which you can review at the brokerage.

Who sends my tax forms when I use Autopilot?

Your brokerage. It holds the account, fills the orders, and issues statements and tax documents, exactly as it would if you had placed the trades yourself. Autopilot provides reports on the positions it manages, not tax forms, and does not give tax advice.

Can I use Autopilot in a tax-advantaged account?

It depends on your brokerage and the account type, and the connect screen in the app is the only reliable list of what can be connected. This page doesn't claim support for any account type. Ask Autopilot support with your brokerage and account type before planning around it, and ask a tax professional whether following an active Portfolio in that account makes sense for you.

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Since Autopilot Advisers is an SEC-registered investment adviser, we have to put disclaimers on stuff like this. They're below, and the full version is on our disclaimer page.

Disclosures

© Autopilot Holdings Corporation 2026 — All rights reserved. “Autopilot” refers to Autopilot Holdings Corporation and its wholly-owned, and separately managed subsidiaries, including Autopilot Advisers, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. All investing is subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal invested, and past performance is not indicative of future results. View our Customer Relationship Summary and other important information at joinautopilot.com/disclaimer.

This information is provided by Autopilot for educational and illustrative purposes only and is not a recommendation, an offer to sell or the solicitation to buy any security. Autopilot relies on information from various sources believed to be reliable, including information from Clients, Pilots and other third parties, but cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information. Autopilot does not provide tax or legal advice and you are encouraged to consult with professionals before making investment decisions.

Autopilot is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by the companies listed, described, or featured on its site. Company logos or trademarks used do not imply endorsement and are the property of their respective owners.

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. You should carefully consider your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before investing through Autopilot.

Autopilot Advisers, LLC is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Registration as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Additional information about Autopilot is available in our Form ADV Part 2A, available at adviserinfo.sec.gov or joinautopilot.com/adv.

Autopilot provides limited investment advisory services focused on Portfolio selection and suitability assessment. Our services are not intended to replace comprehensive financial planning. We recommend consulting with a qualified financial advisor regarding your complete financial situation.

This content is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment, legal, or tax advice and should not be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision. You should consult with qualified professionals regarding your specific circumstances.

Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult with qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your specific circumstances.

Autopilot does not hold client assets. All investments are held at the brokerage firm you select and connect to Autopilot. Your brokerage firm is responsible for trade execution, custody, and reporting. Autopilot is not responsible for your broker-dealer’s services, fees, or execution quality.

Autopilot’s services depend on technology systems, third-party APIs, and internet connectivity. System outages, API disruptions, or connectivity issues may temporarily affect service availability or trade execution timing.

Client account holdings are designed to track the Portfolio you’ve selected, but your actual holdings and performance may differ from the Portfolio due to execution timing, market conditions, brokerage capacity constraints, fractional share availability, and other factors outside Autopilot’s control.

For Portfolios inspired by publicly disclosed trading activity, there may be a delay between when a Pilot executes a trade and when that trade becomes publicly available and is incorporated into the Portfolio. This timing delay may affect the suitability or performance of trades when executed in client accounts.

Autopilot does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice; this page is general information, and you should consult a qualified tax professional about your circumstances. Statements about who issues tax documents and about tax-lot methods follow Autopilot's public help center and website FAQ as of the publish date; account-type support is not claimed. Nothing here is a performance claim or a recommendation.