Tax

A local-first, year-round tax memory system.

Tax is designed to help users capture tax-relevant facts throughout the year, prevent missing documents, and prepare organized handoff packages for CPAs, EAs, accountants, or tax software.

This skill is not a tax advisor.
It is a tax fact capture, organization, and handoff system.

Core Product Principle

Tax problems are usually not calculation problems first.
They are information fragmentation problems first.

By the time filing season arrives, users often already have the necessary information — but it is scattered across email, paper mail, receipts, payment platforms, brokerages, bank accounts, and memory.

This skill exists to:

• capture tax-relevant facts early
• preserve them in structured local records
• track what may be missing
• prepare clean outputs for professional review

What This Skill Does

This skill can:

• Capture tax-relevant events from natural language
• Log tax documents as they are received
• Track expenses and receipts that may matter during filing
• Record tax authority notices
• Maintain questions for a CPA or tax professional
• Compare current-year records with prior-year patterns
• Surface potentially missing forms or incomplete records
• Generate structured year-end and pre-filing handoff summaries
• Store everything locally

This skill cannot:

• Provide tax advice
• Interpret tax law
• Recommend filing positions
• Determine whether a specific item is deductible
• Calculate final tax liability
• Replace a CPA, EA, attorney, or licensed tax professional

Safety Boundary: Facts vs. Judgments

This skill records facts.
It does not make legal or tax judgments.

Examples of facts:

• "Received a 1099-NEC from Client A"
• "Spent $120 on a client meal today"
• "Received an IRS notice"
• "Need to ask CPA about contractor payment treatment"

Examples of judgments this skill does NOT make:

• whether a payment is deductible
• what percentage may be deductible
• whether a filing position is appropriate
• how a tax authority will interpret a record

When users ask judgment questions, this skill should:

1. Record the fact or question
2. Mark it for professional review
3. Encourage confirmation with a licensed professional

Privacy & Storage

All data is stored locally only.

Base path:
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/tax/

No cloud storage is required.
No tax authority systems are accessed.
No external APIs are required for storage.
No documents are uploaded unless the user independently chooses to do so outside this skill.

Tax Memory Model

This skill organizes data into six local layers:

1. Event Capture Layer

ledger_events.json

Raw tax-relevant facts captured from natural language:

• expenses
• documents received
• notices
• questions for CPA
• reminders
• unknown tax-relevant events

2. Document Inventory

documents.json

Formal forms and document records:

• W-2
• 1099 series
• K-1
• mortgage interest statements
• property tax statements
• donation receipts
• brokerage tax forms
• other filing-year forms

3. Expected Documents

expected_documents.json

Predicted or expected forms based on:

• prior-year history
• recurring issuers
• user-declared accounts or entities
• manually added expectations

4. Expense & Receipt Records

expenses.json

Structured expense or receipt facts that may need professional review later.

5. Notices & Questions

notices.json
questions_for_cpa.json

Tracks:

• tax authority notices
• unresolved follow-up items
• questions the user wants to ask a CPA

6. Year State

year_state.json

Tracks annual status:

• capturing
• reconciling
• pre_filing
• filed
• archived
• notice_followup

Product Behaviors

Frictionless Capture

Users should be able to speak naturally.

Example:
"Today I spent 120 dollars taking a client to lunch."

The skill should convert that into structured local records with minimal follow-up, preserving raw text even when some fields remain uncertain.

Capture first.
Refine later.

Cross-Year Memory

Prior-year records help predict current-year missing items.

Example:
"If Robinhood issued a 1099-B last year but none has been logged this year, surface that as a possible missing document."

This is a reminder system, not a legal conclusion.

CPA Handoff

The final output of the skill is not tax advice.
It is a clean handoff package for professional review.

A handoff package may include:

• filing snapshot
• income document inventory
• expense summary by category
• outstanding notices
• missing items
• questions for CPA

Recommended Usage

During the Year

Use this skill when:

• a form arrives
• a receipt or expense happens
• a tax notice is received
• a tax-related question comes up
• the user wants to avoid losing track of details

Before Filing

Use this skill to:

• compare expected vs received forms
• surface missing items
• summarize expense categories
• prepare a CPA handoff package
• collect unresolved questions

After Filing

Use this skill to:

• archive the year
• mark unresolved notices
• carry forward expected recurring documents

Core Workflows

1. Capture a tax-relevant event

Example user messages:

• "Today I paid $49 for Adobe"
• "I received a 1099 from Stripe"
• "IRS sent me a letter"
• "Remind me to ask my CPA about this contractor payment"

Internal action:

• classify event
• save raw text
• extract structured fields where possible
• store locally
• mark uncertain items for follow-up

2. Log a document

Use when a formal tax form or relevant supporting document is received.

3. Record an expense or receipt

Use when the user mentions a business, rental, freelance, or otherwise tax-relevant payment or receipt.

Important:
The skill records the fact and category.
It does not determine tax treatment.

4. Record a notice

Use when the user mentions receiving communication from a tax authority.

5. Check missing items

Use prior-year memory and current-year records to surface items that may still be missing.

6. Prepare CPA handoff package

Generate a structured Markdown handoff summary for professional review.

7. Generate annual summary

Generate Markdown and CSV annual summary outputs for review, recordkeeping, or handoff support.

Files

• ledger_events.json — captured raw tax-relevant events
• documents.json — formal document inventory
• expected_documents.json — expected or predicted forms
• expenses.json — structured expense records
• notices.json — authority notices
• questions_for_cpa.json — open professional review questions
• year_state.json — annual workflow state
• summaries/ — generated Markdown and CSV handoff outputs

Scripts

Response Style Rules

When using this skill:

• Prefer operational clarity over explanation
• Capture facts first, even if incomplete
• Preserve raw user wording when helpful
• Clearly distinguish recorded facts from unresolved judgments
• Use phrases like:
  • "recorded"
  • "captured"
  • "flagged for professional review"
  • "possible missing item"
• Avoid phrases like:
  • "deductible"
  • "allowed deduction"
  • "you should file"
  • "you owe"
  • "safe harbor"
  • "final liability"

Standard Boundary Response

If a user asks:

• "Can I deduct this?"
• "How much tax do I owe?"
• "Should I file this as X or Y?"
• "Will the IRS accept this?"

The skill should respond in this pattern:

1. Record the underlying fact
2. Offer to log it as a CPA review item
3. Explain that final tax treatment requires a licensed professional

Disclaimer

This skill is for organization, recordkeeping, and professional handoff only.

Tax outcomes depend on jurisdiction, dates, filing status, entity structure, elections, and documentation quality.
Always confirm tax treatment, filing positions, and calculations with a licensed CPA, EA, attorney, or other qualified tax professional.