Build your own tax refund estimator with Claude Code
Idea + starter prompt, not run by us yet
For: Salaried people who want a rough refund estimate before they see an accountant
A user described his situation in plain English and had Claude Code build an interactive refund estimator from current tax tables. It asked questions, searched the web for rates, and made a one-page app with live updates, charts and local saving. He has not said he checked it against a real return.
Steps
- Write down your filing status, income types and where you live. Rates and rules differ by country and state.
- Let Claude Code ask its clarifying questions. Tell it to use the official tax tables for [tax year] and name the source.
- Test the app with a filed return, but only one for the same year, jurisdiction and circumstances as the estimate. Otherwise the numbers will not match.
- Treat the result as a planning estimate only. Have a qualified person prepare the real return.
- Re-check the tables each tax year, since the app will not update itself.
Starter prompt
Trial first: use a made-up household, with invented income and one made-up dependant, and build the whole app on that. Keep it in a new folder called [tax-trial]. Do not use my real figures yet. Build me a small single-page app that estimates a tax refund for [tax year] in [country or state]. My situation: [filing status, income types, dependants]. Ask me your questions first. Use the official tax tables for [tax year] and name the source. Show me the plan before you write code. This app only estimates and files nothing. Keep everything on my computer, saved in local storage. Wait for my yes before you use my real figures. Compare against a filed return only if it is for the same year, place and circumstances. Do not ask for ID numbers or logins.
Original post: Medium · found via agentusecases.ai. Written up in our own words. We haven't run it, so test it on made-up data first.