Finance & bookkeeping · Claude

Sort your tax paperwork and fill the forms, then check the result yourself

Idea + starter prompt, not run by us yet

For: People who do their own taxes and dread sorting a year of documents

A former tax preparer collected his wage forms, 1099s, brokerage summary and the empty IRS forms in one folder. Claude sorted each document, pulled out the numbers into text files he could read, and later categorised bank and card exports. A skill then filled the forms. His TurboTax run matched to the dollar, but the skill ticked the wrong filing status box.

Steps

1. Gather all your income documents and the blank forms with instructions into one folder. Work on copies.
2. Ask Claude to sort the documents and write the extracted numbers into plain text files you can open.
3. Check the extracted numbers against the originals before anything is filled in.
4. Let it fill the forms, then check every checkbox and field yourself. One box was wrong in the source even though the maths was right.
5. Run the same return through separate tax software or ask an accountant, and reconcile the differences.
6. Do not let the agent file anything for you. Submit it yourself.

Starter prompt

I want help preparing my tax return for [year] in [country]. The folder [folder path] has copies of my income documents and blank forms with instructions. Do not change the originals.

Trial first. In a new folder called [trial], make 3 made-up documents, such as a fake wage form and a fake bank summary, and run steps 1 to 3 on those only. Put trial output in [trial-output], separate from the real output. Show me the result before you touch my real documents.

Step 1: tell me what each real document is and write the numbers you extract into plain text files, one per document, with the page each figure came from. Ask me about anything unclear.

Step 2: show me a plan for which forms you will fill and from which figures. Wait for my OK.

Step 3: fill the forms into new files. List every checkbox and filing status choice you made so I can verify each one. This job drafts only. Do not submit or file anything online, and stop and wait for my yes before any step that sends data outside this folder. Never ask for my login, ID number or bank details. Tell me what a tax professional should check.

Original post: doempke.com · found via agentusecases.ai. Written up in our own words. We haven't run it, so test it on made-up data first.