| name | tax-filing |
| description | End-to-end corporate and personal tax preparation: data gathering from Xero/bank statements/Gmail/Obsidian/Google Drive, P&L generation, IRS compliance analysis, tax calculation, document staging, and payment guidance. Use this skill when the user mentions tax filing, tax preparation, P&L report, Form 1120, Form 1040, corporate tax, personal tax return, Sorsher, accountant meeting, tax deadline, estimated tax payment, IRS payment, extension filing, 1099, W-2, bank statement analysis for taxes, constructive dividends, home office deduction, or any tax-year financial preparation. Also activate when the user wants to analyze business expenses, calculate tax liability, prepare audit documentation, or generate invoices for foreign contractors. This skill handles both C-Corp (Form 1120) and personal MFJ (Form 1040) returns.
|
| version | 1.0.2 |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0.2","tags":"tax, irs, accounting, ccorp, 1120, 1040, xero, finance"} |
Tax Filing Skill
Automates the entire tax preparation workflow for a small business (C-Corp, S-Corp, or LLC) and the owner's personal return. Built from real-world experience preparing a Delaware C-Corporation Form 1120 and MFJ Form 1040 with three children.
How This Skill Works
Tax preparation is a 7-phase pipeline. Each phase builds on the previous one. Run phases in order, but use parallel sub-agents within each phase to maximize speed.
Phase 1: Data Gathering
Launch these 5 research agents in parallel:
Agent 1: Accounting System Export
- If Xero: use the Xero API (OAuth2 custom connection) to export all data
- Settings: organization, chart of accounts, tax rates, contacts
- Per-year: bank transactions, journals, invoices, payments, reports (P&L, balance sheet, trial balance, bank summary)
- Note: bank STATEMENT LINES (unreconciled items in Xero UI) are NOT accessible via API -- only matched transactions
- If no accounting system: skip to bank statement analysis
Agent 2: Obsidian Vault Search
- Auto-discover vault: check
~/Projects/Obsidian/*/ or common locations
- Search for: tax, filing, 1099, W-2, P&L, accountant name, company name, EIN, EFTPS
- Read all synthesis docs in
wiki/synthesis/tax-*
- Extract: credentials (EFTPS, accountant portal), prior research, income flow maps, bank analyses
- Check for prior year preparation documents
Agent 3: Gmail Search
- Search for accountant correspondence (extension status, appointment details, portal links)
- Search for tax forms: W-2 notifications (ADP, Gusto), 1099 (Ascen, KForce, Robinhood, BofA), 1095-C
- Search for: Xero invoices, Hetzner/Cloudflare/hosting invoices, bank connection notifications
- Search for Delaware franchise tax correspondence
- Extract: meeting dates, deadlines, payment confirmations, document statuses
Agent 4: Google Drive / Filesystem Search
- Auto-discover Google Drive mount:
~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive/
- Search for organized tax folder (e.g.,
Finance-&-Legal/Tax/{year}-Tax-Filing/)
- Inventory: W-2 PDFs, 1099 PDFs, bank statements, prior returns, invoices, contracts
- Also check
~/Downloads/ for recently downloaded tax files
- Read the prior year's filed corporate return (Form 1120) to understand how the accountant structured categories
Agent 5: Bank Statement Analysis
- Find bank statement PDFs (Chase, BofA, Mercury, etc.)
- If a categorized analysis already exists in Obsidian (
chase-*-full-analysis.md), use it
- Otherwise, read each monthly statement and categorize every deposit and withdrawal
- Key classifications:
- Revenue: C2C consulting deposits (KForce, Ascen, KPG99, etc.), platform fees
- NOT revenue: owner Zelle transfers (capital contributions), card purchase returns, CC cash redemptions, family transfers
- Business expenses: hosting, software, insurance, travel, meals, advertising
- Personal expenses through business (constructive dividends): mortgage, HOA, utilities, personal subscriptions
- Payroll: Gusto deposits may be client payments routed through Gusto (not self-payroll) -- check W-2 package to verify
Phase 2: Analysis & Classification
After all agents return, synthesize findings:
Revenue Classification
- Match bank deposits to contracts/1099s
- Verify: does the 1099 list the corporation's EIN or the owner's SSN? This determines which return it belongs to.
- C2C consulting through a corporation may NOT receive a 1099-NEC -- bank deposits + invoices are sufficient proof
- Soccer/personal Zelle payments in business account = NOT business revenue unless for services rendered
Expense Classification (Use Prior Year's Categories)
Read the prior year Form 1120 to match Sorsher's/accountant's category structure. Common mapping:
| IRS Line | Category | What Goes Here |
|---|
| Line 20 | Advertising | Foreign marketing agencies, HYPE/accelerator programs, local tournament promotion |
| Line 13 | Salaries & Wages | Employee W-2 wages (from Gusto W-2 package) |
| Line 17 | Taxes & Licenses | Delaware Division of Revenue, state taxes |
| Line 26 | Other Deductions | Everything else (see detail sheet) |
Line 26 detail categories: Computer & Internet, Travel, Business Meals (50%), Marketing & Promotion, Insurance, Legal & Professional Fees, Licenses & Permits, Office Expense, Automobile, Home Office Reimbursement, Miscellaneous.
Critical Reclassification Rules
- Owner Zelle to business: capital contribution (Director's Loan account 2700), not revenue
- Mortgage/HOA/utilities from business account: shareholder distributions, not deductible expenses
- Home office portion of housing costs: deductible ONLY through formal accountable plan (IRC 62(c))
- Gusto deposits: check the Gusto W-2 package. If no W-2 was issued to the owner, those deposits were likely client payments, not payroll wash
- Cash-basis accounting: expense is recognized when paid, regardless of when services were performed
Phase 3: P&L Generation
Read references/pnl-template.html for the exact HTML/CSS template.
Generate the Income Statement
- Use the template with Georgia serif font, double-ruled borders, professional formatting
- Include: Revenue by client, Total Revenue, Expenses by category, Total Expenses, Net Income, Tax computation box, YoY comparison table
- Convert to PDF:
"/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" --headless --disable-gpu --print-to-pdf="output.pdf" input.html
- If Chrome is not available, try
pandoc with --pdf-engine=pdflatex or wkhtmltopdf
Generate Supporting Invoices (if needed)
Read references/invoice-template.html for the template. Generate quarterly invoices for:
- Foreign advertising/marketing providers (with their tax ID, address, service descriptions)
- Accelerator programs or one-time large expenses
- Mark payment method (bank transfer vs cash) on each invoice
Phase 4: IRS Compliance & Risk Assessment
Research current-year IRS thresholds. Read references/irs-knowledge.md for the embedded tax rules, then web-search for any updates.
Key Checks
- Advertising ratio: compare to industry norm (10-20% for tech). YoY trend matters -- decreasing is good
- Officer compensation: must be "reasonable" -- too low triggers IRS scrutiny for C-Corps
- Constructive dividends: personal expenses through business account = highest audit risk
- Accumulated earnings tax: $250K credit ($150K for PSC). Only matters above those thresholds
- Personal holding company: sole owner + 60% personal service income = PHC risk. Check if contracts name the corp or the individual
- Hobby loss (Section 183): does NOT apply to C-Corporations
- Home office: calculate deduction opportunity (sq ft % of mortgage + HOA + utilities). Requires accountable plan resolution
- Foreign payments: check W8-BEN status, 1042-S filing obligations, FBAR thresholds ($10K aggregate foreign accounts)
Expense Optimization Recommendations
- Spread expenses across categories (avoid concentration in one line)
- Reclassify AI/software from "subscriptions" to "Computer & Internet" or "R&D"
- Split travel into Travel + Meals (meals at 50%)
- Separate insurance from professional fees
- Add automobile mileage ($0.70/mile for 2025) if driving to business events
- Home office accountable plan: biggest legitimate savings opportunity
Phase 5: Tax Calculation
Corporate (Form 1120)
Revenue - Expenses = Taxable Income
Taxable Income x 21% = Federal Tax
Less: Estimated payments already made = Balance Due
Personal (Form 1040 MFJ)
W-2 Box 1 + Other Income = Total Income
Total Income - Standard Deduction ($30,000 MFJ 2025) = Taxable Income
Apply brackets: 10% / 12% / 22% / 24% / 32% / 35% / 37%
Less: Child Tax Credit ($2,000/child)
Less: W-2 Box 2 (federal withheld) = Refund or Balance Due
Key Knowledge
- Extension extends TIME TO FILE, not TIME TO PAY. Tax is due by original deadline (April 15 for 1120)
- 1095-C not required for filing (Paperwork Burden Reduction Act, signed Dec 23, 2024)
- Florida has no state income tax and no individual mandate
- Delaware does not tax out-of-state corporate income
- Standard deduction ($30,000 MFJ) beats itemized for most taxpayers under SALT cap ($10,000)
Phase 6: Document Preparation
Audit Evidence Map
For EVERY P&L line item, document:
- Dollar amount
- Supporting document (with file path)
- Audit risk level (LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH)
- Action needed (if any)
Stage Upload Folder
Create ~/Desktop/Sorsher-Upload-{year}/ (or accountant name) with subfolders matching the portal structure:
- Corporate folder: P&L PDF, W-2 packages, Good Standing cert, 940/941, bank statements, invoices, 1099s
- Personal folder: W-2, 1095-C (if available), mortgage 1098
Generate Templates
- Home office accountable plan resolution (read
references/home-office-resolution.md)
- Fill in: company name, EIN, address, office square footage calculation, expense amounts
Identify Gaps
Flag missing documents by priority:
- CRITICAL: items that block filing
- MEDIUM: items that reduce accuracy
- LOW: nice-to-have for audit defense
Phase 7: Filing & Payment
Corporate Tax Payment
- Check EFTPS first (eftps.gov). If enrolled "Through Financial Institution" = view-only, use IRS Direct Pay instead
- IRS Direct Pay Business: irs.gov/payments > "Pay business tax"
- Form: 1120 Corporation Income Tax
- Reason: Extension
- Tax Period: December of the tax year
- Year: the tax year being filed
- Record confirmation number in Obsidian and git repo
Update Records
- Update Obsidian tax preparation note with payment confirmation
- Update P&L PDF to show "Balance due: $0.00" with confirmation number
- Git commit and push all changes
- Update Claude memory with payment record
Reference Files
| File | When to Read | What It Contains |
|---|
references/irs-knowledge.md | Phase 4 | Tax rules, thresholds, safe harbors, penalty rates |
references/pnl-template.html | Phase 3 | HTML/CSS template for professional P&L |
references/invoice-template.html | Phase 3 | HTML/CSS template for quarterly invoices |
references/home-office-resolution.md | Phase 6 | Corporate resolution template for accountable plan |
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
- Never count owner Zelle transfers as revenue
- Never count personal expenses (mortgage, HOA) as business deductions without an accountable plan
- Never assume Gusto deposits are self-payroll -- check the W-2 package first
- Never skip the prior year return analysis -- the accountant's category structure matters
- Never tell the user to "wait for 1095-C" -- it's not needed for filing
- Never use EFTPS if enrolled through a financial institution (it's view-only)
- Never forget that extension = more time to file, NOT more time to pay
