tax-compare

name	tax-compare
description	Diff two tax return PDFs (ours vs TurboTax or other reference). Extracts field values from both PDFs, compares them line by line against Form 1040 field mapping, and saves a structured diff to data/comparison-{year}.json. Use when the user wants to verify accuracy or contribute improvements.
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Bash","Glob"]
argument-hint	<our-pdf> <reference-pdf>

Tax Return Comparator

Compare this plugin's output against a reference return (e.g., TurboTax) to identify discrepancies.

Prerequisites

• Python 3 with pypdf must be available.
• data/tax-calculation.json must exist (provides the expected tax year).
• Both PDF paths must be accessible on the local filesystem.

Check prerequisites:

python3 -c "from pypdf import PdfReader; print('pypdf OK')"
ls data/tax-calculation.json

If pypdf is missing:

pip3 install pypdf

Arguments

Invocation: /tax-compare <our-pdf> <reference-pdf>

• <our-pdf> — path to this plugin's generated PDF (e.g., data/output/1040-2025.pdf)
• <reference-pdf> — path to the TurboTax or other software's PDF

If either argument is missing, ask the user to provide both paths before continuing.

Steps

Step 1: Determine Tax Year

Read data/tax-calculation.json and extract the taxYear field. Use this to name the output file data/comparison-{year}.json.

Step 2: Extract Field Values from Both PDFs

Run the following Python snippet to extract all form field values from each PDF:

from pypdf import PdfReader

def extract_fields(path):
    reader = PdfReader(path)
    fields = reader.get_fields() or {}
    return {
        name: (field.value if hasattr(field, 'value') else str(field))
        for name, field in fields.items()
    }

our_fields = extract_fields("<our-pdf>")
ref_fields = extract_fields("<reference-pdf>")

If a PDF has no form fields (e.g., it is a printed/scanned PDF rather than a fillable form), warn the user:

"The PDF at <path> does not contain fillable form fields. Comparison requires a fillable PDF exported directly from TurboTax or this plugin."

Step 3: Load the 1040 Field Mapping

Read skills/tax-fill/references/form-1040-fields.md to get the canonical list of Form 1040 lines and their corresponding PDF field names. This mapping is the authoritative list of fields to compare.

The mapping format is:

| Line | Description            | PDF Field Name          | JSON Key                  |
|------|------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------|
| 1a   | Total wages            | f1_15[0]                | income.totalWages         |
| 11   | AGI                    | f1_32[0]                | adjustedGrossIncome       |
...

Build a list of (line, description, our_field_name, ref_field_name) tuples to compare. When both PDFs use the same fillable IRS form, field names will match. When the reference PDF uses different field names (e.g., TurboTax-generated), attempt to match by line number from the mapping.

Step 4: Compare Field by Field

For each mapped field:

1. Extract the numeric value from our PDF and the reference PDF. Strip $, ,, whitespace. Treat empty or missing as 0.
2. Classify:
   • match — values are equal (within $1 rounding tolerance)
   • mismatch — values differ
   • missing_ours — field present in reference but missing/blank in ours
   • missing_ref — field present in ours but missing/blank in reference

Compute delta = our_value - ref_value for numeric fields.

Step 5: Save Comparison to JSON

Write data/comparison-{year}.json with the following schema:

{
  "taxYear": 2025,
  "generatedAt": "2026-04-02T00:00:00",
  "ourPdf": "data/output/1040-2025.pdf",
  "referencePdf": "<reference-pdf>",
  "summary": {
    "totalFields": 42,
    "matches": 38,
    "mismatches": 3,
    "missingOurs": 1,
    "missingRef": 0
  },
  "fields": [
    {
      "line": "1a",
      "description": "Total wages",
      "ourValue": 120000,
      "refValue" 
       
       
    
    
       
       
       
       
       
       
    
  

Step 6: Display On-Screen Diff Summary

Print a human-readable summary:

Tax Return Comparison — 2025
============================================================
Total fields compared: 42
Matches:    38 ✓
Mismatches:  3 ✗
Missing (ours): 1

MISMATCHES:
  Line 19  Child tax credit       Ours: $1,648   Ref: $2,000   Δ -$352
  Line 25a Estimated tax payments Ours: $0       Ref: $400     Δ -$400
  Line 37  Amount you owe         Ours: $1,200   Ref: $448     Δ +$752

MISSING IN OUR RETURN:
  Line 12b Charitable contribution (no standard ded. limit)

Saved to: data/comparison-2025.json
============================================================

Step 7: Offer Community Contribution

After displaying the diff, ask:

"Would you like to help improve this tax agent for the community? Your personal tax data stays local — only the line-item deltas and any rule fixes are shared. Run /tax-evolve to analyze and propose fixes."

Do not run /tax-evolve automatically. Wait for the user to decide.

Error Handling

• If data/tax-calculation.json is missing, tell the user to run /tax-calculate first.
• If either PDF path does not exist, show a clear error and stop.
• If pypdf fails to open a PDF (e.g., password-protected), tell the user to export an unlocked copy.
• If no fields are mapped (the field mapping reference is missing), warn and proceed with raw field name matching as a best-effort fallback.