checking-shareholder-or-corporate-leakage

name	checking-shareholder-or-corporate-leakage
description	Review shareholder loan and corporate expense leakage facts for a Canadian IT contractor who operates through a corporation. Use when personal expenses may have been paid by the corporation, or corporate funds may have been used for non-business purposes, creating shareholder benefit or loan account issues. Accepts prior skill output and expense or payment descriptions. Produces a provisional leakage fact summary with flags and downstream routing.
metadata	{"author":"Teplov CPA","version":1,"updated":"2026-04-18T00:00:00.000Z"}

Checking Shareholder or Corporate Leakage

Review shareholder loan and corporate expense leakage facts for a Canadian IT contractor who operates through a corporation.

Core Rules

• Organize and flag leakage facts, do not advise on corporate tax treatment.
• Do not determine the shareholder benefit amount.
• Do not determine the shareholder loan balance.
• Do not advise on how to correct leakage.
• Preserve uncertainty where the nature of payments is unclear.
• Do not state that any arrangement is compliant or non-compliant.
• Do not state that the user is ready to file.
• Use this phrase where relevant: "That is outside what this workflow covers. It is a question for a CPA before you file."

Inputs

Do not ask the user to share SIN, business number, account numbers, or client names. Use general descriptions and rounded amounts.

Accept any of:

• output from identifying-expense-categories
• description of corporate expense payments
• description of shareholder loan activity
• corporate bank or credit card records
• user explanation in chat

Minimum useful input:

• indication that a corporation exists
• at least one expense or payment that may involve a personal component paid by the corporation

Read from the shared input schema where available: case_id, tax_year, engagement_mode, user_profile, facts.business_activity, facts.corporate_structure, documents.expense_support, form_context, review_state.

Read from prior skill outputs where available: identifying-expense-categories, organizing-t2125-routine-operating-expenses.

Workflow

1. Confirm leakage review is relevant

Check whether the user operates through a corporation. If no corporation is involved, return not_applicable.

2. Identify potential leakage items

Look for items where personal expenses may have been paid by the corporation or where the business purpose is unclear:

• personal travel claimed as business
• personal meals or entertainment with no business purpose
• personal vehicle costs charged to the corporation
• home expenses charged to the corporation without a clear business basis
• personal purchases on corporate accounts
• transfers from the corporation to the user without clear salary or dividend treatment

3. Organize shareholder loan facts

Identify:

• whether the user has drawn funds from the corporation beyond salary or declared dividends
• whether amounts were recorded as shareholder loans
• whether those loans were repaid within the required period
• whether the prior-year shareholder loan balance is known

Do not calculate the shareholder loan balance. Note facts and flag for CPA review.

4. Assess support strength

For each potential leakage item, mark support as sufficient, partial, weak, or none.

5. Build the provisional leakage summary

Group items into:

• likely legitimate business expenses with adequate support
• items that may have a personal component
• items that may have been misrouted through the corporation
• shareholder loan activity requiring CPA review
• unclear items

6. Flag issues that affect readiness

Flag issues such as:

• expense appears personal but was paid by the corporation
• business purpose not documented for a corporate expense
• shareholder loan balance unknown
• loan repayment within required period not confirmed
• salary vs dividend treatment not clear

Only flag issues that materially affect readiness.

7. Prepare downstream routing

Indicate likely downstream uses:

• generating-cpa-handoff-summary
• generating-missing-items-summary

Do not run those workflows inside this skill.

Resource Map

• ../../references/shared-input-schema.md: read to populate input fields
• ../../references/shared-output-schema.md: read to format output fields

Output

Return using the shared output schema. Include:

• facts_accepted: usable leakage-related facts the skill relied on
• mappings_proposed: use entries such as likely legitimate business expense, possible personal component, possible misrouted expense, shareholder loan item, needs_manual_review, not_applicable
• flags: use missing_support, possible_personal_component, mapping_uncertain, unclear_classification where applicable
• open_questions: only questions needed to resolve meaningful uncertainty; typical useful questions include: Were any personal expenses paid through the corporation? Do you have a shareholder loan balance from this year or prior years? Were corporate distributions treated as salary or dividends?
• status: one of ready_for_entry, clarification_required, incomplete, cpa_review_recommended, not_applicable
• client_safe_summary: plain language, short and practical

Also include a leakage summary grouped into:

• likely legitimate corporate expenses
• items with possible personal component (show description, amount if known, flag)
• shareholder loan activity notes
• open issues requiring CPA review

Status Guidance

• ready_for_entry: no material leakage indicators found and corporate expenses appear well-supported
• clarification_required: some items may have a personal component but facts are incomplete
• cpa_review_recommended: material personal or leakage items are present, or shareholder loan activity requires review
• incomplete: insufficient facts to assess leakage risk
• not_applicable: no corporation involved

Do not use ready_for_entry if any material leakage items are unresolved.

Validation

• Corporate structure is confirmed or flagged as unresolved.
• Each potential leakage item is mapped or explicitly excluded.
• Shareholder loan status is noted or flagged as not applicable.
• At least one downstream skill is identified in routing.
• status is one of the five standard values.
• client_safe_summary is present and contains no tax advice.