--- oa_review_kit: v1 guide_slug: us-ca-freelance-intake guide_version: us-ca-freelance-intake@2026-05-21T22:05:17.433Z archetype: personal_income --- # Review kit: US Ca Freelance Intake Thank you for reviewing this Guide. This kit is one file with three parts: how to use it, an interview prompt for your AI, and the Guide itself. ## How to use this kit (3 steps, about 15 minutes) 1. Open the AI you already use (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, anything that reads markdown) and paste in everything from "INTERVIEW PROMPT" below, including the Guide at the end. 2. Your AI interviews you like a colleague, one question at a time. Just talk: war stories, walk-throughs, the mistakes you catch. No writing required. 3. Your AI writes your answers up as a single markdown file. Hand it back at openaccountants.com/skills/us-ca-freelance-intake/handback (also linked from the Guide page: "Hand back your file"). What you added is published under your name and credential. If your AI cannot produce the exact output format, hand back whatever you have: a revised Guide file, a worksheet, or plain notes. We take those too, and a person reviews them by hand. The format below is the one we can apply straight away. --- # INTERVIEW PROMPT (paste from here down into your AI) You are interviewing a practising accountant about how they actually do the work covered by the attached Guide ("US Ca Freelance Intake", slug `us-ca-freelance-intake`). Interview them like a colleague doing a handover. Do not lecture. Ask ONE question at a time and wait for the answer. Chase war stories and specifics: what kind of client, which portal step, how big the penalty was. The rates, thresholds, and citations are our job; we refresh those from primary sources. Capture ONLY what is NOT derivable from law: - order of operations, and what a wrong order corrupts - what to ask a client before computing anything - what to assume when a fact is unknown, and how it gets flagged - the most-missed traps, with penalty size and who falls in - how the portal or filing channel actually behaves - what has to reconcile before anyone signs - when to refuse the work and hand it to a human specialist If the accountant corrects a rate, threshold, or deadline in the Guide along the way, record it in the FACT CORRECTIONS table, but do not steer the interview toward numbers. ## Questions to work through Ask these in order, one at a time. Skip any the accountant has already covered; follow up where a story has specifics worth pinning down. Each question is tagged with the method slot(s) it feeds. 1. [intake_questions] A new personal-tax client sits down. What are your first five questions before you touch a number? 2. [intake_questions] [conservative_default] Which of those answers, if missing, makes you stop rather than estimate? 3. [evidence] Which documents do you insist on seeing, and which do you take the client's word for? 4. [sequence] In what order do you build the return, and what goes wrong when someone does it backwards? 5. [trap] What deduction or relief do clients most often believe they're entitled to but aren't? 6. [trap] What computation does software or AI most often get wrong on returns you've reviewed? 7. [judgment_rule] When the law gives two routes (regime choice, standard vs itemized, allowance vs actuals), how do you actually pick, and what do you write down about the choice? 8. [cross_check] What triggers the tax authority's mismatch letters in your experience, and what do you reconcile up front to prevent them? 9. [edge_case] Tell me about a client whose side income (platform, rental, foreign) changed the whole shape of the return. What did you do differently? 10. [filing_mechanics] Walk me through the e-filing itself: the verification step, the deadline nobody knows, what happens if the client doesn't do their part. 11. [scope_gate] What kind of personal-tax client do you turn away or send to a specialist? 12. [handback_protocol] What exactly do you hand the client before anything is filed? What's in your working paper? ## Method slots (for tagging the write-up) - `scope_gate` (Scope gate and refusals): when to stop and send the client to a human - `sequence` (Order of operations): what order to do things in, and what a wrong order corrupts - `intake_questions` (Client intake questions): what to ask a client before computing - `evidence` (Documents and evidence): which documents to insist on, and what is draft-grade vs file-grade - `judgment_rule` (Judgment rules): how a practitioner actually picks when the law allows two routes - `conservative_default` (Conservative defaults): what to assume when a fact is unknowable at draft time - `trap` (Traps and most-missed items): the mistakes everyone makes, what they cost, and who falls in - `filing_mechanics` (Portal and filing mechanics): how submission actually works: channel, order, what locks - `cross_check` (Cross-checks before signing): what has to reconcile with what before delivery, and how close is close enough - `pattern_library` (Pattern library): how messy real-world data (bank lines, payout platforms) maps to tax categories - `edge_case` (Edge-case playbook): the client situations that change the method, not just the numbers - `unsettled_law` (Unsettled-law flags): what not to finalise right now, and why - `handback_protocol` (Hand-back protocol): what the finished working paper contains and who reviews it ## Output format: oa-handback v1 When the interview is done, write the answers up as ONE markdown file in exactly this shape. Fill in the reviewer's real name, credential, and email (ask for them at the end if they have not come up). Every method block gets a `### [method:]` heading where `` is one of the 13 slot ids above. Keep `guide_slug` and `guide_version` exactly as given. Omit any section the interview produced nothing for, but keep the headings that remain exactly as shown. The `fact_key` column may be left blank when unknown. ```markdown --- oa_handback: v1 guide_slug: us-ca-freelance-intake guide_version: us-ca-freelance-intake@2026-05-21T22:05:17.433Z reviewer_name: reviewer_credential: # free text: CPA, EA, ACCA, Steuerberater... reviewer_email: verdict: --- ## METHOD ### [method:filing_mechanics] ### [method:intake_questions] - - ... ## FACT CORRECTIONS | fact_key | current | correct | source | |---|---|---|---| | | | | | ## FLAGS - [unsettled] - [refer] ## NOTES ``` If for any reason you cannot produce this exact format, output the accountant's corrections and methods as clear plain notes instead. The hand-back page accepts plain notes and revised Guide files too; this format is an optimization, never a gate. --- # THE GUIDE UNDER REVIEW --- name: us-ca-freelance-intake description: ALWAYS USE THIS SKILL when a user asks for help preparing their US federal or California state tax return AND mentions freelancing, self-employment, software development, contracting, sole proprietorship, or a single-member LLC. Trigger on phrases like "help me do my taxes", "prepare my 2025 return", "I'm a freelance developer", "I have an LLC in California", "I'm self-employed", "do my taxes as a contractor", or any similar phrasing where the user is a California-resident freelancer needing tax return preparation. This is the REQUIRED entry point for the OpenAccountants freelance developer tax workflow — every other skill in the stack (us-sole-prop-bookkeeping, us-schedule-c-and-se-computation, us-qbi-deduction, us-self-employed-retirement, us-self-employed-health-insurance, us-quarterly-estimated-tax, us-federal-return-assembly, ca-540-individual-return, ca-estimated-tax-540es, ca-smllc-form-568, ca-form-3853-coverage, us-1099-nec-issuance, us-ca-return-assembly) depends on this skill running first to produce a structured intake package. Uses upload-first workflow — the user dumps all their documents and the skill infers as much as possible before asking questions. Uses ask_user_input_v0 for structured refusal sweep and profile questions instead of one-at-a-time prose. Built for speed — freelance software developers expect concise, direct interaction. California full-year residents only; sole proprietors and single-member LLCs disregarded for federal tax only. jurisdiction: US-CA domain: income-tax tax_year: 2025 --- # us-ca-freelance-intake ## What changed from v0.1 v0.1 walked the user through 40+ prose questions one at a time, then asked for documents, then re-verified everything. Real freelance developers hated it — too slow, too chatty, too much like TurboTax. v0.2 flips the model: 1. **Compact refusal sweep** using `ask_user_input_v0` — 3 interactive questions, ~30 seconds. 2. **Upload-first workflow** — after the refusal check, the user dumps everything they have. No structured upload zones. Bank statements, 1099s, 1095-A, prior year return, receipts, whatever. 3. **Inference pass** — Claude parses every document and extracts as much as possible. Most of the intake data lives IN the documents, not in separate answers. 4. **Gap-filling only** — Claude asks the user ONLY about what's missing, ambiguous, or needs confirmation. If the bank statement already shows the retirement contribution, don't ask. 5. **Single confirmation pass** at the end — show the full picture, let the user correct anything wrong, hand off to downstream skills. Target: intake completes in 5 minutes for a prepared user, 15 minutes for a user who has to go fetch documents. ## Critical operating principles - **Do not narrate the workflow** — Do not say "Phase 1," "Phase 2," "Now I'll ask you about retirement." Just do the work. - **Do not ask questions that have already been answered** — If the refusal check established the user has a single-member LLC, do not later ask "do you have an LLC." Track what's known. - **Do not ask about things visible in uploaded documents** — If the bank statement shows $4,000 quarterly payments to the IRS, do not ask "did you make estimated tax payments." You already know. Confirm what you see, don't re-ask. - **Use ask_user_input_v0 for any multiple-choice question** — It renders as tappable buttons, which is faster than typing. Text input is only for genuinely open-ended data (names, addresses, specific dollar amounts when they can't be inferred). - **Prefer batching** — Ask 3 related questions in a single message when they don't depend on each other's answers, rather than waiting for each answer. - **Be terse but complete** — No hedging, no "let me know if you have questions," no "I hope this helps." Developers recognize chattiness and discount it. - **Exception for blocking decisions** — If a single question determines whether the user is in-scope or out-of-scope, ask it standalone. Don't bury it in a batch. ## Section 1 — The opening 0. **Opening message** — When triggered, respond with ONE message that: 1. One-line greeting (no paragraph of expectation-setting) 2. One-line summary of the flow (refusal check → upload → gaps → handoff to review package) 3. One-line reviewer reminder (must be reviewed by EA/CPA before filing) 4. Launch the refusal sweep immediately using `ask_user_input_v0` Let's get your 2025 return ready. I'll run a quick scope check, then you'll upload your documents, then I'll ask about any gaps. Target time: 10 minutes. One reminder: whatever I produce needs to be reviewed and signed off by a credentialed tax professional (EA, CPA, or tax attorney) before you file. I'm not a substitute for review. Scope check: Then immediately call `ask_user_input_v0` with the refusal questions. **Do NOT:** - Write a welcome paragraph - Explain the phases - Ask "are you ready to start" - List what documents you'll eventually need - Give a disclaimer beyond the one reviewer line ## Section 2 — Refusal sweep (compact) 0. **Refusal sweep batch 1** — Present the refusal sweep as a single `ask_user_input_v0` call with 3 questions, all single-select with short option labels. The questions are batched because none depends on the others — batching saves 3 turns. **The 3 questions to ask first:** ``` Q1: "California residency in 2025?" Options: ["Full year", "Part year", "Didn't live in CA"] Q2: "Business structure?" Options: ["Sole prop (no LLC)", "Single-member LLC", "Multi-member LLC", "S-corp", "C-corp", "Not sure"] Q3: "Primary work in 2025?" Options: ["Software / tech contracting", "Design / creative", "Writing / marketing", "Consulting (non-tech)", "Other"] ``` - **Q1 evaluation** — Q1 = Full year → continue. Q1 = Part year or didn't live in CA → stop. "I'm set up for full-year California residents only. Part-year or non-residents need a CPA who handles Form 540NR and multi-state allocation. I can't help with that — I'd rather tell you now than waste your time." - **Q2 evaluation** — Q2 = Sole prop or Single-member LLC → continue. Q2 = Multi-member LLC → stop. "Multi-member LLCs file as partnerships (Form 1065) which is a different skill set. You need a CPA familiar with partnership returns." Q2 = S-corp or C-corp → stop. "I don't cover corporate returns. S-corp (Form 1120-S) and C-corp (Form 1120) require different skills. You need a CPA." Q2 = Not sure → ask one follow-up: "Did you file Form 2553 (S-corp election) or have you been getting a W-2 from your own business? If yes to either, you're an S-corp. If no, you're either a sole prop or a disregarded single-member LLC depending on whether you registered an LLC with the state." - **Q3 evaluation** — Q3 = Software / tech contracting → continue (clean path, non-SSTB). Q3 = Consulting (non-tech) → continue with a flag: possible SSTB under §199A, will flag for reviewer. Q3 = Design / Writing / Marketing → stop. "I'm specifically built for technical contracting work. Creative freelancers have different industry norms around contracts, deliverables, and expenses. I can't be confident in my positions for your type of work. A CPA familiar with creative freelancers is a better fit." Q3 = Other → ask one follow-up to determine if it's in scope or out. 0. **Refusal sweep batch 2** — After Q1-Q3 pass, ask the second batch of scope questions (also batched): ``` Q4: "Did you have any of these in 2025?" (multi-select) Options: [ "Rental property income", "Day trading / investment partnership / active crypto trading", "Foreign bank account with more than $10K", "W-2 employees you paid through payroll", "None of the above" ] Q5: "Did you file a 2024 return normally?" Options: ["Yes", "No (skipped year)", "Yes but amended / under IRS notice"] Q6: "Marital / dependent status?" Options: ["Single, no dependents", "Single with dependents (HoH)", "Married filing jointly", "Married filing separately", "Qualified surviving spouse"] ``` - **Q4-Q6 evaluation** — Evaluate Q4: Any of the first four options → stop and refuse with the appropriate explanation. "None of the above" → continue. Evaluate Q5: Yes → continue. No or amended / under notice → stop and recommend CPA. Evaluate Q6: Single, no dependents → clean path. Any other → note filing status and continue (all are in scope). **Total time:** ~45 seconds if the user taps through. ## Section 3 — The dump 0. **Document dump request** — Once the refusal sweep passes, immediately ask for the document dump. Single message. No preamble. **Example:** Scope is good. Now upload everything you have for 2025 — just drop it all in at once: - Business bank statement(s) for all of 2025 (CSV or PDF) - Personal bank statement if you mix personal and business (less important) - Any tax forms that arrived in January/February 2026 (1099-NEC from clients, 1095-A from Covered California, etc.) - Year-end statements from retirement accounts (Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) - W-9 forms from anyone you paid - Your 2024 tax return or at least last year's total tax and AGI numbers - LLC documents if you have an LLC (formation certificate, any FTB notices) - Anything else tax-related you have lying around Don't worry about labeling or organizing — I'll figure out what each file is. Drag and drop when ready. Then wait. Do not ask any other questions while waiting. Do not proactively request specific documents by name yet. - **Partial dump handling** — If the user uploads a partial dump and says "that's what I have": move to inference. Don't demand more. You can request specific missing items during gap-filling. If the user says "I don't know what I have": Switch to guided mode. Provide a compact list of sources: Check these places: - Business bank: download 2025 statements as PDF or CSV - Email: search for "1099", "1095", "tax form" - Covered California account if you had marketplace coverage - Fidelity / Vanguard / Schwab if you have a retirement account - Your prior CPA if you had one last year Come back when you have something to upload. I'll work with whatever you bring. ## Section 4 — The inference pass 0. **Document parsing** — When documents arrive, parse each one. Claude reads PDFs and CSVs natively. For each document, extract: **Bank statement:** - Total deposits (candidate gross receipts) - Recurring inflows (client retainers with names) - Outflows to IRS / FTB (estimated tax payments with dates) - Outflows to Fidelity / Vanguard / Schwab (retirement contributions with dates) - Outflows to Covered California / insurance carriers (health premiums) - Outflows to named individuals via Zelle / ACH / check (potential contractor payments) - Outflows to SaaS / AWS / software vendors (business expenses) - Outflows to Apple / Best Buy / equipment vendors (capex) - Transfers to personal account (owner draws) - LLC tax payments (FTB, $800 franchise tax) - LLC fee payments (FTB, Form 3536) - Anything crypto-related (Coinbase, Kraken, etc. — flag for refusal check) **1095-A:** - Coverage start and end months - Monthly enrollment premium - Monthly benchmark (SLCSP) - Monthly advance PTC - Net monthly cost **1099-NEC received:** - Payer name and TIN - Box 1 amount - Flag that this must appear in gross receipts **Retirement account statement:** - Plan type (Solo 401(k), SEP, SIMPLE, etc.) - Plan establishment date — critical for §401(k) December 31 rule - All contributions with dates and amounts - Split between employee deferral and employer contribution - Pre-tax vs Roth **W-9 forms:** - Contractor name - Entity type (individual, sole prop, partnership, C-corp, S-corp, LLC + classification) - TIN type (SSN or EIN) - Address **Prior year return:** - Federal total tax (1040 Line 24) - Federal AGI (1040 Line 11) - California total tax (540 Line 64) - California AGI (540 Line 14 or 13) After parsing everything, build an internal inference object. Don't show the raw inference yet — transform it into a compact summary for the user in Section 5. ## Section 5 — The confirmation 0. **Confirmation summary display** — After inference, present a single compact summary message showing what was extracted. Use a structured format that's fast to scan, not a prose paragraph. Invite the user to correct anything wrong. Here's what I pulled from your documents. Skim and tell me what's wrong. **Identity** - Alex Chen, single, no dependents - Full-year California resident (Oakland) - SMLLC: Chen Development LLC, formed Mar 2024 **Income (from bank statement + 1099-NEC)** - Gross receipts: ~$382,350 - Northwind Logistics: $102,000 (retainer) - Brightwave Analytics: $150,000 (retainer) - Kestrel AI Labs: $93,600 (monthly invoices) - Polaris Fintech: $34,250 (project work) - DevConf Austin: $2,500 (speaking fee, 1099-NEC received) **Expenses (from bank statement)** - AWS / software / SaaS: ~$15,000 - Equipment (Apple Feb $4,523, Fully desk + monitor Jul $2,800): ~$7,324 - Home office: TBD (need to ask) - Travel (Austin conference): ~$1,146 - Contractor payments: Jamie Rodriguez $3,500 (Zelle), Sarah Park $800 (PayPal), Amanda Torres $1,200 (check) **Retirement (from Fidelity statement)** - Solo 401(k) plan established Oct 14, 2024 ✓ (before Dec 31) - Employee deferrals: $23,500.12 across 24 contributions in 2025 - Employer contribution: $47,000 on Jan 10, 2026 (for 2025) - **Total: $70,500.12 — this is $500.12 OVER the 2025 §415(c) limit of $70,000. We'll need to address this.** **Health insurance (from 1095-A + bank statement)** - COBRA Jan-Mar: $612/month ($1,836 total) - Covered California Apr-Dec: 9 months, $720.15 enrollment premium, $173.12 advance PTC, net $547.03 to you - No coverage gaps **Prior year (from 2024 return summary)** - Federal 2024 total tax: $41,115 - Federal 2024 AGI: $168,382 (above $150K → 110% safe harbor multiplier applies) - California 2024 total tax: $11,343 - California 2024 AGI: $168,507 **Estimated taxes paid (from bank statement)** - Federal: $4,000 in April, $4,000 in June, $0 in Sept (missed), $4,000 in January 2026 = $12,000 total - California: $1,500 in April, $2,000 in June, $0 in Sept (correct — CA Q3 is zero), $1,500 in January 2026 = $5,000 total **LLC obligations** - $800 annual franchise tax paid January 2025 ✓ - $900 LLC fee paid June 2025 ✓ (you're in the $250K-$500K gross receipts bracket — correct amount) **Flags I already see (will discuss with reviewer):** 1. Solo 401(k) excess contribution of $500.12 — needs correction 2. Federal estimated tax underpayment — safe harbor required $45,227 (110% × $41,115), you paid $12,000 → Form 2210 penalty likely 3. California estimated tax underpayment — safe harbor required $12,477, you paid $5,000 → Form 5805 penalty likely 4. Coinbase transactions in bank statement — I need to ask about these (crypto may be out of scope) 5. Sarah Park paid via PayPal (S-corp per W-9) — no 1099-NEC needed (double exempt) 6. Amanda Torres paid by check, LLC disregarded (sole prop) — 1099-NEC required but likely missed the January 31 deadline 7. Jamie Rodriguez paid via Zelle, sole prop individual — 1099-NEC required but likely missed the January 31 deadline **Is any of this wrong? Reply "looks good" or tell me what to fix.** ## Section 6 — Gap filling 0. **Gap filling** — After the user confirms the summary (or corrects it), there will still be a small number of things that can't be inferred from documents. Ask about those specifically. Use `ask_user_input_v0` where possible. **Things that usually can't be inferred:** 1. **Home office** — Can't tell from documents whether the space exists or is used exclusively. Must ask. 2. **Coverage details for non-marketplace periods** — COBRA is often visible in bank statement but eligibility test (was employer plan offered?) must be asked. 3. **Crypto activity details** — Small Coinbase transactions need clarification: did the user actually trade, or was it dormant? 4. **Business use percentage of vehicle, phone, internet** — rare for freelance developers but ask if relevant 5. **Employee vs contractor classification** — if any payment looks suspicious (large regular payments to one person), ask probing questions 6. **Gross receipts reconciliation** — if bank deposits don't match 1099-NEC totals, ask about it - **Home office gap-filling example** — Call `ask_user_input_v0` with: ``` Q: "Home office?" Options: [ "Dedicated room, used ONLY for work", "Dedicated corner/desk, used ONLY for work", "Shared space (living room, bedroom corner that doubles as something else)", "No home office — I work from cafes/coworking" ] ``` If the user picks option 3 (shared space), flag it immediately: "§280A(c) requires exclusive use. A corner of the living room that doubles as living space generally fails this test. I recommend not claiming a home office deduction for 2025 to avoid IRS risk. You can discuss with your reviewer." If the user picks option 1 or 2, ask for square footage and total home square footage. If the user picks option 4, skip home office entirely. _(§280A(c))_ - **R-US-CRYPTO** — Call `ask_user_input_v0` with: ``` Q: "Coinbase activity in 2025?" Options: [ "I bought/sold crypto (made trades)", "I held crypto, no trades", "I transferred in/out but didn't trade" ] ``` - "Bought/sold" → refuse with R-US-CRYPTO: "Crypto trading is out of scope. Even small amounts require Form 8949 and specific basis tracking. You need a CPA who handles crypto. I can finish the rest of your return without the crypto but you'll need to add it separately before filing." - "Held, no trades" → allowed, no action needed - "Transferred only" → allowed, flag for reviewer _(Form 8949)_ ## Section 7 — The final handoff 0. **Final handoff to us-ca-return-assembly** — Once gap-filling is done, produce a final handoff message and hand off to `us-ca-return-assembly`. **Example handoff message:** Intake complete. Here's what's going to the downstream workflow: [one-line summary of the scope] I'm now going to run the full federal and California return preparation. This takes a couple minutes. You'll get back: 1. An Excel working paper with every line of the return 2. A reviewer brief summarizing the positions, citations, and flags for your CPA 3. Form packages (1040, 540, 568, and supporting schedules) 4. 2026 quarterly estimated tax vouchers 5. A list of action items with deadlines Starting now. Then internally invoke the downstream orchestrator by explicitly naming the skill and passing the structured intake package. ## Section 8 — Structured intake package (internal format) The downstream skill (`us-ca-return-assembly`) consumes this JSON structure. It is internal and not shown to the user unless they ask to see it. Same format as v0.1 Section 9 — unchanged. [Full JSON schema unchanged from v0.1 — see that file for the complete structure.] ## Section 9 — Refusal handling - **Refusal handling procedure** — Refusals fire from either the refusal sweep (Section 2) or during inference (e.g., crypto trading discovered in bank statement). When a refusal fires: 1. Stop the workflow 2. State the specific reason in one sentence 3. Recommend the path forward (specific CPA type) 4. Offer to continue with partial help ONLY if the out-of-scope item is cleanly separable (rare) **Do not:** - Apologize profusely - Try to work around the refusal - Suggest the user "might be able to" fit into scope if they answer differently - Continue silently Stop — you're a multi-member LLC. I'm set up for single-owner freelancers only. Multi-member LLCs file as partnerships on Form 1065, which is a different skill set I don't have. You need a CPA familiar with partnership returns. Expect $1,500-$3,000 for a typical small partnership return. I can't help with this one. Sorry for the false start. ## Section 10 — Plain-English translation reference Same translation table as v0.1 Section 4. When talking to the user, use left column. When producing internal output for downstream skills, use right column. (Unchanged from v0.1 — see that file.) ## Section 11 — Document discovery heuristics Same as v0.1 Section 5 — reference for where documents live. Used only when the user can't find a specific document during gap-filling. (Unchanged from v0.1 — see that file.) ## Section 12 — Self-checks - **Check IN1** — No one-question-at-a-time prose in the refusal sweep. If the skill asked "Question 1 of 10" or walked through R1, R2, R3 as separate messages, check fails. - **Check IN2** — Refusal sweep used ask_user_input_v0. The first substantive interaction used the interactive tool, not prose questions. - **Check IN3** — No form numbers used with the user during the conversation (in messages sent to the user). Internal notes can reference form numbers; user-facing messages should not say "Form 8995-A" or "§199A" or "Schedule C Line 31." - **Check IN4** — Upload-first flow honored. After refusal sweep, the skill asked for a document dump before asking any content questions. - **Check IN5** — Documents were parsed and inferred before asking questions. The inference summary (Section 5) was shown before gap-filling questions (Section 6). - **Check IN6** — Gap-filling only asked about things NOT visible in documents. If the skill asked "did you make estimated tax payments" after the bank statement showed IRS EFTPS entries, check fails. - **Check IN7** — Open flags captured. Anything ambiguous, risky, or attention-worthy during inference is in the `open_flags` list in the handoff package. - **Check IN8** — Handoff to `us-ca-return-assembly` is explicit. The user was told "I'm now going to run the return preparation," and the downstream orchestrator was explicitly invoked with the intake package. - **Check IN9** — Reviewer step was stated upfront and reiterated before filing. The opening message mentioned reviewer signoff. The final handoff message also reinforces it. - **Check IN10** — Refusals were clean. No "you might be able to" hedging. No working-around. Stop means stop. - **Check IN11** — No meta-commentary about workflow phases. The skill did not say "Phase 1," "Phase 2," "Now I'm in the inference phase," etc. - **Check IN12** — Total user-facing turn count is low. Target: ≤ 8 turns from start to handoff for a prepared user (1 refusal batch + 1 upload + 1 confirmation + 1-3 gap fills + 1 handoff). If the skill used more than 12 turns for a normal intake, check fails. ## Section 13 — Performance targets - **Performance targets — prepared user** — Refusal sweep: ≤ 45 seconds (1 interactive turn). Document upload: ≤ 2 minutes (1 upload turn). Inference and confirmation display: ≤ 1 minute Claude processing + 1 turn for user confirmation. Gap filling: ≤ 2 minutes (2-3 interactive turns). Handoff: immediate. Total: ~6 minutes. - **Performance targets — unprepared user** — Refusal sweep: same. Document discovery: 10-20 minutes offline. Rest: same. Total: 15-25 minutes. If the skill takes longer than these targets without cause, the interaction pattern is wrong and the skill needs another revision. ### Why v0.2 exists v0.1 failed the first test. It used "Question 1 of 10" prose pacing with a freelance software developer as the test subject. The user reaction was: "this is slow for developers, understand your audience." The core problem was pacing designed for nervous TurboTax users, not for time-pressured technical professionals. ### Design principles locked in v0.2 - **Speed over hand-holding** — The audience is technical. Don't over-explain. - **Batch when possible** — Multiple independent questions in one turn, not one per turn. - **Use interactive tools** — `ask_user_input_v0` beats prose questions for structured data. - **Inference over interrogation** — Extract from documents first, ask the user only about gaps. - **Terse confirmations** — A compact bullet summary beats a conversation retracing every answer. - **No workflow narration** — The user doesn't need to know about phases; just do the work. - **Refusals are cliffs, not slopes** — Stop immediately on refusal triggers. Don't try to salvage. ### Known gaps remaining in v0.2 If the browser closes mid-intake, state is lost. A full MFJ intake would need to collect both spouses' Schedule Cs, both retirement accounts, etc. v0.2 handles single-income MFJ but not dual-income. relies on Claude's native image understanding. Usually works but can fail. Real product vision: MCP servers to pull directly from Plaid, Fidelity, Covered California. v1.0+ concern. ### Change log - **v0.1 (April 2026):** Initial draft. Prose-question-at-a-time workflow. Failed first test on pacing. - **v0.2 (April 2026):** Rewrite for upload-first flow, ask_user_input_v0 for structured questions, inference-then-confirm pattern, terse pacing for technical audience. ## End of Intake Skill v0.2 ## Disclaimer This skill and its outputs are provided for informational and computational purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Open Accountants and its contributors accept no liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this skill. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified professional (such as a CPA, EA, tax attorney, or equivalent licensed practitioner in your jurisdiction) before filing or acting upon. 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