---
name: us-cpa
description: Use when answering U.S. federal individual tax questions, preparing a federal Form 1040 return package, or reviewing a draft/completed federal individual return.
---

# US CPA

`us-cpa` is a Python-first federal individual tax workflow skill. The CLI is the canonical engine. Use the skill to classify the request, gather missing inputs, and invoke the CLI.

## Modes

- `question`
  - one-off federal tax question
  - case folder optional
- `prepare`
  - new or existing return-preparation case
  - case folder required
- `review`
  - new or existing return-review case
  - case folder required

## Agent Workflow

1. Determine whether the request is:
   - question-only
   - a new preparation/review case
   - work on an existing case
2. If the request is `prepare` or `review` and no case folder is supplied:
   - ask whether to create a new case
   - ask where to store it
3. Use the bundled CLI:

```bash
skills/us-cpa/scripts/us-cpa question --question "What is the standard deduction?" --tax-year 2025
skills/us-cpa/scripts/us-cpa prepare --tax-year 2025 --case-dir ~/tax-cases/2025-jane-doe
skills/us-cpa/scripts/us-cpa review --tax-year 2025 --case-dir ~/tax-cases/2025-jane-doe
```

## Rules

- federal individual returns only in v1
- IRS materials first; escalate to primary law only when needed
- stop on conflicting facts and ask the user to resolve the issue before continuing
- official IRS PDFs are the target compiled-form artifacts
- overlay-rendered forms must be flagged for human review

## Output

- JSON by default
- markdown output available with `--format markdown`

For operator details, limitations, and the planned case structure, see `docs/us-cpa.md`.