Tax Research Skill · Free
One portable SKILL.md, packaged for Claude, ChatGPT, and Codex. It makes tax research more disciplined: use primary sources when available, and clearly flag citations that still need verification.
SKILL.md
The portable source format
A skill is a folder containing SKILL.md. Use the platform-specific downloads below when you want an uploadable archive.
What It Does
It gives your AI a clear standard for what to look up, how to reason from it, and what to show its reviewer.
It will not turn a guess into a citation. Without a source, it marks references for verification.
With TaxMCP or another tax-authority tool connected, it retrieves the source before it writes the answer.
It knows where to start: the IRC, Treasury Regulations, IRS publications, rulings, and court opinions.
Major tax acts are mapped to the provisions they changed, so a bill name becomes a focused research path.
It moves from issue to authority to cross-references before it synthesizes the answer.
Answers separate applicable law, analysis, citations, and caveats—so the work is easy to review.
What You Can Ask It
Ask in plain English. The skill takes care of the research path, then returns the authority behind the answer.
Quick lookup
“What's the standard deduction, and where is it in the Code?”
Home office
“My client is a 1099 designer using a spare bedroom only for work. Home office deduction?”
Retirement
“How do traditional and Roth IRAs differ for a high earner?”
Planning
“What tax strategies apply to a buy-and-hold real estate investor?”
Legislation
“What changed for individuals under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?”
QBI
“Walk me through the §199A QBI deduction rules and the phase-out thresholds.”
Client is a 1099 designer using a spare bedroom only for work. Can she take the home office deduction?
Applicable Law
Under §280A(c)(1), the space must be used both regularly and exclusively for business.
Analysis
A spare bedroom used only for the business meets the exclusivity test. See Pub. 587 on what counts as a qualifying separately identifiable space.
Caveats
Confirm current-year limits and the gross-income limitation. Research only – not legal or tax advice.
How It Fits Together
The skill tells your AI how to research. The server gives it the primary authority to research from.
The Skill
A portable SKILL.md with the tax map, research sequence, and output standard. It works in Claude, ChatGPT, and Codex.
The Server
TaxMCP supplies searchable Code, regulations, publications, rulings, and cross-references—plus links back to the primary text.
The skill improves the method. The server makes the citations checkable.
Install
The skill is portable. The upload package is not—pick the format your client expects.
ChatGPT
In the ChatGPT desktop app, open Skills, choose Create, then upload the ZIP bundle.
Download tax-research.zip →Codex
Save the raw Markdown as SKILL.md in Codex's skills directory, then start a new task.
mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills/tax-research && curl -fsSL https://taxmcp.io/skills/tax-research.md -o ~/.agents/skills/tax-research/SKILL.md Download SKILL.md → Claude
Open Skills, choose Upload, and select the Claude bundle. In Claude Code, use the raw SKILL.md structure.
Download tax-research.skill →Optional, recommended
Add the MCP server in the same client. The skill will retrieve the authority, link it, and then write the answer.
https://app.taxmcp.io/mcp FAQ
Yes. It is a free SKILL.md file: download it, keep it, or adapt it. No account is required to use the skill itself.
The portable format is a folder containing SKILL.md. Use the .skill bundle for Claude, the .zip bundle for the ChatGPT desktop app, and the raw Markdown file—saved as SKILL.md—for Codex. Availability can vary by plan and workspace settings.
No. The skill still gives your AI a disciplined research method and labels citations to verify. TaxMCP adds searchable primary authority and source links, which makes those citations verifiable.
The skill is the research method. The MCP server is the source layer. Use the skill alone for better reasoning; connect the server for primary text and links.
No. Those platforms have deep editorial and litigation resources. This is a free, practical research layer for the questions you need to investigate every day.
Free to download. Install it in Claude, ChatGPT, or Codex. Connect a source when you need citations you can check.