OpenAccountants

Answer a tax question (call first)

start

Read-onlyIdempotent

Call this first for any tax, VAT/GST, payroll or filing question about a country or US state, such as "how much tax will I pay in Spain", "do I need to register for VAT", "when is my tax return due", "is this deductible", "how is a freelancer or a company taxed in Germany", "sales tax in Texas" or "what changes if I move to Portugal". Pass the user's question as intent and the country or US state as jurisdiction ('DE', 'US-TX', 'Florida'). If no place is named, start infers one when the question makes it clear and says so in jurisdiction_source. Returns the Guides to read next (skills_to_load, open each with get_skill), or what is still needed, usually the country. Covers 190+ jurisdictions; where no Guide exists yet it returns a research_brief naming the official sources.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`intent`	Yes	Required. The user's question or goal in their own words, e.g. 'how much tax will I pay as a freelancer', 'VAT return', 'set up a company'.
`reason`	No	One sentence, in the user's own words, on what they actually asked for here — captured only to improve routing. E.g. 'user sold ETH and wants to know what to report'. Optional but helpful.
`acting_as`	No	Optional. Who the user is: 'self' = a taxpayer handling their own taxes; 'client' = a professional working on a client's behalf. Infer it from the conversation; omit it if unclear.
`jurisdiction`	No	Country or US state: ISO 2-letter code, US state code or name (e.g. 'MT', 'GB', 'US-CA', 'Florida'). Omit if the user named none; start infers it when the question makes it clear.
`taxpayer_type`	No	The taxpayer's occupation, when known. Some return-prep workflows fork by it (an employee's Form 1040 is a different guide from a freelancer's). Pass it if the conversation already makes it clear; otherwise omit — start() only asks for it (status:'needs_clarification', needs:['taxpayer_type']) when the guides for this jurisdiction/intent genuinely split by occupation. 'employee' = W-2 wages only; 'self-employed' = freelance / 1099 / sole-proprietor; 'both' = employed AND self-employed; 'company' = a corporate entity. Don't guess — ask the user one short question if unsure.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`needs`	No
`intent`	No
`status`	No
`guardrails`	No
`next_action`	No
`expectations`	No
`jurisdiction`	No
`skills_to_load`	No
`available_intents`	No
`available_jurisdictions`	No

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed3 schema fields changedOct 9, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / acting_as / description

Previous value: -"REQUIRED. Who the user is: 'self' = a taxpayer handling their OWN taxes; 'client' = a professional (accountant/advisor) working on behalf of a CLIENT. Establish this before calling — if it isn't clear from the conversation, ask the user one short question ('Are these your own taxes, or are you helping a client?'). Never guess."New value: +"Optional. Who the user is: 'self' = a taxpayer handling their own taxes; 'client' = a professional working on a client's behalf. Infer it from the conversation; omit it if unclear."

changedInput schema / properties / intent / description

Previous value: -"User intent — REQUIRED. Free text, e.g. 'taxes', 'VAT return', 'set up a company'."New value: +"Required. The user's question or goal in their own words, e.g. 'how much tax will I pay as a freelancer', 'VAT return', 'set up a company'."

changedInput schema / properties / jurisdiction / description

Previous value: -"ISO 2-letter code or US state code (e.g. 'MT', 'GB', 'US-CA')."New value: +"Country or US state: ISO 2-letter code, US state code or name (e.g. 'MT', 'GB', 'US-CA', 'Florida'). Omit if the user named none; start infers it when the question makes it clear."

Changed1 schema field changedAug 26, 2026

changedInput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "intent",
-  "acting_as"
-]New value: +[
+  "intent"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedJul 14, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / taxpayer_type

Added value: +{
+  "description": "The taxpayer's occupation, when known. Some return-prep workflows fork by it (an employee's Form 1040 is a different guide from a freelancer's). Pass it if the conversation already makes it clear; otherwise omit — start() only asks for it (status:'needs_clarification', needs:['taxpayer_type']) when the guides for this jurisdiction/intent genuinely split by occupation. 'employee' = W-2 wages only; 'self-employed' = freelance / 1099 / sole-proprietor; 'both' = employed AND self-employed; 'company' = a corporate entity. Don't guess — ask the user one short question if unsure.",
+  "enum": [
+    "employee",
+    "self-employed",
+    "both",
+    "company",
+    "other"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed1 schema field changedJul 13, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / reason

Added value: +{
+  "description": "One sentence, in the user's own words, on what they actually asked for here — captured only to improve routing. E.g. 'user sold ETH and wants to know what to report'. Optional but helpful.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

Changed2 schema fields changedJun 30, 2026

addedInput schema / properties / acting_as

Added value: +{
+  "description": "REQUIRED. Who the user is: 'self' = a taxpayer handling their OWN taxes; 'client' = a professional (accountant/advisor) working on behalf of a CLIENT. Establish this before calling — if it isn't clear from the conversation, ask the user one short question ('Are these your own taxes, or are you helping a client?'). Never guess.",
+  "enum": [
+    "self",
+    "client"
+  ],
+  "type": "string"
+}

changedInput schema / required

Previous value: -[
-  "intent"
-]New value: +[
+  "intent",
+  "acting_as"
+]

Changed1 schema field changedJun 18, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / status / enum

Previous value: -[
-  "ready",
-  "needs_input",
-  "needs_clarification"
-]New value: +[
+  "ready",
+  "needs_input",
+  "needs_clarification",
+  "uncovered"
+]

Changed2 schema fields changedJun 2, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / intent / description

Previous value: -"User intent. Free text, e.g. 'taxes', 'VAT return', 'set up a company'."New value: +"User intent — REQUIRED. Free text, e.g. 'taxes', 'VAT return', 'set up a company'."