# finance-skills — US/Canada Tax & Accounting Skill Collection **Author:** Simon-Pierre Boucher **Contact:** contact@spboucher.ai Ten ultra-sharp skills covering US and Canadian taxation, small-business accounting, financial statements, and legal tax optimization, following the method in [../RESEARCH-SYNTHESIS.md](../RESEARCH-SYNTHESIS.md) and grounded in web research with tax-year-2026 figures. All pass `python3 ../tools/validate_skills.py`. ## Collection-wide safety rules Every skill in this collection enforces three limits: 1. **Educational help, not professional advice** — complex situations are referred to a CPA/EA (US) or CPA (Canada). 2. **Figures rot** — every dollar amount, rate, and deadline is stamped with its tax year and must be verified against irs.gov / canada.ca before use. 3. **Legal planning only** — evasion (unreported income, fabricated deductions, falsified records) is out of scope and refused. ## The collection and its boundaries **Personal taxation** | Skill | Handles | Explicitly does NOT handle | |---|---|---| | `preparing-us-personal-tax-returns` | Form 1040, schedules, deadlines, estimated-tax safe harbors | Canadian returns; business entities; planning strategy | | `preparing-canadian-personal-tax-returns` | T1, slips, deductions vs credits, deadlines, instalments | US returns; corporate T2; planning strategy | | `optimizing-us-personal-taxes` | account priority, Roth vs traditional, harvesting, bunching | return prep; business planning; Canadian planning | | `optimizing-canadian-personal-taxes` | RRSP/TFSA/FHSA decisions, legal splitting, superficial-loss | T1 prep; corporate planning; US planning | | `handling-cross-border-taxation` | residency tests, treaty tie-breakers, FTC, FBAR/8938, TFSA-for-US-persons trap | single-country returns; corporate structuring | **Business accounting & taxation** | Skill | Handles | Explicitly does NOT handle | |---|---|---| | `bookkeeping-for-small-businesses` | chart of accounts, double entry, monthly close, reconciliation | formal statements; tax filings | | `preparing-financial-statements` | income statement, balance sheet, cash flow; tie-out; GAAP/ASPE basis | bookkeeping; tax filings; audited public reporting | | `filing-us-business-taxes` | Schedule C / 1065 / 1120-S / 1120, estimated taxes, payroll forms, 1099s | personal-only 1040; Canadian filings; planning | | `filing-canadian-business-taxes` | T2125, T2, GST/HST, payroll remittances, T4/T5 slips | personal-only T1; US filings; planning | | `optimizing-business-taxes` | US: entity election, retirement plans, depreciation timing · Canada: SBD, salary vs dividends, CCA | filing the returns; personal planning | ## Shared conventions - Description = WHAT + "Use when …" (literal phrases) + "Do not use for …" - "Current figures (tax year 2026 — verify before use)" table with official source URLs in every applicable skill - Every workflow ends with a validation step (checklist completeness, statements tie-out, both-scenarios math) - `SKILL.md` <150 lines; depth in `references/reference.md` (with TOC)