Tax Planning Strategy Workflow Guide Using TaxGPT Cowork

The Tax Planning Strategy Memo is a print-ready planning memo built from a client's most recently filed return. You get one self-contained HTML file that ranks conventional and lesser-known strategies to cut next year's tax. Each strategy shows its estimated savings, an audit-risk grade and a cited source. Use this workflow for year-end planning, advisory engagements, or any time a client asks how to lower their tax bill next year. It works for individual (1040), partnership (1065), S corporation (1120-S), C corporation (1120), estate (706), gift (709), exempt organization (990) and trust (1041) returns.

You'll need:

Point TaxGPT at the client's filed prior-year return and add any facts the return doesn't show, such as a planned sale, a new child or a business change. The agent reads the return line by line and builds a facts inventory covering income sources, entities, deductions, credits, retirement contributions, depreciable assets, loss limits, carryovers and the thresholds the client is close to crossing. Every fact traces back to a specific line or schedule on the return, so the analysis starts from what was actually filed and not from a general picture of the client.

Next it works out which one or two constraints drive this client's tax bill. It then checks the facts against twelve planning angles: entity choice, timing, character of income, rate arbitrage, basis, depreciation, retirement, losses, credits, deduction placement, owner compensation and exit planning. That way it finds both the standard moves and the less common ones. Each strategy's savings are figured after the knock-on effects that apply to the return (QBI, NIIT, SE tax, AMT and state), and each gets an audit-risk grade (Negligible, Low, Moderate or High) based on how visible it is on the return, how much documentation it needs and how the IRS treats it. Every code section, rate and threshold is checked against an official source during the run. A strategy whose authority can't be confirmed goes into a separate section marked as needing verification, and a strategy with no authority at all is dropped.

It then builds the memo as a single print-ready HTML file named [Client Last Name]_[Planning Year]_Strategy_Memo.html (for example, Hall_2027_Strategy_Memo.html). PDF or DOCX are available on request. The memo opens with a title block showing the client, the planning year, the return it was built from, and the IRS sources and limits used. Next comes the current baseline, which includes projected tax with no planning and a 10% savings target. Then a short client profile and the client's biggest red flags. Next come high-impact conventional strategies, then often-overlooked "outside the box" ideas, then the strategies still waiting on source verification.

After that is a short "Considered & Not Recommended" section that shows why obvious options like an S-corp election don't fit this client yet, and what would have to change for them to make sense. It finishes with a conservative table of projected federal savings, a recommended order of action (before year-end, Q1 and ongoing), caveats, and a numbered list of every source with a link. The savings total counts only the main-tier strategies with a dollar estimate. Strategies marked 'Future benefit', those pending verification, and those not recommended are left out. To keep it short, the memo includes at most 8 strategies and 4 not-recommended options, and lists any other ideas evaluated by name. If the client is already well optimized, the memo says so instead of padding the list. If you attach a brand-standards file created by the Firm Branding Extraction workflow, the memo uses your firm's colors and fonts. Without one, it uses the default navy-and-gold design. The layout and sections stay the same either way. Once you've reviewed it, you can add facts or ask for strategies to be added, removed or adjusted. TaxGPT delivers each update as a new version of the file. Removed strategies move to the Considered & Not Recommended section with your reason, and strategies without a verified source stay in the pending-verification section.

1. Find the Tax Planning Strategy workflow in TaxGPT Cowork in one of two ways: select the Tax Planning & Advisory category filter, or type "Tax Planning" in the search bar.

2. The workflows for that category, or the ones matching your search, appear. Select Tax Planning Strategy.

3. The TaxGPT Cowork prompt box opens with the workflow's prompt already filled in. Then:

4. Attach the client's filed return (and your brand-standards file, if you're using one) and send. TaxGPT may ask a clarifying question, and then deliver the strategy memo as an HTML file. Review it and reply.

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Page 1 of a sample memo (fictional client). The effective rate shown is total tax divided by taxable income.

At minimum, the income documents for the return: W-2s and any 1099s (INT, DIV, NEC, MISC, B, R, G, K). The pass is materially stronger with the prior-year return (for carryovers, depreciation, and comparison), K-1s with their supplemental pages, brokerage composites, and any deduction substantiation (1098 mortgage interest, property tax, charitable acknowledgments, dependent-care statements, estimated-payment records) and the client intake form or organizer. The agent reads PDFs, CSVs, JPEGs, and scanned images including handwritten notes. If something required is missing, it flags the gap and asks one targeted round of follow-up rather than guessing.

TaxGPT produces a single HTML memo built from the client’s filed return, and it doesn’t act on anything without your review. Every figure traces to a specific line or schedule on the return, a fact you provided, or arithmetic on those, and every code section, rate, and threshold links to an official source in the numbered source list. Strategies whose authority can’t be confirmed are held in a separate pending-verification section instead of being quietly included, and strategies with no authority at all are dropped.

TaxGPT ranks the strategies, estimates savings after knock-on effects like QBI, NIIT, SE tax, AMT and state, and grades each one for audit risk, but the decision on what to recommend rests with you. It doesn’t implement anything, file anything, or change the client’s return. You decide which strategies go to the client, and you can add facts or ask for strategies to be added, removed, or adjusted before they do.

TaxGPT works inside Intuit ProConnect, Drake Tax Online, UltimateTax, Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS, and Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess. The agent logs directly into your software, navigates the forms, and enters data the way a team member would: no exports, no API configuration, no new platform for your team to learn.

Yes. You can add facts the return doesn’t show, redirect the analysis, or ask for strategies to be added, removed, or adjusted at any point, and the agent responds to your instructions throughout. Each change arrives as a new version of the memo. Strategies you remove move to the Considered & Not Recommended section with your reason, and any strategy whose source can’t be verified stays in the pending-verification section until it can be confirmed. Nothing is final until you’ve reviewed it, and the memo is never sent to a client without your sign-off.