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Module 4 For Accounting intermediate 50 min

Tax Research & Advisory Prep

AI drafts from a blank page. You verify every citation against primary source.

Draft a Grounded Tax Research Memo

A client question needs a research memo: issue, facts, analysis, conclusion, with the authorities cited. AI gives you a first draft from a blank page in minutes. The catch is that AI invents citations that look real. You ground it in the actual authorities and verify every cite against primary source before it informs any advice.

Recommended tool

notebooklm

NotebookLM answers only from the authorities you load and cites the exact passage, which is what you want when fabricated citations are the risk. Draft the grounded analysis there, then polish the prose in Claude if you like.

Bring to the exercise

  • The research issue, described as a pattern, not specific taxpayer data
  • The relevant authorities you trust (IRC sections, Treasury regs, rulings, cases)
  • Your firm memo format (Issue, Facts, Analysis, Conclusion)
  • Your Practice Context Document
Step 1

Set the Citation Guardrails

Name the hallucinated-authority risk up front and rule it out.

Confidentiality Guardrail: Read Before Pasting
  • Use role labels, not real names (for example: the client, a partner, the team).
  • Strip identifying details, signed dollar values, account numbers, and anything that re-identifies a person or organization.
  • Confirm the AI tool you are pasting into is approved for this kind of information.
  • You, not the AI, own the final product. AI cannot invent facts.

Use the PII Redactor tool to scrub before pasting.

I am drafting a tax research memo. Confirm these rules before we start:
- Answer ONLY from the authorities I load or paste. Do not cite from memory.
- If you are not certain an authority says what you claim, say so and stop. Do not produce a citation you cannot point to in my sources.
- Describe the issue in patterns and scenarios. I will not give you specific taxpayer data.
- I verify every citation against primary source before any of this informs advice.

Confirm in your own words.
What good output looks like
  • Agrees to cite only from your loaded sources.
  • Commits to flagging uncertainty instead of inventing a cite.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 2

Frame the Issue and Facts

State the question and the scenario-level facts cleanly.

What to substitute before pasting

  • [STATE THE RESEARCH QUESTION IN ONE SENTENCE] The legal/tax question, phrased generally.
  • [PASTE THE REDACTED FACTS, INCLUDING JURISDICTION, ENTITY TYPE, AND TAX YEAR] Scenario-level facts with jurisdiction, entity type, and tax year. No names or identifiers. Tax law changes by year, so the year matters.
Here is my Practice Context Document:
[PASTE YOUR PRACTICE CONTEXT DOCUMENT]

Issue: [STATE THE RESEARCH QUESTION IN ONE SENTENCE]

Facts (scenario level, no taxpayer identifiers):
[PASTE THE REDACTED FACTS, INCLUDING JURISDICTION, ENTITY TYPE, AND TAX YEAR]

Restate the issue and the facts back to me. Flag any fact you would need that is missing. Do not analyze yet.
What good output looks like
  • Restates the issue and facts accurately.
  • Names jurisdiction, entity type, and tax year as load-bearing.
  • Flags any missing fact instead of guessing.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 3

Ground the Analysis in Your Authorities

Make every analytical claim trace to a source you loaded.

What to substitute before pasting

  • [LOAD OR PASTE THE IRC SECTIONS, REGS, RULINGS, AND CASES] The primary authorities you trust for this issue, loaded as NotebookLM sources or pasted in.
Here are the authorities to use, and only these:
[LOAD OR PASTE THE IRC SECTIONS, REGS, RULINGS, AND CASES]

Analyze the issue using only these sources. For every claim, cite the exact authority and quote the operative language. If the sources do not resolve the issue, say what is unresolved rather than filling the gap.
What good output looks like
  • Every claim is tied to a specific authority you provided.
  • Quotes the operative language rather than paraphrasing loosely.
  • Names what the sources leave unresolved.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 4

Assemble the Memo

Format into your firm Issue / Facts / Analysis / Conclusion structure.

Assemble the memo in this format:
- ISSUE
- FACTS
- ANALYSIS (with citations to the authorities I provided)
- CONCLUSION (clearly marked as a draft position for my review)

Plain, defensible language. Mark every place I still need to verify a citation with [verify].
What good output looks like
  • Follows your firm memo structure.
  • Conclusion is marked as a draft for review.
  • Every citation is flagged [verify].

Verify before using AI's output

Step 5

Verify Every Citation (manual)

Open each authority and confirm it says what the memo claims.

Confidentiality Guardrail: Read Before Pasting
  • Use role labels, not real names (for example: the client, a partner, the team).
  • Strip identifying details, signed dollar values, account numbers, and anything that re-identifies a person or organization.
  • Confirm the AI tool you are pasting into is approved for this kind of information.
  • You, not the AI, own the final product. AI cannot invent facts.

Use the PII Redactor tool to scrub before pasting.

Walk this checklist by hand before this memo informs any advice:

[ ] Every cited IRC section, reg, ruling, and case opened and confirmed to say what the memo claims.
[ ] No citation that I could not find in primary source.
[ ] Jurisdiction and tax year are correct for this client.
[ ] No specific taxpayer data went into AI.
[ ] A qualified human owns the final position, not AI.

If any box is unchecked, do not rely on the memo.
What good output looks like
  • You opened and confirmed every authority.
  • Any citation you could not verify is struck, not softened.

Verify before using AI's output

Build a Client Advisory Briefing

Before a planning meeting, you want a briefing: year-over-year trends, expense shifts, and the questions worth raising. AI can turn a redacted data export into that briefing in minutes so you walk in prepared instead of scrambling. You decide what is advice and what is noise, and you own every recommendation.

Recommended tool

claude

Good at spotting patterns in figures you provide and shaping them into a briefing with questions to raise. If the data lives in an export you need read, strip identifiers and load it in NotebookLM first.

Bring to the exercise

  • A redacted prior-year comparison or QuickBooks export (no identifiers)
  • What the client cares about and what the meeting is for
  • Your Practice Context Document
Step 1

Set the Rules

Keep it to patterns and questions, never unverified advice.

Confidentiality Guardrail: Read Before Pasting
  • Use role labels, not real names (for example: the client, a partner, the team).
  • Strip identifying details, signed dollar values, account numbers, and anything that re-identifies a person or organization.
  • Confirm the AI tool you are pasting into is approved for this kind of information.
  • You, not the AI, own the final product. AI cannot invent facts.

Use the PII Redactor tool to scrub before pasting.

I am preparing a client advisory briefing for an internal meeting prep. Confirm these rules:
- Work only from the figures I provide. Calculate no new totals and project nothing I did not give you.
- Surface patterns and questions to raise, not advice to give. I decide what becomes advice.
- I have redacted all identifiers. Do not ask for names, SSNs, EINs, or account numbers.

Confirm in your own words.
What good output looks like
  • Agrees to surface questions, not give advice.
  • Accepts the no-projection rule.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 2

Give It the Redacted Data and Context

Provide the figures and what the client actually cares about.

Confidentiality Guardrail: Read Before Pasting
  • Use role labels, not real names (for example: the client, a partner, the team).
  • Strip identifying details, signed dollar values, account numbers, and anything that re-identifies a person or organization.
  • Confirm the AI tool you are pasting into is approved for this kind of information.
  • You, not the AI, own the final product. AI cannot invent facts.

Use the PII Redactor tool to scrub before pasting.

What to substitute before pasting

  • [PASTE REDACTED FIGURES] Prior-year comparison or QuickBooks export with all identifiers removed.
  • [DESCRIBE THE CLIENT GOALS AND THE MEETING PURPOSE] What matters to this client and why you are meeting.
Here is my Practice Context Document:
[PASTE YOUR PRACTICE CONTEXT DOCUMENT]

Here is the redacted prior-year comparison or export:
[PASTE REDACTED FIGURES]

What the client cares about and what this meeting is for:
[DESCRIBE THE CLIENT GOALS AND THE MEETING PURPOSE]

Confirm what you see in the data. Ask me one clarifying question before you build the briefing.
What good output looks like
  • Reflects the figures back accurately.
  • Asks a clarifying question tied to the client goals.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 3

Generate the Briefing

Turn the data into trends, shifts, and questions to raise.

Build a one-page briefing with three sections:
1. Year-over-year trends (only from the figures I gave you)
2. Notable expense or revenue shifts worth discussing
3. Questions to raise with the client

Frame section 3 as questions, not recommendations. Cite which figure each point comes from.
What good output looks like
  • Trends trace to the figures you provided.
  • Section 3 is questions, not advice.
  • Each point names the figure behind it.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 4

Surface Planning Opportunities as Questions

Get candidate ideas you will vet, not advice to repeat.

List possible planning opportunities this data might suggest, phrased as questions for me to evaluate, for example "Is the entity structure still right given the change in net income?"

For each, note what I would need to verify before raising it. Do not state any of these as a recommendation.
What good output looks like
  • Opportunities are phrased as questions to vet.
  • Each names what you must verify first.

Verify before using AI's output

Step 5

Decide What Makes the Meeting (manual)

Own the advice call before you walk in.

Confidentiality Guardrail: Read Before Pasting
  • Use role labels, not real names (for example: the client, a partner, the team).
  • Strip identifying details, signed dollar values, account numbers, and anything that re-identifies a person or organization.
  • Confirm the AI tool you are pasting into is approved for this kind of information.
  • You, not the AI, own the final product. AI cannot invent facts.

Use the PII Redactor tool to scrub before pasting.

Walk this by hand before the meeting:

[ ] Every trend confirmed against the real figures.
[ ] Every "opportunity" verified by me before I raise it.
[ ] Nothing in the briefing is advice I have not stood behind.
[ ] No client identifiers went into AI.
[ ] I decide what to present, not the AI.

If any box is unchecked, cut it from the briefing.
What good output looks like
  • You verified each trend and opportunity.
  • The final briefing is yours, not the AI draft as-is.

Verify before using AI's output