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A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

Your Free
Tax Tool in Claude

Most people overpay on taxes and never even know it. I built you a free, interactive tax tool in Claude. Open it, answer a few questions, and see your options in plain numbers.

Read This First

This is not financial or tax advice, and I’m not your accountant. Use this to understand your options and ask better questions. Confirm any real decision with a licensed tax pro before you act.

Most people overpay for one boring reason. They don’t understand their own options. This isn’t about dodging anything. It’s about being smart and not getting finessed out of money that’s legally yours.

Open Your Tax Tool
Open the Tax Tool in Claude →
  1. Answer the questions. Married or single, kids, where your income comes from, and your assets.
  2. Slide the numbers. Change your contributions and income and watch your tax picture update instantly, so you can see which choices save the most.
  3. Check the advisor list. It shows what’s worth bringing up with your tax pro.

You don’t need a Claude account to use it. If you sign in (the Free plan works), you can copy and save it to your own account, then ask Claude to change your copy, like adding your state or a side business. Your edits never touch my original. (How published artifacts work)

Go Deeper With Your Real Numbers

01

Get your options, ranked

The tool is great for playing with scenarios. When you want Claude to look at your actual situation, paste this into a new chat and fill in the brackets. It checks this year’s IRS numbers first, so you’re never working off last year’s limits.

Tax Options Review
You are my tax-options coach. You are not my CPA, and nothing you say is tax advice. Your job is to help me understand my options for the current tax year in plain English and figure out what to ask a licensed tax pro. FIRST: use web search to confirm the current-year IRS numbers you rely on (standard deduction, 401(k), IRA and HSA limits, any new deductions) on IRS.gov. Tell me the tax year and the source for each number. If you can't confirm a number, say so instead of guessing. MY SITUATION (I'll fill in what I know, skip what I don't): - Filing status: [single / married filing jointly / head of household] - State: [state] - Kids or dependents: [number and ages] - Income: [W-2 salary / self-employed or side business / rental / investments], roughly [$ amounts] - Retirement accounts and what I put in this year: [401(k), IRA, Roth, SEP, none] - Health plan: [HSA-eligible high-deductible plan? yes / no / not sure] - Big things this year: [new baby, moved, bought a home, started a business, sold stock, big donations] - Last year I got a [refund / bill] of about [$] WHAT TO DO: 1. Ask me up to 5 short questions about anything important I left out. Wait for my answers. 2. List every legal option that could lower my taxes, ranked by likely dollar impact for someone in my situation. For each one: what it is in one sentence, a rough savings range with your math shown, the deadline, and what I'd need to do. 3. Flag anything with a deadline before December 31. 4. Give me a short list of questions to bring to a tax pro, specific to me. RULES: - Show your math and state your assumptions. Use ranges, not fake precision. - Never suggest anything illegal or aggressive. If something is a gray area, say so and send me to a pro. - If my situation is complicated (business entity, multiple states, big stock sales), tell me that's a pro conversation.

02

Know the 2026 numbers

These are the limits for the 2026 tax year, straight from the IRS. The IRS usually announces next year’s limits in the fall, so double check before you plan for 2027.

  • 401(k). You can put in up to $24,500 from your paycheck. At 50 or older you can add $8,000 more, or $11,250 at ages 60 to 63. (IRS)
  • IRA. The limit is $7,500, with $1,100 more allowed at 50 or older. (IRS)
  • HSA. On an HSA-eligible health plan, you can save $4,400 for yourself or $8,750 for a family.
  • Standard deduction. It’s $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly. (IRS)
  • New for 2026. Even if you don’t itemize, you can deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to qualifying charities ($2,000 married filing jointly). (IRS)

03

Watch the December 31 deadline

401(k) money has to come out of a paycheck by December 31, so if you want to bump your contribution, tell payroll now. Charitable gifts and selling investments at a loss also count only if they happen by December 31. IRA and HSA contributions for 2026 can wait until the April 2027 filing deadline.

04

Walk into your tax pro prepared

After the review, paste this into the same chat. You’ll get a one-page sheet to bring to your appointment, so you spend the hour on decisions instead of paperwork.

Tax Pro Prep Sheet
I'm meeting a tax pro soon and I want to use the time well. Using everything we covered in this chat, write me a one-page prep sheet. Include: 1. A 3-sentence summary of my tax situation a pro can read in 30 seconds. 2. The documents I should bring, as a checklist (W-2s, 1099s, brokerage statements, receipts, last year's return, and anything specific to me). 3. My top 5 questions, ranked by how much money they could be worth, each in one sentence. 4. Anything I'm unsure I qualify for, so the pro can confirm it. Keep it to one page, plain English, no jargon without a definition. Don't add new advice. Only organize what we already discussed.

Keep It Private

You don’t need to paste your Social Security number, account numbers or full documents to get value here. Rounded numbers work fine.