taxclaw

What This Skill Does

TaxClaw is a specialized OpenClaw agent skill designed for local-first extraction and organization of tax-related documents. It leverages artificial intelligence to parse complex tax forms including W-2s, 1099-DA, various 1099 variants, and K-1s. By operating entirely on your local machine, it ensures that sensitive financial information remains private and secure, avoiding the pitfalls of cloud-based processing. The system runs a local web UI at localhost:8421 for visual management, while also providing a powerful command-line interface for power users who prefer scripting their tax workflows.

Installation

To install TaxClaw, ensure you have the OpenClaw environment initialized. Run the following command in your terminal:

clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/dougbutdorf/taxclaw

Once installed, you must initialize the skill using the setup script:

bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/taxclaw/setup.sh

This will configure the necessary directories at ~/.config/taxclaw/ and ~/.local/share/taxclaw/. If you are using the default local-first mode, you are ready to start. If you intend to use the optional cloud-based AI processing (Claude), you must manually update the config.yaml and set cloud_acknowledged: true after reading the mandatory privacy warning.

Use Cases

TaxClaw is ideal for individuals managing complex personal finances who want to move away from manual data entry. It is perfect for users who consolidate multiple income streams, such as freelance income (1099s), investment gains (1099-DA), and partnership distributions (K-1). It acts as a digital filing cabinet, allowing you to ingest PDFs, verify the AI-extracted data against the source, and export results into clean CSV or JSON formats for use in accounting software or spreadsheets.

Example Prompts

• "Extract my tax document from the downloads folder and label it for the 2025 tax year."
• "Parse this 1099-DA and store the result in my tax archives."
• "Show my tax documents summary so I can see what is currently processed."

Tips & Limitations

For maximum security, use the default Ollama-based local processing. Only enable cloud mode if you fully understand the implications of sending tax documents to an external API provider. Ensure your ~/.config/taxclaw/config.yaml is properly maintained, as it holds the configuration for file paths and AI model selection. When using the CLI, remember to specify the filer and year tags to keep your data organized for when tax season arrives. Note that the skill is specifically tuned for standard tax forms; experimental or proprietary documents may yield inconsistent results.