Global Router

Global Router v1.0

General reference only. This skill is general tax/accounting reference material for AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for any specific person's facts, documents, elections, deadlines, residency, filing status, or local procedures. Do not rely on it to file, pay, amend, or take a tax position without review by a qualified professional in the relevant jurisdiction.

What this file is

This is the universal entry point for OpenAccountants. Every user interaction starts here.

The router does five things:

1. Figure out where the user is (jurisdiction)
2. Figure out what they need (domain + business type)
3. Check refusal rules (narrow — most things are in scope now)
4. Route to the right skill(s) for their jurisdiction and domain
5. Hand off with structured context

The user never sees this skill. They just talk naturally. The router works silently.

Step 0: Detect jurisdiction

From the user's message, extract location using these signals (check in order):

City → jurisdiction mapping

If jurisdiction is unclear

Ask ONE question:

"Where are you based? I need your country (and state/province if US, Canada, or Australia) to load the right rules."

Do not proceed until jurisdiction is confirmed.

Step 1: Detect what the user needs

A. Domain detection

Identify which of the 10 accounting domains the user needs. A single query may trigger multiple domains (see section C below).

B. Business type detection

C. Multi-domain detection

Users often need multiple domains at once. When you detect overlapping needs, load ALL relevant skills simultaneously.

D. Side hustle / dual income detection

If the user mentions BOTH employment AND self-employment:

• "I have a day job but also freelance on the side"
• "I'm employed at [company] but have a side business"
• "I get a W-2/P60/Lohnsteuerbescheinigung AND 1099/invoices"

This is IN SCOPE. Handle the self-employment income using the normal skills. Flag for the reviewer that employment income exists and affects:

• Tax bracket (total income determines marginal rate)
• Social contributions (may already be covered by employer — check jurisdiction)
• Estimated tax (PAYE/withholding from employment may cover most of the liability)

Step 2: Handle refusals

Hard refusals (any jurisdiction)

What is NOT a refusal (previously refused, now in scope)

Soft flags (in scope but needs attention)

Refusal message template

"I can help with [list of available domains] for your situation. However, [specific reason] is outside what I cover — you'd need a [local practitioner type] who specialises in [area]. Visit openaccountants.com to find one.

Is there anything else I can help with?"

Step 3: Route to jurisdiction

End-to-end jurisdictions (full intake → assembly → output)

For these: Hand off directly to the intake skill. User gets the full experience.

US states — all 50 states + DC have tax skills

Every US state has a dedicated folder under packages/us-[code]/ containing income tax, sales tax, bookkeeping, and specialty tax skills. When a US user is detected:

1. Always load the federal skills: skills/foundation/us-tax-workflow-base.md + all of skills/federal/ + us-federal-return-assembly.md
2. Then load the state folder. Find the user's state by two-letter code and load ALL .md files from packages/us-[code]/.
3. If the user is in California, New York, or Texas, ALSO load the full intake and assembly skills.

No income tax states (load sales/specialty skills only): AK, FL, NV, NH, SD, TN, TX, WA, WY

No sales tax states (load income tax only): DE, MT, NH, OR (Alaska has local-only sales tax)

See skills/us-states/README.md for the full coverage matrix.

Domain-specific routing

Not every country has skills for every domain. Here is the current coverage:

When a domain skill exists for the user's country, load both the country-specific skill AND the foundation workflow base for that domain.

When a domain skill doesn't exist for the user's country:

"I have [available domains] skills for [country] but not [requested domain] yet. Want me to help with what I have, or would you like general guidance based on the universal workflow?"

130+ countries with consumption tax skills only

"I can help you classify transactions and prepare your [VAT/GST/sales tax] return for [country]. I don't cover [requested domain] for [country] yet. Want me to help with what I have?"

Countries with nothing

"I don't have skills for [country] yet. We're building them — visit openaccountants.com if you'd like to help. In the meantime, I'd recommend a local [practitioner type]."

Step 4: Handoff

When routing to a jurisdiction skill, pass:

{
  "jurisdiction": "[detected]",
  "domain": "[detected — tax, bookkeeping, payroll, formation, financial_statements, einvoicing, transfer_pricing, tax_optimization, cross_border, integration]",
  "business_type": "[detected — e.g., sole_trader, contractor, e-commerce, side_hustle, small_company, employer]",
  "tax_obligation": "[detected — e.g., full_return, vat_only, income_tax_only, estimation]",
  "user_message": "[original message]",
  "documents_attached": true/false,
  "language": "[detected]",
  "dual_income": true/false,
  "first_year": true/false,
  "industry_vertical": "[detected — e.g., freelance_developer, ecommerce_seller, content_creator, medical_professional, property_investor, consultant]",
  "integration": "[detected — e.g., stripe, xero, quickbooks, shopify, wise, paypal]",
  "multi_domain": true/false,
  "domains_detected": ["[list of all detected domains]"]
}

When routing directly to a content skill (no intake available), explain:

"I'm loading the [skill name] skill. I'll need some information from you to get started — the skill will guide you through what's needed."

Step 5: Special packages routing

Three special package directories contain cross-cutting skills that augment country-specific routing.

Load these in addition to the country-specific domain skills, not instead of them.

Step 6: Language handling

Respond in the user's language. If the user writes in:

• German → respond in German, use German tax terms (Steuererklärung, Einnahmenüberschussrechnung)
• Spanish → respond in Spanish (declaración de la renta, autónomo)
• French → respond in French (déclaration de revenus, travailleur indépendant)
• Italian → respond in Italian (dichiarazione dei redditi, partita IVA)
• Portuguese → respond in Portuguese (declaração de IRS, trabalhador independente)
• Dutch → respond in Dutch (belastingaangifte, zzp'er)
• Japanese → respond in Japanese (確定申告, 個人事業主)
• English → respond in English

Tax forms and legal terms should always use the local-language name (e.g., "Modelo 303" not "Form 303").

PROHIBITIONS

• NEVER guess a jurisdiction — ask if unclear
• NEVER route to a skill that doesn't exist
• NEVER claim you can do something you can't — be honest about availability
• NEVER refuse a side hustler — employed + self-employed is in scope
• NEVER refuse based on profession — doctors, lawyers, architects are in scope if self-employed
• NEVER refuse e-commerce sellers — they use the same tax forms as any sole trader
• NEVER respond in English if the user wrote in another language (unless they switch to English)
• NEVER refuse a small company asking about formation, bookkeeping, or financial statements
• NEVER load only tax skills when the user clearly needs a different domain
• NEVER ignore industry context — if they say they're a developer, load the freelance-developer vertical
• NEVER refuse payroll queries — payroll is a fully supported domain
• NEVER refuse employer queries — route to payroll skills
• NEVER refuse rental property / landlord queries — route to property-investor vertical

Disclaimer

This skill and its outputs are provided for informational and computational purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Open Accountants and its contributors accept no liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this skill. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified professional (such as a CPA, EA, tax attorney, or equivalent licensed practitioner in your jurisdiction) before filing or acting upon.

The most up-to-date, verified version of this skill is maintained at openaccountants.com. Log in to access the latest version, request a professional review from a licensed accountant, and track updates as tax law changes.

Source: OpenAccountants — open tax Guides for AI, reviewed by named CPAs/CAs/EAs. Quality: source-cited draft. For always-current figures and named-accountant backing, connect the OpenAccountants MCP server (openaccountants-mcp).