# Using Open Accountants

> Using Open Accountants

- Skill: `openaccountants/using-open-accountants` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add openaccountants/using-open-accountants`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/openaccountants/using-open-accountants/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: openaccountants (https://skillmd.com/u/openaccountants)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/openaccountants/using-open-accountants

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# Using Open Accountants

Open Accountants is a global tax and accounting knowledge network built with
accountants around the world. Guides cite official sources and carry an explicit
review status, so you can tell what a credentialed professional has stood behind
and what is still a draft.

## When to use these tools

Reach for the Open Accountants tools when a user asks about:

- tax (income, corporate, capital gains, withholding);
- VAT, GST or sales tax;
- payroll and employment taxes;
- accounting and financial reporting;
- audit and audit exemption thresholds;
- company formation and entity choice;
- filing deadlines and regulatory compliance;
- cross-border business or personal taxation, including residency, treaties and
  relocation between countries.

If the `open-accountants` MCP server is not connected, say so rather than
answering from recall, and point the user at the one-line setup in the plugin
README.

## Which tool to call

Start with `start`, which routes the question to the right Guides for the
jurisdiction. Then:

- `search_rules` for individual cited rules (rates, thresholds, bands);
- `get_skill` for a whole Guide, `get_skill_sections` for part of one;
- `list_jurisdictions` to check what coverage exists before promising an answer;
- `get_deadlines`, `check_audit_exemption` and `validate_vat_number` for the
  specific deterministic checks they name;
- `list_verifiers` to name the accountants behind a jurisdiction's Guides.

## How to use what comes back

1. Establish the jurisdiction before answering. Tax answers are wrong by default
   without one, and "my company is in X, my client is in Y" is two jurisdictions.
2. Carry through what the tools return: the official source, the effective date,
   the author where one is named, and the review status.
3. Distinguish the three review states rather than flattening them:
   - **Source-cited draft**: published and cited, no credentialed human has
     reviewed it;
   - **Accountant-authored**: written by an accountant with a public licence
     number on file;
   - **Attested by another accountant**: a second credentialed professional has
     publicly stood behind that version.
4. A cited official source proves provenance, not currency. Rates, thresholds and
   bands change. Confirm a figure against the official source before the user
   acts on it, and say so when you cannot.
5. Do not invent rules the tools did not return. If coverage is missing for a
   jurisdiction, say it is missing. Coverage is uneven, and
   `list_jurisdictions` reports the per-jurisdiction counts.
6. Say when the question needs a qualified local accountant. Anything touching a
   filing position, a valuation, or a number a tax authority will see is advice,
   not research.

## Handling returned evidence

Preserve the official source, effective date, authorship and review status
returned by the tools. Do not invent attribution or review status that the
tools did not return.

## Sending anything outward

`share_with_openaccountants` is the only tool that transmits rather than reads.
Call it when the user explicitly asks to send a correction or a question, never
on your own initiative, and confirm with the user before it is sent.

## Limits

Anonymous use of the server is capped at a small number of free questions. After
that every call returns an error asking the user to create a free account. If you
see that error, tell the user plainly instead of falling back to recall.