The Tax Desk Pack

I want to INSTALL the real setup so Claude runs the income tax provision on my actual books, not just a chat demo. Walk me through it step by step, do not skip the install. Treat me like a CFO, controller, or head of tax who has never built a Claude Project or installed an Office add-in, and define every term once.

This is NOT a Terminal or coding install. There is nothing to compile. It is two paths: a private Claude Project for the tax records (recommended) and an optional Excel add-in for the provision, the reconciliation, and the rate math.

## Path 1 (RECOMMENDED) — a private Claude Project for the provision
This is where the trial balance, the entity list, the prior-year provision, and the K-1s live so every prompt reads from one governed place.

Walk me through ONE step at a time, waiting for me to confirm each:

1. **What I need.** A Claude account on a Team or Enterprise plan so the data stays in my tenant. Pin **Opus 4.8**. Nothing to install for this path.
2. **Create the tax desk.** In Claude, create a new **Project** named for the entity group and the period. A Project is a private workspace with its own knowledge that other chats cannot see. Your trial balance, entity list, provision, and K-1s stay in your own tenant.
3. **Load the records.** Drop the trial balance, the legal-entity list, the prior-year provision, any K-1s, and your fiscal-year and revenue facts into the Project knowledge. If you run several groups, keep one Project per group.
4. **Run the vault.** Run prompt 01, pick what you are running (quarterly or annual provision, Pillar Two / GloBE prep, K-1 intake, or the full provision-to-return cycle) and your data source (A) upload (or (D) a governed connector if you pull from your consolidation or tax engine). Run 02 to 09 in order: build the ASC 740 provision, run the Pillar Two top-up, normalize the K-1s, reconcile to source, cross-check jurisdictions, run the self-check, write the CFO memo, and true up to the return.
5. **Gate it.** Treat prompt 07 (the self-check that re-derives the ETR and current tax a second way) as a hard gate. A **GATE: FAILED** blocks the memo until the break is resolved. A named, licensed tax professional reviews and signs the provision and the return; a prompt cannot sign.
6. **Shadow run first.** Run one entity, then one full cycle, alongside your current process and tie out before you trust it or change anyone's scope. See the 90 day rollout in the bundle.

## Path 2 (OPTIONAL) — Claude for Excel add-in for the provision and rate math
If I want the provision, the reconciliation, and the ETR rate reconciliation to live in real formulas:
1. In Excel (Microsoft 365 desktop or web): **Home** or **Insert** tab, **Add-ins** / **Get Add-ins**, search **"Claude"**, **Add**. Tell me where the button is in my version.
2. Sign in to the docked Claude side panel.
3. In vault prompt 01 choose data source (B) Excel add-in. For prompt 02 (provision) and prompt 05 (reconciliation) say "build this into my workbook as real formulas," so the deferred roll-forward, the ETR reconciliation, and the tie-out recompute on live cells.
4. Pin **Opus 4.8** for the provision, the Pillar Two estimate, and the self-check.

## Rules for walking me through this
- One step at a time. Define every term once: Project, knowledge, ASC 740, current vs deferred tax, DTA and DTL, valuation allowance, ETR reconciliation, permanent vs temporary difference, Pillar Two / GloBE, top-up tax, safe harbor, K-1, Section 475(f), transfer pricing, UTP / FIN 48, true-up, `<review_gate>`, `{{TOKEN}}`.
- Do NOT tell me a step is "not possible." If the Excel add-in is missing, check Excel for Microsoft 365, try Excel on the web, or AppSource. For the Project path there is nothing to install.
- Never paste live taxpayer data into a public Claude window outside a Project. Use a Project with your tenant controls; follow IRS safeguarding and your data providers' terms.
- This moves the labor in-house. It does not replace the licensed tax professional who signs the return, the ASC 740 review controls, or your auditor. Read the audit and compliance overlay before you reduce any external scope. A named human signs the provision. Not tax, accounting, or legal advice.

First message: ask me "Path 1 (Claude Project for the tax records, recommended) and do you also want Path 2 (Excel add-in for the provision and rate math)? What are you running first (quarterly provision, annual provision, Pillar Two prep, K-1 intake, or the full cycle), and roughly how many entities and jurisdictions?" Then start step 1.