AI prompt starter pack for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) arrived quickly, passed by July 4th, 2025, bringing sweeping tax changes that affect virtually every client you serve. From the new $6,000 senior deduction to 100% bonus depreciation for qualified production property, tax professionals face a massive challenge: How do you efficiently analyze dozens of provisions across hundreds of unique client scenarios?

With qualified tax professionals in short supply and review workloads at all-time highs, traditional research methods don’t scale. AI-powered research isn’t just about speed. It’s about maintaining firm capacity when hiring isn’t an option. With the right AI prompt starter pack, you can transform hours of manual research into minutes of strategic analysis. But generic prompts produce generic answers. This guide provides ready-to-use AI prompt starters designed specifically for OBBBA tax research.

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Understanding the AI prompt framework

Your OBBBA AI prompt starter pack

Advanced multi-client tax prompts

Best practices for tax-specific AI prompts

Turning research into advisory revenue

Putting your AI prompt starter pack into action

Understanding the AI prompt framework

Not all AI prompts deliver equal results. Strategically structured prompts unlock actionable insights. Master this four-part framework to transform OBBBA research from time-consuming analysis into efficient, client-ready guidance.

The most powerful prompts follow this framework:

Legislative anchor + client context + research objective + output format = actionable results

The four elements of effective tax prompts

1. 1. Legislative anchor: Start with the full bill name: “Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)…” This grounds the AI in correct legislative context.
   2. Client context: Provide specific details: filing status, AGI amounts, relevant income sources, deduction figures. For example, “How does OBBBA affect a married couple with $550,000 AGI and $55,000 in SALT payments?” produces actionable guidance.
   3. Research objective: Use clear action verbs: analyze, evaluate, compare, identify, calculate. Specify what you’re accomplishing.
   4. Output format: Request specific formats: comparison tables, client-ready emails, calculation worksheets. This creates deliverables you can immediately use.

Your OBBBA AI prompt starter pack

Armed with the framework, you’re ready for practical application. These ready-to-use prompts address the most pressing OBBBA questions tax professionals face today, from senior deductions to equipment purchase timing, covering both individual and business client scenarios.

Individual client impact prompts

• • Senior deduction analysis
    “Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), analyze the new $6,000 deduction for seniors for a married couple, both age 67, with a combined AGI of $450,000. Show the calculation including phase-out effects and present results in a comparison table comparing their 2024 and 2025 tax liability.”
  • SALT cap modification
    “For a married filing jointly taxpayer with a $550,000 AGI, two children, and $55,000 in state and local taxes paid, evaluate the SALT cap modification under OBBBA. Show before-and-after tax liability in a side-by-side format suitable for client presentation.”
  • Service industry workers
    “Analyze the ‘no tax on tips’ provision under OBBBA for a restaurant server earning $45,000 in wages and $18,000 in tips annually, filing single with an AGI of $65,000. Draft a client-friendly email explaining the benefit and any limitations, using language appropriate for non-tax professionals.”

Your clients are already hearing about “no tax on tips” and “no tax on Social Security” from news sources. Having AI-generated, client-ready explanations that clarify misconceptions positions you as the trusted advisor who can cut through the noise quickly, transforming reactive questions into proactive advisory opportunities.

Business client strategy prompts

• • Equipment purchase timing
    “Under OBBBA, compare the tax treatment of $500,000 in manufacturing equipment purchased on January 15, 2025, versus the same purchase on February 1, 2025. Include Section 179, bonus depreciation implications, and present in a decision-making table format with dollar amounts.”
  • Retroactive R&D benefit
    “For a software development company with average annual gross receipts of $8 million and $200,000 in domestic R&D expenses paid in 2022-2024, calculate the retroactive benefit under OBBBA’s permanent R&D deduction. Format as a refund opportunity memo for management with specific dollar amounts and filing requirements.”
  • Business interest limitation
    “Compare the business interest limitation calculation under pre-OBBBA rules (EBIT) versus OBBBA rules (EBITDA) for a manufacturing company with $10 million EBITDA, $8 million EBIT, and $1.5 million interest expense. Show tax savings in dollar amounts and explain the practical impact.”

Advanced multi-client tax prompts

Move beyond single-client analysis to scalable tax research strategies. These advanced prompts create reusable frameworks that work across your entire client base, allowing you to analyze dozens of unique scenarios simultaneously while maintaining the detailed, personalized insights each client requires.

Template-based research for scale

One of the most powerful applications of AI in OBBBA research is creating reusable templates that work across multiple clients:

• • Comprehensive client assessment template
    “Create a template analysis for evaluating OBBBA impact on individual clients that includes: (1) senior deduction eligibility, (2) SALT cap benefit/limitation, (3) tips/overtime applicability, (4) car loan interest qualification, and (5) charitable deduction strategies. Design with variable input fields for AGI, filing status, and deduction amounts.”
  • Business client evaluation framework
    “Develop a standardized OBBBA assessment template for business clients covering: bonus depreciation opportunities, R&D expense treatment, Section 179 planning, business interest limitation, and QBI deduction impact. Include variable fields for industry type, revenue size, and planned asset acquisitions.”

These template prompts create frameworks you can use repeatedly, simply changing the client-specific variables each time.

During January-April busy season, template prompts let you assess OBBBA impact across 200+ clients in the time traditional research takes for 20 clients. During planning season (June-December), deeper analysis prompts drive advisory revenue by identifying proactive tax-saving opportunities that justify strategic client meetings and higher-value engagements.

Time-sensitive planning prompts

With multiple OBBBA deadlines approaching, urgency-focused prompts help prioritize client outreach:

• • Green energy credit deadline alert
    “Create an urgent action plan for clients considering building energy-efficient homes or installing EV chargers, detailing OBBBA’s repeal dates (June 30, 2026 for both credits). Format as a deadline-driven client advisory with specific action steps and a professional but urgent tone.”
  • Equipment purchase decision tree
    “Develop a decision tree for business clients with planned equipment purchases, illustrating the difference between 40% bonus depreciation (property placed in service before January 19, 2025) and 100% bonus depreciation (after January 19, 2025). Include timing recommendations and cash flow implications.”

Best practices for tax-specific AI prompts

Even perfectly structured prompts can fall short without these refinements. These four best practices ensure your AI tax research produces verifiable, appropriately formatted results that integrate seamlessly into your existing workflow and meet professional standards for client communication.

1. Specify your audience

Always indicate who will read the output: “Draft for a small business owner with limited tax knowledge” produces very different results than “Prepare for presentation to a CFO with tax background.”

2. Request source citations

Include phrases like “cite primary sources” or “reference applicable IRC sections” to ensure you can verify the AI’s conclusions. Professional-grade AI tools like CoCounsel Tax from Thomson Reuters ground responses in trusted, authoritative content from Checkpoint and editorial experts — not web-scraped data — providing traceable citations to primary law. This distinction matters: while consumer AI tools rely on general internet sources that may contain outdated or inaccurate information, professional solutions built on curated legal and tax databases deliver research-grade reliability.

3. Maintain security standards

When working with client-specific data in your AI research, security isn’t optional. Professional-grade AI tools like CoCounsel Tax provide secure, closed environments for sensitive client information, maintaining the same bank-level security standards you trust across Thomson Reuters solutions. Your client data remains protected within a closed system where nothing leaks out — a critical consideration when uploading tax returns, financial documents, or confidential client information for analysis.

4. Format for efficiency

Request specific output formats that match your workflow: “Present as a Word-compatible table” or “Format as a client-ready email” eliminates reformatting time.

5. Layer your questions

Start broad, then drill down. After receiving initial analysis, follow up with: “Now rewrite this analysis for a client with a $800,000 AGI instead” or “Simplify this explanation for a client unfamiliar with tax terminology.”

Turning research into advisory revenue

For firms expanding beyond compliance into advisory services, AI-powered OBBBA research accelerates your transition. Traditional OBBBA research for a single client scenario might consume 3-4 hours of senior staff time. With properly structured AI prompts, that analysis takes 15-20 minutes.

More importantly, speed creates opportunity. When a client calls with an OBBBA question, you can provide sophisticated analysis within the conversation rather than promising to “research it and get back to them.” That immediacy transforms client perception.

Putting your AI prompt starter pack into action

While your competitors research OBBBA provisions manually, one client at a time, professional-grade AI lets you analyze impact across your entire client base. An effective AI prompt starter pack doesn’t replace your expertise; it amplifies it, transforming AI from a generic answer machine into a specialized research assistant that delivers results in formats you can immediately use.

Your next steps:

• • Access comprehensive OBBBA resources: Visit the Thomson Reuters OBBBA Resource Hub for detailed provision analysis, implementation timelines, and webinar resources.
  • Experience AI-powered research: See how professional-grade AI transforms tax research workflows. Explore CoCounsel Tax from Thomson Reuters to discover how agentic AI handles complex OBBBA scenarios with authoritative content and secure client data handling.
  • Customize these prompts: Adapt the frameworks here to your specific practice areas, client demographics, and service offerings.

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