ABOUT THE BUILDER
Built from a tax practice.
I wanted preparation software that connected the evidence, the decisions, and the return. PrepReturns grew from that work at Trio Tax.
On this page
Tax firm first
I’m building PrepReturns from the perspective of Trio Tax, a working tax practice. The starting point is professional preparation: source documents, books, payroll, assets, shareholders, review, and the awkward handoffs between them.
I wanted a system that kept those pieces connected. If a source already supplied a fact, I wanted to review it rather than enter it again. If I corrected it, I wanted the original and the reason to remain visible. If the return changed, I wanted to understand why.
That perspective shapes the product more than any particular technology choice. The professional should retain control, and the software should make the work easier to explain.
Ambitious tools, explicit responsibility
Frontier AI-assisted development made it possible to attempt software work that would previously have demanded a much larger engineering effort. I use those tools for research, implementation, review, testing, and iteration.
I also treat tax software as something that must be specified and challenged. A plausible answer is not sufficient. Calculations, source authority, saved history, browser behavior, and actual form output each need attention. The Alpha history shows how that work accumulated.
AI assistance in development is distinct from the product’s calculation model. PrepReturns uses deterministic tax calculations, established facts, and professional decisions. Human judgment remains central to what the product should do and whether the workflow is useful.
From the practice outward
Trio Ledger is a sibling project: a simple ledger for very small businesses, built around straightforward books and useful financial statements. PrepReturns focuses on professional tax preparation, beginning with S corporations.
The projects share a practical origin. That relationship does not imply that a live integration has already been implemented.
Form 1040 comes next for PrepReturns. Open source is the intended direction, with the engine private today. I am interested in conversations with practitioners, engineers, researchers, and software companies about the product, the architecture, and what professional tools could become.
A conversation worth having.
Product, practice, architecture, or a different idea about what comes next.