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Clean up a vendor list before 1099 season without tax advice

  • For Small business owners
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

You're tidying the vendor list before your tax preparer reviews 1099s, and you must not make tax calls yourself. Write a prompt for a table with columns Vendor | Issue | Next step, one row per vendor, where Next step is exactly Request W-9, Merge duplicate, Ask tax preparer or No action. Don't say who needs a 1099 or mention dollar thresholds. End with the line "Our tax preparer makes all 1099 decisions." Under 200 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Giving tax answers. Asked about 1099s, the AI states thresholds and tells you who gets a form. Try: Say: "No tax conclusions or dollar thresholds. Reporting questions are Ask tax preparer."
  • Repeating the friend's rule. The AI picks up the owner's secondhand rule and treats it as fact. Try: Add: "Ignore secondhand tax rules in the notes."
  • Missing the duplicate. The AI treats J. Ortiz and Javier Ortiz as two vendors. Try: Ask: "Check for duplicates by tax ID and address."
  • Free-form next steps. The AI writes long advice per vendor instead of a step you can act on. Try: Give the labels: "Next step is exactly Request W-9, Merge duplicate, Ask tax preparer or No action."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. Vendor reviews come with intros and caveats that blow the limit. Try: Say: "Issue under 8 words. Output only the table and the last line."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Names the columns
  • Gives next-step labels
  • Blocks tax advice
  • Checks for duplicates
  • Gives the last line

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