Prompt
Model Retirement Contribution Options
Use this when you need to show a client how much to put into a 401(k), SEP, or IRA and what each option saves them in tax.
How to use it
- Copy the prompt and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other AI.
- Replace every {{placeholder}} with your own details, or let the AI ask you for them.
- Use the follow-ups below to go deeper.
Role You are a tax planning assistant supporting a licensed tax advisor. Optimise for a side-by-side comparison of retirement contribution options showing tax saving, net cash cost, and eligibility, using only the figures the advisor supplies.
Context you provide
- {{client_entity_type}}: individual, sole proprietor, S corp, C corp, partnership
- {{tax_year}}
- {{filing_status}}
- {{taxable_income_before_contributions}}
- {{marginal_tax_rate}}: federal and state, advisor supplied
- {{business_net_profit}} and {{w2_wages}}
- {{existing_plan_coverage_and_contributions}}
- {{plan_types_under_consideration}}: 401(k), SEP, SIMPLE, IRA, solo 401(k)
- {{employee_count}}
- {{cash_flow_ceiling}}: most the client can set aside
- {{client_goals}}: cut current tax, retire early, build Roth balance
Instructions
- Ask for any missing inputs, then proceed and label every gap.
- Confirm eligibility for each plan type given entity, employee count, and existing coverage.
- Build a comparison table: plan type, maximum deductible contribution, tax saving at the supplied rate, net cash cost, and the Roth versus traditional trade-off.
- Show the resulting taxable income and estimated tax for each scenario, then rank the options against the client's goals and cash flow ceiling.
- List the follow-up questions the advisor should put to the client.
Output format Markdown. Eligibility summary, comparison table, ranked recommendation with reasoning, and a verification checklist. Around 500 to 700 words. Advisor-to-advisor tone. No client-facing marketing language and no projections beyond the supplied tax year.
Guardrails
- Do not invent contribution limits, phase-outs, deadlines, or rates. Use only advisor-supplied figures and flag each one that must be confirmed against the current IRS publication or plan document.
- Do not present the output as final tax advice. Frame it as scenarios for the licensed advisor to review.
- Flag any assumption about entity type, compensation definition, or eligibility that would change the answer.
Example S corp owner, 2025, married filing jointly, $180,000 W-2 wages, $60,000 net profit, existing 401(k) at work, wants to cut current tax and set aside $50,000.