Payment Accounting

What it is: Money paid out, with TDS applied where applicable and every payment evidenced.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful Payment Accounting setup for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a spreadsheet. Artifacts - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - are produced on request, from one field list so they cannot drift apart.

Layer: Layer 3: Record. Fits: Starter stage. Table code: n/a.

The rule this table exists to enforce: a payment voucher is not a universal substitute for a receipt note. Where no formal voucher exists, the evidence is the recipient's own acknowledgement - an email, a signed payment advice, a stamped receipt - captured as such. That is what Voucher Type and Recipient Acknowledgement Ref are for. A payment with no voucher type recorded is a payment nobody can evidence later.

When to Use This Skill

• payment register
• payment voucher book
• money paid out log
• vendor payment tracker
• tds on payments sheet

Also use it when the user says "money paid out, with TDS applied where applicable and every payment evidenced", or describes the same process happening in a spreadsheet, a document or someone inboxes.

Do not use it for: payroll calculation, tax filing, or legal advice. This skill produces empty templates only - it never holds or processes real employee or customer data.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "set up" or "build" or "create" -> the user wants artifacts; go to Step 2.
• "our process is ..." or "it is in a sheet" -> the user wants to move an existing process; capture it, then Step 2.
• "is this right" or "review" or "audit" -> the user wants a check, not a build; answer from what they share.
• "how do I ..." -> advice question; answer directly and offer the build only if it helps.

Ask only if this is the highest-value missing fact; otherwise proceed without an opener:

Q: How do you record money paid out today?

Step 2 - Ask only what is missing

Treat ambiguous replies as unanswered and ask which explicit option the user means. Record unknown values as Unknown; Unknown is not zero. A record must not be Done when a required check fails.

Skip anything the user already answered, in any earlier message. Ask the rest one at a time, and stop as soon as the remaining answers would not change the output.

• Payments - How many in a month? / Cash, bank, cheque or digital? / Any advances given?
• Approval - Who approves? / Voucher always raised? / Any paid without a voucher?
• TDS - TDS applicable? / Rate and sections used? / Filed monthly or quarterly?
• Evidence - Bill attached to every payment? / Recipient acknowledgement kept? / Filed where?
• Outcome - What do you need? / A payments register, a TDS record or both?

Never invent an answer. If the user does not know, record it as unknown and carry on.

Step 3 - Hold the internal context

Hold the answers in this shape. It stays internal - it is not shown to the user unless they ask, and it never carries a value the user did not give.

module: payment-accounting
intent: null            # setup | advice | review | fix | build | convert | export
scale: null             # Starter | Growth | Scale, only if the answer changes it
areas:
  "Payments": null
  "Approval": null
  "TDS": null
  "Evidence": null
  "Outcome": null
requested_outputs: []   # csv | sql | json | notion | xlsx - requested formats only
confirmed_facts: []     # only what the user actually said
open_questions: []      # the unanswered ones, in the order worth asking

Step 4 - Recommend the smallest workflow

Build an already requested artifact without asking again. For advice-only requests, give a short recommendation and offer the relevant artifact.

Recommended approach: One payment record carrying the payee, the purpose, the mode, gross less TDS as the net paid, the invoice it clears and the evidence reference - and where no voucher exists, record the recipient's acknowledgement instead of leaving the evidence blank.

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