Every numeric assertion in Compliance Ledger carries a small badge. The badge tells you, at a glance, how much trust the number deserves. Five tiers, modeled on Westlaw's KeyCite system for case law.
Color alone is never the signal — every tier has a glyph too. Tab to a badge with the keyboard or hover with a mouse; the same explanation appears either way.
Quoted directly from a primary source (IRS, state Department of Revenue), hash-matched today. As reliable as the source itself.
Example: California $800/yr LLC tax, sourced from ftb.ca.gov. The page is fetched, the quoted figure is hashed, and the badge confirms the hash matches today's response.
Calculated from verified inputs using a documented formula. As reliable as the inputs and the math. Every step is auditable.
Example: S-corp election breakeven = (annual payroll cost + tax-prep delta) / 0.0765. The 7.65% is the FICA rate from IRS Pub 15 (verified). The cost inputs are state-specific verified figures. The arithmetic is a one-line formula.
Sources disagree, or this rule is under active legal challenge. Treat with care; consult a CPA before relying on this for filing.
Example: A revenue ruling under appellate review, or a state regulation where the DOR's published rate conflicts with statute. Today no values in the tool carry this tier — the plumbing is in place for when one does.
From a third-party source (Tax Foundation, etc.) — useful for context but not authoritative for filing. Verify against the primary source before relying on a number for a tax return.
Example: "State and local tax burden as % of personal income." Tax Foundation publishes an annual study; the number is a useful comparison point, but no taxpayer files based on it. The federal-12%-bracket approximation is also informational.
We deliberately do not cover this case. The linked source is where to find authoritative guidance — typically a CPA, tax attorney, or the relevant IRS publication.
Example: Multi-member LLC partnership returns (Form 1065 + K-1s), Form 8832 C-corp election, foreign-LLC qualification, multistate apportionment. The badge sits on the caveat block; the link goes to the relevant IRS form page.
A binary "verified or not" loses information. The everyday cases are verified (primary source, hash-matched) and blueprint (calculated from verified inputs) — those deserve different glyphs because they fail in different ways. A blueprint fails if the formula is wrong; a verified value fails if the source has changed since the last hash check. The remaining three tiers — contested, informational, out_of_scope — let us surface honest uncertainty instead of pretending everything is equally solid.
Westlaw's KeyCite shows lawyers a flag next to every cited case: green for "still good law", yellow for "treatment with caution", red for "no longer good law". Sixty seconds of training and every reader knows what they're looking at. Compliance Ledger borrows the same pattern for tax rules. The shapes are different (✓ ◇ ⚠ ⓘ ✕) but the discipline is identical: the trust signal travels with the number, never separate from it.