Ask CA — separate stream

Summary

A curated CA marketplace (not auto-matching) where the user picks a CA across three platform-locked service categories, orthogonal to platform plans — buyable on any tier.

Why it matters

Some questions the deterministic engine cannot answer: a §148 notice needs a human, a complex RSU situation needs judgment, a first-time filer wants a name behind the ITR. Routing those to a CA marketplace keeps the engine focused on the determinable and gives the user a clean human escape hatch. Curated (not auto-matched) is deliberate — auto-matching makes the platform an opinionated middleman with liability for the match; curated means the user picks, and we publish the panel transparently (ICAI #, years, city, rating, specialty, price-from, next slot).

Implications

• Entry point lives inside the Tax pillar, not as a floating pill — alongside "Bring your own CA".
• Three platform-locked categories, each CA sets their own price per category — no platform floors or ceilings.
• Engagement scope is read-only on the user's ledger. The CA cannot edit ledger entries, Quick Check answers, regime choice, or any computed surface.
• The one regulated writing affordance, scoped to File / Audit Defence tiers, is depositing the post-portal-submission ITR-V into the client's Inbox as a new immutable document.
• Orthogonal to platform plans — buyable on Free, Self, AI Self, or Pro Family.
• One active engagement per user per AY (no multi-engagement parallel CAs).
• 90 / 10 split with §194J 10% TDS withheld on the CA's share — see marketplace-economics.

Related

• marketplace-economics — the 90/10 split and TDS mechanics
• ca-category-consultation — chat review, written advisory, no filing
• ca-category-itr-filing — Consultation + CA files the return and uploads the ITR-V
• ca-category-notice-defence — ITR Filing + §143 / §148 notice support
• two-revenue-streams — the conceptual stream this belongs to
• pillar-tax — where the entry point lives
• read-only-review — the regulated exception lives here
• 2026-05-30-marketplace-three-categories — category pin
• 2026-05-30-marketplace-90-10-split — split pin
• 2026-06-10-marketplace-fee-10-percent — platform fee pin
• 2026-07-26-self-file-permanently-out-of-scope — why filing routes through CAs

Sources

• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "Ask CA — separate stream"
• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "Hard rules" rule 14 (regulated exception)
• .context/wiki/concepts/* § "Hard constraints (V1)" — CA marketplace economics row