U.S. patent application number 14/101045 was filed with the patent office on 2014-06-19 for system and method for acquiring tax data for use in tax preparation software.
This patent application is currently assigned to HRB Tax Group, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is HRB Tax Group, Inc.. Invention is credited to Neal Shaw.
Application Number | 20140172656 14/101045 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49681647 |
Filed Date | 2014-06-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140172656 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shaw; Neal |
June 19, 2014 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACQUIRING TAX DATA FOR USE IN TAX PREPARATION
SOFTWARE
Abstract
An automated system and method for acquiring tax data and
importing it into tax preparation software. Tax documents are
acquired electronically in a tax data acquisition process by
scanning, faxing, or emailing them. Once a tax document is in
electronic form, an optical character recognition (OCR) software
process obtains tax data from the electronic tax document. Each
piece of tax data that is obtained from the OCR software process is
then imported into tax preparation software. Once the tax data has
been imported into tax preparation software, the software may be
used to complete a tax return. An important step in the tax return
preparation process is automated so the need for tax professionals
to spend time entering tax data into tax preparation software is
reduced and data entry errors are reduced. Tax professionals may
devote more time to preparing tax returns and less time to data
entry.
Inventors: |
Shaw; Neal; (Shawnee,
KS) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
HRB Tax Group, Inc. |
Kansas City |
MO |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
HRB Tax Group, Inc.
Kansas City
MO
|
Family ID: |
49681647 |
Appl. No.: |
14/101045 |
Filed: |
December 9, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11855724 |
Sep 14, 2007 |
8606665 |
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14101045 |
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11162187 |
Aug 31, 2005 |
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11855724 |
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60640552 |
Dec 30, 2004 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/31 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/123 20131203;
G06Q 40/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/31 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/00 20060101
G06Q040/00 |
Claims
1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium with a
computer program stored thereon for obtaining tax information, for
a taxpayer, at a retail tax office to have a tax return for the
taxpayer prepared by a tax professional associated with said retail
tax office, wherein the computer program instructs a processor to
perform the following steps: assigning an identifier to said
taxpayer; acquiring an electronic image of at least one source tax
document associated with said taxpayer; associating said source tax
document with said assigned identifier; applying an optical
character recognition process to said electronic image of the at
least one source tax document; as a result of applying said optical
character recognition process, generating at least some tax
information, in an electronic format, from said source tax
document;storing in a database said generated electronic tax
information from said source tax document and said associated
assigned identifier; retrieving, using said assigned identifier,
the generated electronic tax information for said taxpayer;
importing at least a portion of said generated electronic tax
information into a software program for preparation of the
taxpayer's tax return; and preparing said tax return using said
taxpayer's generated electronic tax information.
2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the
computer program instructs the processor to perform the following
steps: storing in said database said electronic image of the source
tax document; displaying a notification of existence of the source
tax document associated with said assigned identifier; displaying
the source tax document associated with said assigned
identifier;
3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein
acquiring said electronic image of at least one source tax document
associated with said taxpayer comprises receiving a scan of said
source tax document.
4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein
acquiring said electronic image of at least one source tax document
associated with said taxpayer comprises receiving a facsimile of
said source tax document.
5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein
acquiring said electronic image of at least one source tax document
associated with said taxpayer comprises receiving an email
containing said source tax document.
6. A system for obtaining tax information, for a taxpayer, at a
retail tax office to have a tax return for the taxpayer prepared by
a tax professional associated with said retail tax office, the
system comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer
readable medium having a computer program stored thereon for
instructing the processor to perform the following steps: assigning
an identifier to said taxpayer; acquiring an electronic image of at
least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer;
associating said source tax document with said assigned identifier;
applying an optical character recognition process to said
electronic image of the at least one source tax document; as a
result of applying said optical character recognition process,
generating at least some tax information, in an electronic format,
from said source tax document;storing in a database said generated
electronic tax information from said source tax document and said
associated assigned identifier; retrieving, using said assigned
identifier, the generated electronic tax information for said
taxpayer; importing at least a portion of said generated electronic
tax information into a software program for preparation of the
taxpayer's tax return; and preparing said tax return using said
taxpayer's generated electronic tax information.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the computer program instructs
the processor to perform the following steps: storing in said
database said electronic image of the source tax document;
displaying a notification of existence of the source tax document
associated with said assigned identifier; displaying the source tax
document associated with said assigned identifier;
8. The system of claim 6, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving a scan of said source tax document.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving a facsimile of said source tax document.
10. The system of claim 6, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving an email containing said source tax
document.
11. A method for obtaining tax information, for a taxpayer, at a
retail tax office to have a tax return for the taxpayer prepared by
a tax professional associated with said retail tax office, wherein
the method comprises the following steps: assigning an identifier
to said taxpayer; acquiring, via a processor and from the taxpayer
or a third party associated with the taxpayer, an electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer;
associating, via a processor, said source tax document with said
assigned identifier; applying, via a processor, an optical
character recognition process to said electronic image of the at
least one source tax document; as a result of applying said optical
character recognition process, generating, via a processor, at
least some tax information, in an electronic format, from said
source tax document; storing, via a processor, in a database said
generated electronic tax information from said source tax document
and said associated assigned identifier; retrieving, via a
processor and using said assigned identifier, the generated
electronic tax information for said taxpayer; importing, via a
processor, at least a portion of said generated electronic tax
information into a software program for preparation of the
taxpayer's tax return; and preparing said tax return using said
taxpayer's generated electronic tax information.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the following steps:
storing, via a processor, in said database said electronic image of
the source tax document; displaying, via a processor, a
notification of existence of the source tax document associated
with said assigned identifier; displaying, via a processor, the
source tax document associated with said assigned identifier;
13. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving a scan of said source tax document.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving a facsimile of said source tax document.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring said electronic image
of at least one source tax document associated with said taxpayer
comprises receiving an email containing said source tax document.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation application, and claims
priority benefit with regard to all common subject matter, of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 11/855,724, filed Sep. 14, 2007, and
entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACQUIRING TAX DATA FOR USE IN TAX
PREPARATION SOFTWARE," which is now U.S. Pat. No. 8,606,665, issued
Dec. 10, 2013 ("the '606 Patent"). The '606 Patent is a
continuation-in-part application, and claims priority benefit with
regard to all common subject matter, of U.S. patent application
Ser. No. 11/162,187, filed Aug. 31, 2005, and entitled "SYSTEM AND
METHOD FOR MIGRATING BETWEEN TAX RETURN PREPARATION SYSTEMS" ("the
'187 Application"). The '187 Application is a non-provisional
application and claims priority benefit with regard to all common
subject matter, of earlier-filed Provisional Patent Application No.
60/640,552, filed Dec. 30, 2004, and entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD
FOR MIGRATING BETWEEN TAX RETURN PREPARATION SYSTEMS." The
identified earlier-filed patent and patent applications are hereby
incorporated by reference into the present application in their
entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to systems and
methods for preparing tax returns. In particular, the present
invention relates to computerized systems and methods for acquiring
tax data and importing it into tax preparation software.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Data and other information necessary to compute federal,
state, local, and foreign income tax liabilities is often reported
to taxpayers on forms. For example, many U.S. employers use IRS
Form W-2 to report yearly wages to their employees. Forms are also
used to report various types of non-wage income, mortgage interest,
student loans, distributions, benefits, etc. In many instances, the
forms are computer generated and are then printed and mailed to
taxpayers at the end of a tax year. Some taxpayers may receive many
paper forms that have data needed to prepare their tax returns.
[0004] Individuals that use a tax preparation service typically
submit all of their forms to a tax professional who manually enters
data from the tax documents into tax preparation software that is
used to complete tax returns for the taxpayers. Manual data entry
is a time consuming activity that the tax professional must perform
to provide tax preparation services. It consumes time that the tax
professional could otherwise devote to preparing the tax return and
providing assistance to a taxpayer. It also presents opportunities
for data entry errors that could impact a taxpayer's tax liability.
When the tax professional is asked to process a high volume of tax
returns, delays in completing the tax returns may result simply
because the tax professional does not have time to enter the tax
data needed to complete the returns. There is a need for an
automated system and method for acquiring tax data that eliminates
the need for tax professionals to spend time entering tax data into
tax preparation software and that reduces data entry errors. There
is need for an automated system and method for acquiring tax data
that allows a tax professional to devote more time to preparing tax
returns and less time to data entry.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention is an automated system and method for
acquiring tax data and importing it into tax preparation software.
It provides a new system and method for entering data from tax
documents into tax preparation software by using a scanner to read
and import information from a tax document. Tax documents are
acquired electronically in an acquire source tax document process
by scanning, faxing, or emailing them. Once a tax document is in
electronic form, an optical character recognition (OCR) software
process obtains tax data from the electronic tax document. Each
piece of tax data that is obtained from the OCR software process is
then imported into tax preparation software. Once the tax data has
been imported into tax preparation software, the software may be
used to complete a tax return.
[0006] This present invention facilitates operations in
professional tax preparation retail offices where a large number of
individual taxpayers may request services at the same time and
where a high volume of service requests can result in a delay in
entering tax data for processing of returns. The present invention
automates an important step in the tax return preparation process.
The need for tax professionals to spend time entering tax data into
tax preparation software is reduced and data entry errors are
reduced. The present invention allows a tax professional to devote
more time to preparing tax returns and less time to data entry.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a tax data acquisition and
importation system according to an example embodiment of the
present invention;
[0008] FIG. 2A is a first section of a flowchart of a tax data
acquisition and importation method according to an example
embodiment of the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2B is a second section and continuation of the
flowchart of FIG. 2A of a tax data acquisition and importation
method; and
[0010] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a tax preparation method using
imported tax data according to an example embodiment of the present
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS
[0011] The present invention is based on various known tax
preparation systems and methods including Retail Tax Preparation
System (RTPS) which is software used by tax professionals at retail
tax preparation offices such as H&R Block to prepare and
optionally file tax returns on behalf of retail taxpayer
customers.
[0012] Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a tax data
acquisition and importation system and method according to an
example embodiment of the present invention is shown. Table 1
provides a list of commonly used forms for reporting various types
of tax data.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 U.S. IRS Form Description W-2 Wage and Tax
Statement W-2G Certain Gambling Winnings 1042-S Foreign Person's
U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding 1098 Mortgage Interest
Statement 1098-E Student Loan Interest 1098-T Tuition Statement
1099-A Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property 1099-B
Proceeds from Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions 1099-CAP
Changes in Corporate Control and Capital Structure 1099-C
Cancellation of Debt 1099-INT Interest Income 1099-DIV Dividends
and Distributions 1099-G Certain Government Payments 1099-H Health
Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) Advance Payments 1099-LTC Long-Term Care
and Accelerated Death Benefits 1099-MISC Miscellaneous Income
1099-0ID Original Issue Discount 1099-PATR Taxable Distributions
Received from Cooperatives 1099-Q Payments From Qualified Education
Programs (Under Sections 529 and 530) 1099-R Distributions from
Pensions, Annuities, Retirement, or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs,
Insurance Contract, etc. 1099-S Proceeds from Real Estate
Transactions 1099-SA Distributions From an HSA, Archer MSA, or
Medicare Advantage MSA 5498 IRA Contribution Information 5498-ESA
Coverdell ESA Contribution Information 5498-SA HSA, Archer MSA, or
Medicare Advantage MSA Information
[0013] Tax documents such as those listed in Table 1 are acquired
electronically in an acquire source tax document process 106 by
scanning 100, faxing 102, or emailing 104 them. The acquire source
tax document process 106 may operate locally and accept documents
that are scanned on a local scanner. Alternatively, the tax
documents may be submitted from remote locations by fax or email to
the acquire source tax document process 106. The tax documents may
be faxed or emailed by a taxpayer who receives them from an
employer, one or more financial institutions, or any other tax data
provider. Alternatively, the tax documents may be faxed or emailed
to the acquire source tax document process 106 directly from the
employer, financial institution, or other tax data provider. The
tax documents may be stored in or associated with an account for
the taxpayer that is later accessed to complete further processing
of the tax documents. Electronic tax documents that result from the
acquire source tax document process 106 may be in .pdf, .tif, .jpg,
or any other electronic image format that may be processed through
OCR software.
[0014] Once a source tax document is in electronic form, an optical
character recognition (OCR) software process obtains tax data from
the electronic document. Captiva.RTM. InputAccel.RTM. and
Kofax.RTM. Ascent Capture.RTM. are products that provide the OCR
processing that could be used in the OCR software process 108. Each
source tax document is processed for relevant tax data.
[0015] Each piece of tax data that is obtained from the OCR
software process 108 is then imported into tax preparation software
110. The tax preparation software may be RTPS used by tax
professionals in a retail office that prepares tax returns for
taxpayer customers. Once the tax data has been imported into tax
preparation software 110, the software may be used to complete a
tax return 112.
[0016] Alternatively, the software into which tax data is imported
110 may be self-serve tax preparation software that is used by
individuals to prepare their own tax returns. The tax return
preparation software may be accessible to individual taxpayers via
a web site. A taxpayer may fax or email source tax documents that
are accepted at a remote acquire source tax document process 106
for further processing. The OCR process 108 may be performed at the
remote site and the resulting tax data imported into the tax
preparation software 110 accessible via the web site. The taxpayer
may then interact with the tax preparation software operational at
the web site and complete the tax return 112 using tax data from
the source tax documents that were faxed or emailed. In another
embodiment of the present invention, the tax data acquired from the
source tax documents may be accessed from the web site and
transferred to tax preparation software operational on the
taxpayer's personal computer. The taxpayer may then interact with
the tax preparation software operational at the personal computer
and complete the tax return 112 using tax data from the source tax
documents that were faxed or emailed.
[0017] Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, a flowchart of a tax data
acquisition and importation method according to an example
embodiment of the present invention is shown. The process begins
when a taxpayer checks in at a point-of-sale workstation at a
retail tax office 200. Check-in data such as contact information
and preferences are entered into the workstation and saved in a
database on an office server at the retail tax office 202. Next,
the taxpayer presents W-2 and other tax documents to be scanned
204. An office representative reviews the taxpayer check-in data by
locating the taxpayer from list of taxpayer clients at the retail
tax office 206. Next, the taxpayer's tax documents are scanned
using document scanning software 208. OCR software is applied to
the scanned tax documents to identify tax data for using in
preparing the tax return 210. The scanned tax data is saved in an
office server database along with the taxpayer's contact and other
information and a check-in identifier for the taxpayer 212,
214.
[0018] Once the scanning process is complete, preparation of the
tax return begins. The taxpayer meets with a tax professional at
the retail tax office who prepares the return for the taxpayer 216.
The tax professional selects the taxpayer from a list of taxpayer
clients at the retail tax office 218. If the taxpayer has used the
retail tax office previously for preparation and filing of a tax
return, taxpayer data for use in preparing the current year tax
return may be obtained from a database comprising tax return data
220. Preparation of the tax return is then activated in the RTPS
222.
[0019] In an example embodiment of the present invention, tax data
importation occurs when presence of a data import module is
detected. In an example embodiment of the present invention
implemented for operation on a Microsoft.RTM. Windows.RTM.
platform, the data import module may be implemented as a DLL file.
If the data import module is present 224, it is loaded and launched
to start the data import process 226. The taxpayer's check-in
identifier is used to locate the tax data to be imported into RTPS
226. Next, W-2 imported tax data from various sources is located
228 from the database comprising scanned data 214. Other types of
tax data may also be located for importation into the tax
preparation software. In the next step 230, scanned data is
compared with data from other sources to identify any discrepancies
or conflicts. For example, tax forms for the taxpayer may have been
scanned or submitted previously without performing an OCR process
to obtain tax data from them. The tax professional is notified of
the existence of the forms. He or she can compare data on the
electronic forms with the scanned tax data and resolve any problems
that are detected. Finally, preparation of the tax return proceeds
using the scanned data 230. If the data import module is not
present 224, RTPS operates in a standard mode in which tax data
needed to complete the tax return is obtained from other sources
232.
[0020] The use of a data import module such as a DLL file for the
Microsoft Windows platform allows tax data import functionality to
be integrated with tax preparation software as needed or desired.
Confirmation that the data import module is present and loaded at
the appropriate time during tax return preparation flow can be
communicated to a tax professional or preparer using a pop-up a
message confirming that the positive case has been reached. In the
negative case, nothing happens at the same time in the tax return
preparation flow when the data import module is not present. This
design minimizes the impact to tax professionals or preparers if
the scanning and data import functionality is introduced to each
retail tax office separately or according to a particular schedule.
A phased introduction of the functionality allows each retail tax
office to obtain the equipment (e.g., scanner) that is needed to
offer the service to taxpayers. The data import functionality can
then be invoked once the retail tax office has everything it needs
to offer the service.
[0021] In RTPS, once a return has been started (i.e., tax return
data from prior years has been located or the taxpayer information
screen has been completed), the hook to the data import module is
invoked. In an example embodiment of the present invention, there
are two conditions that cause the data import module functionality
be invoked. First, a taxpayer has completed the check-in process
and has been assigned a valid identifier or check-in ID (i.e., a
non-zero check-in ID). Taxpayers that do not complete the check-in
process have an unassigned or zero value identifier so the data
import module is not invoked. Second, the data import module is
detected and determined to be present.
[0022] If either of the conditions noted above are false (the
negative case), there is no discernable difference in tax return
preparation flow to the user of the RTPS. No error message is
displayed or logged. If both of the conditions noted above are true
(the positive case), a particular method is invoked in the data
import module. During a testing phase, the data import module may
be implemented as a simple stub DLL in which a method that displays
a quick message to the tester confirm that the loading and invoking
of the DLL functionality succeeded. The complete DLL that provides
the data import functionality may connect to a database on the
office server and import any un-imported tax data values for
taxpayer into the tax return.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart of a tax preparation method
using imported tax data according to an example embodiment of the
present invention is shown. A tax professional begins the tax
preparation process for a taxpayer using RTPS 300. If the taxpayer
has used the retail tax office previously for preparation and
filing of a tax return, taxpayer data for use in preparing the
current year tax return may be obtained from a database comprising
tax return data 302. In an example embodiment of the present
invention in which tax advice is provided to the taxpayer upon
completion of the tax return, software modules (decoupled advice
listeners) for collecting and analyzing tax data are invoked 304.
They are notified that preparation of a tax return has started so
that the appropriate data may be collected during the preparation
and analyzed to provide the taxpayer with appropriate advice.
[0024] Next, the scanned data importation process is started 306.
The presence of scanned tax data for the taxpayer is verified
according to the taxpayer's check-in identifier 308. If the
taxpayer has a check-in identifier 310, the data import module is
located to start the data import process 312. If the data import
module is present, it is loaded and launched 314. An interface
module for obtaining the scanned data is invoked to retrieve
scanned data for the tax return 316. The interface module accesses
the scanned data repository 318 and using the check-in identifier
for the taxpayer, reads the appropriate scanned tax data 320. Next,
the data import module determines whether a form corresponding to
the scanned tax data exists 322. If the corresponding form exists,
the tax professional is informed so that any discrepancies or
conflicts between the form tax data and the scanned tax data may be
resolved 324. If the corresponding form does not exist, it can be
created and populated with the scanned tax data for submission with
the tax return filing 326. Checks for additional tax data are
completed in step 328 and steps 320-326 are repeated if additional
tax data is present. When no additional tax data is found, the data
import module is unloaded 330 and tax preparation continues
according to a standard mode 332.
[0025] The present invention automates an important step in the tax
return preparation process. It acquires and imports tax data by
scanning tax forms and applying an OCR process to identify tax data
for use with tax preparation software. Each tax data value is
associated with a taxpayer identifier and saved in a database so
that it can be located and imported into tax preparation software
during the tax return preparation process. The need for tax
professionals to spend time entering tax data into tax preparation
software is reduced and furthermore, data entry errors are reduced.
The present invention allows a tax professional to devote more time
to preparing tax returns and less time to data entry.
[0026] While example embodiments of the invention have been
illustrated and described, various modifications and combinations
can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention. For example, the types of tax documents that are
acquired and processed may vary according the requirements of
relevant tax authorities. The processes of the present invention
may be modified to accept any type of tax document. Furthermore,
the systems and methods for obtaining electronic tax documents may
be modified in many ways and fall within the scope of the present
invention. Modifications, combinations, and equivalents to the
system and method of the present invention are intended to be
covered and claimed.
* * * * *