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.

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 ident...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[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.

Problems solved by technology

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.

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