System and method of calculating sales tax based upon geographic region

Abstract

A computer system is provided which includes a geographical region component that determines one or more geographical regions associated with a product ship-to address or a seller's address. The system includes a tax district component which determines one or more appropriate tax districts associated with the one or more predetermined geographical regions. The system also includes a tax component which determines the taxes associated with the one or more predetermined tax districts.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method in a computing environment for determining the taxes associated with an Internet transaction, the method comprising: 
 determining one or more geographical regions associated with one of a product ship-to address and a seller's address;    determining the taxes associated with each said geographical region; and    computing the taxes associated with the Internet transaction based upon the taxes associated with said geographical regions.    
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising consulting an address/geographical region cross-reference table to determine the appropriate geographical region for an address.  
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising consulting a geographical region/tax district cross-reference table to determine the appropriate tax district associated with said geographical region.  
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 comparing the tax districts associated with said product ship-to address with the tax districts associated with said seller's address;    determining which tax districts said product ship-to address and said seller's address have in common; and    determining the tax on the transaction based upon the tax districts in common.    
     
     
         5 . A method in a computing environment for determining the taxes associated with an Internet transaction, the method comprising: 
 determining an address identification value associated with one of a product ship-to address and a seller's address which are associated with the transaction;    determining at least one geographical region identification value for said address identification value;    determining at least one tax district identification value associated with said determined geographical region identification value;    determining the taxes applicable to said tax district identification value; and    computing the tax associated with Internet transactions.    
     
     
         6 . The method as recited in  claim 5 , further comprising consulting an address table to determine said address identification value.  
     
     
         7 . The method as recited in  claim 5 , further comprising consulting an address/geographical region cross-reference table to determine said geographical region identification values.  
     
     
         8 . The method as recited in  claim 5 , further comprising consulting a geographical region/tax district cross-reference table to determine said tax district identification values.  
     
     
         9 . The method as recited in  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 comparing said tax district identification values of said product ship-to address with said tax district identification values of said seller's address, and    determining which tax district identification values of said product ship-to address and said seller's address overlap.    
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 5  further comprising consulting a tax table to determine the appropriate tax rates associated with said tax district identification values.  
     
     
         11 . A computer system for determining the taxes associated with an Internet transaction, the computer system comprising: 
 a geographical region component which determines one or more geographical regions associated with of one of a product ship-to address and a seller's address;    a tax district component which determines one or more appropriate tax districts associated with the one or more predetermined geographical regions; and    a tax component which determines taxes associated with the one or more predetermined tax districts.    
     
     
         12 . The computer system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein said geographical region component includes a table for determining geographical region identification values.  
     
     
         13 . The computer system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein said tax district component includes a table for determining tax district identification values.  
     
     
         14 . The computer system as recited in  claim 11 , wherein said tax component includes a table for determining the tax rates associated with the predetermined tax districts.  
     
     
         15 . The computer system as recited in  claim 11 , further comprising a comparing component which determines which tax districts of said product ship-to address and said seller's address overlap.  
     
     
         16 . A computer readable medium containing a data structure for storing information associated with the computation of taxes of an Internet transaction, wherein said data structure comprises: 
 an address/geographical region table including within a record a value associated with a particular address, and one or more values associated with the geographical regions of said address;    a geographical region/tax district table including within a record a value representing a geographical region, and one or more values representing the tax districts associated with said geographical region; and    a tax table including a record containing a value associated with a tax district, and an appropriate tax computation for said tax district.    
     
     
         17 . The computer readable medium as recited in  claim 16 , wherein said data structure further comprises an address table including a record having address information, and an address identification value associated therewith.  
     
     
         18 . A computer readable medium containing a method for determining the taxes associated with an Internet transaction, wherein the method comprises: 
 determining one or more geographical regions associated with one of a product ship-to address and a seller's address;    determining the taxes associated with each predetermined geographical region determined to be associated with said address; and    computing the taxes associated with the Internet transaction based upon the taxes associated with the geographical regions.    
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises consulting an address/geographical region cross-reference table to determine the appropriate geographical regions for said address.  
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises consulting a geographical region/tax district table to determine the appropriate taxes associated with said geographical region.  
     
     
         21 . The computer readable medium as recited in  claim 18 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 comparing the tax districts associated with said product ship-to address with the tax districts associated with said seller's address; and    determining which tax districts said product ship-to address and said seller's address have in common; and    determining the tax on the transactions based upon the tax districts in common.