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.

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.