Methods, systems and computer program products for calculating an estimated result of a tax return

A system for calculating an estimated result for an electronic tax return to be prepared before a user begins to prepare the electronic tax return using an electronic tax return preparation program, the system comprising:

• a server computer including a server processor, a server memory and a server input/output module, wherein the server memory stores a predictive model and a result estimator, the predictive model and the result estimator being executed by the server processor;
• and
• a user computer including a user processor, a user memory and a user input/output module, wherein the user memory stores a browser program,
• wherein the user computer and the browser program are operatively coupled through the user input/output module to the server processor and the predictive model, respectively, through the server input/output module by a network,
• wherein the server processor is configured to obtain a first taxpayer datum associated with a taxpayer, obtaining the first taxpayer datum including:
• identifying a plurality of taxpayer data sources,
• analyzing the plurality of taxpayer data sources to identify a respective predictive value for each of the plurality of taxpayer data sources,
• remove at least one of the taxpayer data sources having a low predictive value based on the analyzing, and
• designating at least one of the taxpayer data sources not removed as the source from which the first taxpayer datum is obtained, thereby reducing a total number of taxpayer data sources accessed to obtain the first taxpayer datum,
• wherein the server processor is configured to execute the predictive model to generate a predicted taxpayer datum for the taxpayer based on the first taxpayer datum and store the predicted tax payer datum in the server memory, executing the predictive model including:
• determining at least one relationship between at least two fields of the predictive model to identify at least one first field that is predictive of at least one other field,
• based on the determining, predicting the taxpayer datum related to the at least one other field based on the first taxpayer datum related to the at least one first field,
• wherein the server processor is configured to execute the result estimator to calculate the estimated result using the predicted taxpayer datum stored in the server memory and store the estimated result in the server memory,
• wherein the server input/output module is configured to send the estimated result to the user input/output module, and
• wherein the user processor is configured to display the estimated result to the user before the user begins to prepare the electronic tax return using the electronic tax return preparation program.