# US 2013/0159171 A1 · Money Transfers for Tax Refunds

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- Number: US 2013/0159171 A1
- Document ID: US20130159171A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/528,601
- Filed: 2012-06-20
- Published: 2013-06-20
- Earliest claimed: 2007-02-03
- Assignees: The Western Union Company
- Inventors: Patricia M. McKernan; Ramona Johnson; Christian J. Trujillo
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130159171A1

## CPC

- G06Q 20/10: specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
- G06Q 20/00: Payment architectures, schemes or protocols (apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12)
- G06Q 40/02: Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance (credit or loans G06Q40/03)
- G06Q 40/12: Accounting
- G06Q 40/123: {Tax preparation or submission}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

Tax refunds are provided via a money transfer service. Merely by way of example, a taxpayer (or a tax preparer) might provide to the IRS an account number at a bank, as a target for a direct deposit refund related to a tax return. In an aspect, the account number might have a specific format that informs the bank that the refund is to be processed by the money transfer service, and in another aspect, the account number might include data that identifies the taxpayer to the money transfer service.

## Claims

### Claim 1

(canceled)

### Claim 2

A method of providing a tax refund to a taxpayer for a tax return, the method comprising:
receiving, by a financial institution computer system, from the taxpayer, a funds request indicating a payment vehicle in which a first portion of the tax refund is to be disbursed;
creating, by the financial institution computer system, an account identifier comprising:
an indication of the taxpayer;
providing, by the financial institution computer system, the account identifier to a first government entity, as a direct deposit target for the tax refund corresponding to the tax return;
receiving, by the financial institution computer system, a direct deposit from a second government entity, wherein the direct deposit indicates the account identifier; and
providing a first portion of the tax refund to a recipient using the indicated payment vehicle.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 2, wherein the payment vehicle is a prepaid card.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 2, wherein providing the first portion of the tax refund to the recipient in accordance with the indicated payment vehicle comprises:
performing, by the financial institution computer system, a host-to-host transfer to a money transfer service provider of the first portion of the tax refund, wherein the indicated payment vehicle is a money transfer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 4, wherein the funds request indicates the recipient is other than the taxpayer.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 2, wherein the account identifier is created based on at least a portion of a taxpayer identification number corresponding to the taxpayer.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 6, wherein the account identifier is further created based on a birthdate of the taxpayer.

### Claim 8 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer of claim 2, further comprising:
deducting, by the financial institution computer system, a second portion of the tax refund from the tax refund, the second portion of the tax refund comprising fees related to preparation of the tax return and the payment vehicle indicated by the taxpayer.

### Claim 9 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer of claim 2, wherein the first government entity and the second government entity are a same government entity.

### Claim 10 (depends on 4)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 4, further comprising:
performing the money transfer to the taxpayer such that the first portion of the tax refund is provided to the taxpayer at an agent location of the money transfer service provider.

### Claim 11 (depends on 2)

The method of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 2, wherein the account identifier refers to a pseudo-account at the financial institution.

### Claim 12

A system for providing a tax refund to a taxpayer for a tax return, the system comprising:
One or more processors; and
a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a funds request indicating a payment vehicle in which a first portion of the tax refund is to be disbursed;
create an account identifier comprising:
an indication of the taxpayer;
cause the account identifier to be provided to a first government entity, as a direct deposit target for the tax refund corresponding to the tax return;
receive a direct deposit from a second government entity, wherein the direct deposit indicates the account identifier; and
provide a first portion of the tax refund to a recipient using the indicated payment vehicle.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 11, wherein the payment vehicle is a prepaid card.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 11, wherein the processor-readable instructions for providing the first portion of the tax refund to the recipient in accordance with the indicated payment vehicle comprises processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
cause a host-to-host transfer to a money transfer service provider of the first portion of the tax refund to be performed, wherein the indicated payment vehicle is a money transfer.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 13, wherein the funds request indicates the recipient is other than the taxpayer.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 11, wherein the account identifier is created based on at least a portion of a taxpayer identification number corresponding to the taxpayer.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 15, wherein the account identifier is further created based on a birthdate of the taxpayer.

### Claim 18 (depends on 11)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer of claim 11, wherein the processor-readable instructions further comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
deduct a second portion of the tax refund from the tax refund, the second portion of the tax refund comprising fees related to preparation of the tax return and the payment vehicle indicated by the taxpayer.

### Claim 19 (depends on 13)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 13, wherein the processor-readable instructions further comprise processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
cause the money transfer to the taxpayer to be performed such that the first portion of the tax refund is provided to the taxpayer at an agent location of the money transfer service provider.

### Claim 20 (depends on 11)

The system of providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 11, wherein the account identifier refers to a pseudo-account at the financial institution.

### Claim 21

A computer program product residing on a non-transitory processor-readable medium for providing a tax refund to a taxpayer for a tax return, the computer program product comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to:
receive a funds request indicating a payment vehicle in which a first portion of the tax refund is to be disbursed;
create an account identifier comprising:
an indication of the taxpayer;
cause the account identifier to be provided to a first government entity, as a direct deposit target for the tax refund corresponding to the tax return;
receive a direct deposit from a second government entity, wherein the direct deposit indicates the account identifier; and
provide a first portion of the tax refund to a recipient using the indicated payment vehicle.

### Claim 22 (depends on 20)

The computer program product residing on the non-transitory processor-readable medium for providing the tax refund to the taxpayer for the tax return of claim 20, wherein the account identifier refers to a pseudo-account at the financial institution.