Proactive tax preparation
AssigneeIntuit Inc.
InventorsChris Quinn, Matt E. Hart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automated system prepares a new tax return for a user based on information associated with the user's return from a previous year. The system uses the tax return from the previous year to obtain taxpayer data and to identify sources of current data. It retrieves current year information from the sources and uses it together with data from the previous year return to prepare a new tax return with minimal user assistance. In an embodiment, the system determines the likely accuracy of a new tax return generated based on the previous year tax return, and prepares the new tax return only if the likely accuracy is above a predetermined threshold.
Claims15
A computer-implemented method of generating a new tax return for a taxpayer, the method comprising:
- extracting, by a proactive tax preparation system (PTPS) stored in a memory and executing on a processor, identification information about the taxpayer and an identity of a payroll provider from a previous tax return, wherein the identification information comprises an age group of the taxpayer;
- determining, by the PTPS, a likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same since the previous tax return,
- wherein determining the likelihood is based on a multiple-regression analysis of a plurality of tax returns from a plurality of taxpayers over a multi-year period, and
- wherein the likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same since the previous tax return is further based on at least one selected from a group consisting of the age group of the taxpayer, a marital status of the taxpayer, and an employment status of the taxpayer;
- requesting, automatically by the PTPS and without intervention of the taxpayer, tax data for the new tax return from the payroll provider based on the likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same;
- and
- generating, automatically by the PTPS, the new tax return including the identification information and the tax data.
A system for generating a new tax return for a taxpayer comprising:
- a processor and memory;
- a proactive tax preparation system (PTPS) executing on the processor and comprising:
- a returns processing module configured to:
- extract identification information about the taxpayer and an identity of a payroll provider from a previous tax return, wherein the identification information comprises an age group of the taxpayer;
- and
- determine a likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same since the previous tax return,
- wherein determining the likelihood is based on a multiple-regression analysis of a plurality of tax returns from a plurality of taxpayers over a multi-year period, and
- wherein the likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same since the previous tax return is further based on at least one selected from a group consisting of the age group of the taxpayer, a marital status of the taxpayer, and an employment status of the taxpayer;
- a data engine configured to:
- request, automatically and without intervention of the taxpayer, tax data for the new tax return from the payroll provider based on the likelihood of the payroll provider remaining the same;
- and
- a tax preparation module configured to:
- generate, automatically, the new tax return including the identification information and the tax data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.