System and method for tracking charitable deductions

• US 20020133436A1
• Filed: 03/13/2001
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Walter, Craig B., Whitten, Gordon D. Jr., Rademacher, Carey G., Hermreck, Scott A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,395,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

A system and method for recording and tracking charitable donations over a period of one or more years, and for determining the tax consequence associated with such donations based upon taxing authority guidelines (including laws, regulations, rules, guidelines or other mandates) applicable to the time period in which such donations were made. One aspect of the invention is directed to a method implemented by software for tracking charitable donations over a period of years whereby a user is prompted to select a donation and a year in which the donation was made from a memory; the software retrieves a tax deductible valuation associated with that donation and stores the donation and value in the memory in association with each other. Another aspect of the invention is directed to a system for determining the tax deductible value of charitable donations whereby a partner server electronically captures sales data of items and sends the sales data to a system server that stores such data in memory.

Claims

1. A method for tracking charitable donations, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in memory data indicative of one or more donations and a tax deductible valuation associated with each said donation for a current tax year and at least one previous tax year;

prompting a user to select one or more of said donations that has been charitably donated in one of said tax years and to indicate the tax year in which the selected donation was donated;

retrieving the tax deductible valuation associated with said selected donation for the indicated tax year from memory; and

storing said selected donation, indicated tax year and retrieved tax deductible valuation in said memory in association with each other.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said donations include non-cash item donations, monetary donations, financial securities donations, mileage donations, and out-of-pocket expense donations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said donations comprises a non-cash item donation and said method further comprises the steps of:

receiving sales data periodically from one or more partner servers, wherein said partner servers are programmed to electronically collect sales data of items sold; and

calculating a tax deductible valuation in accordance with tax authority guidelines for each of said donations based on said sales data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said sales data is received via a communications network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

totaling the tax deductible valuations associated with all donations for the tax year in categories based upon non-cash item, monetary, mileage, financial securities and out-of-pocket donations; and

exporting the category totals electronically into an income tax return for said tax year.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

calculating whether the total amount of non-cash item charitable donations is sufficient to require filling out IRS form 8283; and

notifying the user if IRS form 8283 is required.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of updating said memory with a current set of data indicative of said one or more donations and a current tax deductible valuation associated with said donations.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of presenting the user with informative data based upon said donations selected by the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said informative data includes marketing information and tax tips.

10. A system for determining a tax deductible value of charitable donations for income tax deduction purposes for one or more tax years, said system comprising:

one or more partner servers having at least one data source where items are sold, wherein said partner servers are programmed to electronically capture sales data of items sold at said data source;

a system server including a memory for storing said sales data, wherein said system server is programmed to;

periodically receive said sales data from said partner server; and

store said sales data in said memory.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said sales data for each item includes an item description, date of sale and amount of sale.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said data sources are Internet auction web sites.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said data sources are retail shops that sell used goods.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said sales data is electronically captured during sales transactions.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein said system server is accessible by users via a communications network and further programmed to provide a search engine that allows a user to search said memory to locate said sales data corresponding to an item that has been charitably donated.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein said system server is further programmed to calculate a tax deductible valuation for said items sold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said system server is further programmed to prompt a user to select one or more of said items sold that the user has charitably donated;

retrieve said tax deductible valuation for said selected item; and

store said tax deductible valuation and said selected item in said memory in association with each other.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein said system server is further programmed to create an export file containing information pertaining to charitable donations for importing into an electronic tax preparation application.

20. The method of claim 19, further including the step of importing non-cash item charitable donation information into IRS form 8283 if required.

21. The method of claim 19, further including the steps of:

receiving periodically an aggregation of sales data from one or more partner servers, wherein said partner servers having at least data source where items are sold;

calculating a current tax deductible valuation for said plurality of items; and

updating said memory with said current tax deductible valuation for said plurality of items.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said sales data includes an item description, date of sale and sale amount for each item.

23. The method of claim 19, further including the steps of:

creating a file comprising tax information pertaining to non-cash item charitable donations, wherein said export file is formatted in accordance with the requirements of a tax preparation application; and

exporting said file to said tax preparation application.

24. The method of claim 19, further including the steps of

updating said memory with data indicative of said one or more items and a current tax deductible valuation associated with each said item;

replacing said tax deductible valuation associated with each said selected item with said current tax deductible valuation; and

storing said current tax deductible valuation and said selected item in said memory in association with each other.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

prompting the user to enter information sufficient to determine an applicable tax rate;

calculating the total of said current year tax deductible values;

calculating the total amount of tax savings based upon said tax deductible values and said applicable tax rate of said year; and

display said total amount of tax savings.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of updating said memory with changes to taxing authority guidelines.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

providing informative data to the user depending upon input of the user.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the informative data includes marketing information.

19. A method for tracking charitable donations, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory data indicative of one or more non-cash items and a tax deductible valuation associated with each said item;

prompting a user to select any items that have been charitably donated;

prompting a user to input any other non-cash item donations that have been charitably donated in addition to the selected items;

retrieving the tax deductible valuation associated with each said selected item and non-cash item donation from said memory;

calculating the total tax deductible valuation associated with all selected items and other non-cash item donations;

determining whether said tax deductible valuation is sufficient to require filling out IRS form 8283; and

informing the user if IRS form 8283 is required.

25. A method for tracking charitable donations, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory a first set of data indicative of one or more donations and a tax deductible value associated with each said donation for a previous tax year;

prompting a user to select one or more donations that have been charitably donated in a current tax year;

storing said selected donation and said current tax year in said memory in association with each other; and

updating said memory with a second set of data indicative of one or more donations and a tax deductible value associated with each said donation for said current tax year, wherein said updating comprises;

retrieving from memory said selected donation donated in said current year;

applying a current year tax deductible value to said selected donation; and

storing said current year tax deductible value, said selected donation, and said current year in said memory in association with each other.

30. A system for determining a fair market value of used goods, said system comprising:

a system server including a memory for storing sales data regarding the selling price of used goods, wherein said system server is programmed to;

calculate a fair market value for used goods based upon a said sales data;

provide a search engine that allows a user to search said memory to locate said fair market value for a particular used good; and

display said fair market value of said particular good.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said system server is further programmed to provide a search engine that allows a user to search said memory to locate said sales data of one or more items similar to said particular used good.

32. The system of claim 30, further comprising one or more partner servers having at least one data source where used goods are sold, wherein said partner servers are programmed to electronically capture sales data of used goods sold at said data source;

and

wherein said system server is further programmed to periodically receive said sales data for storage in said memory.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein said sales data for each used good includes an item description, date of sale and amount of sale.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein said data source is a least one Internet auction web site.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein said data source is at least one retail shop.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said updated tax consequence information is current tax deductible valuations for period of time in which said donation was made.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein said updated tax consequence information is indication of changes to the taxing authority guidelines.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein said method additionally comprises determining if the recorded data meets specific criteria tied to a specific tax consequence.

36. A method for recording and tracking charitable donations made over a period of one or more years, said method comprising:

recording data indicative of charitable donations made over a period of time;

determining a tax consequence associated with such donations base upon updated tax consequence information that becomes available after said recording step.