TAX CALCULATION EXTENSIBILITY TECHNIQUES

• US 20100191606A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Belikov, Dmitry, Blackwood, Kirk, Chen, Gang, Shah, Mehul
• Application Number:
  US12/358,270
• Publication Number:
  US 20100191606A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/207 Tax processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for performing tax calculations. An add-in model is described for developing add-in(s) for performing tax calculations. The add-in(s) calculate taxes for one or more tax authorities for items contained in a transaction being processed by a point of sale application. The add-in model specifies functionality the add-in(s) need to implement before the add-in(s) can be used by the point of sale application. A method for configuring multiple add-ins is described. A first add-in is called to calculate a first partial tax owed and the first partial tax is received back. A second add-in is called to calculate a second partial tax owed and the second partial tax is received back. A total tax is calculated by adding the first partial tax with the second partial tax. A configuration user interface is also provided by the add-in.

Claims

1. A system for enabling extensible tax calculations comprising:

an add-in model for developing an add-in for performing a tax calculation, the add-in to be responsible for calculating taxes for one or more tax authorities for one or more items contained in a transaction that are being processed by a point of sale application, and the add-in model specifying functionality that the add-in needs to implement before the add-in can be used by the point of sale application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-in model is operable to specify one or more properties, methods, and events as functionality that the add-in needs to implement.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a tax authority application programming interface that enables the point of sale application to call the add-in to initiate the tax calculation.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a tax authority application programming interface that enables the add-in to call the point of sale application to manage information the add-in needs to perform the tax calculation.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

configuration specifications that describe how the add-in can provide a configuration user interface to enable one or more users of the point of sale application to configure the add-in.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-in model supports development of one or more add-ins that can calculate both VAT and non-VAT taxes.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-in model enables multiple add-ins to be used by the point of sale application.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the add-in model enables the point of sale application to handle tax calculations for transactions involving partial delivery.

9. A method for configuring multiple add-ins for a point of sale application comprising the steps of:

starting processing for a transaction in a point of sale application;

calling a first add-in to calculate a first partial tax owed for the transaction;

receiving the first partial tax from the first add-in;

calling a second add-in to calculate a second partial tax owed for the transaction;

receiving the second partial tax from the second add-in; and

calculating a total tax for the transaction by adding the first partial tax with the second partial tax.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first add-in is called for a first tax authority in the transaction and wherein the second add-in is called for a second tax authority in the transaction.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first add-in calculates the first partial tax owed to a first tax authority, and wherein the second add-in calculates the second partial tax owed to a second tax authority.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second add-in calculates the second partial tax that is based upon the first partial tax.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first add-in and the second add-in are loaded from an add-in store.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

prior to calculating the total tax, calling one or more additional add-ins to calculate additional partial taxes for a remainder of the transaction.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first add-in uses a tax authority application programming interface to retrieve data from the point of sale application in calculating the first partial tax owed.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the second add-in uses a tax authority application programming interface to retrieve data from the point of sale application in calculating the second partial tax owed.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

in an add-in responsible for calculating partial taxes for a transaction for one or more tax authorities, receiving a request from a point of sale application to invoke a configuration user interface, where at least some functionality that is provided by the configuration user interface has been defined by a software development kit; and

in response to the request from the point of sale application, displaying the configuration user interface to enable a user to modify one or more details of the add-in from within the point of sale application.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the details displayed by the configuration user interface includes one or more tax rates assigned to the one or more tax authorities.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the details displayed by the configuration user interface includes quantity limits on how many items need purchased before a certain tax is imposed for the one or more tax authorities.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the details displayed by the configuration user interface includes tax limits that define a maximum amount of tax that can be charged.