METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CENTRALIZED GLOBAL TAX COMPUTATION, MANAGEMENT, AND COMPLIANCE REPORTING

• US 20120072321A1
• Filed: 11/21/2011
• Published: 03/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sabrix, Inc. (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Christian, Eric Thomas, Brandt, John Davidson
• Granted Patent: US 8,386,344 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for tax computation, management, and compliance reporting via a centralized transactional tax platform capable of incorporating transaction data and/or tax information from multiple locations and/or multiple business applications via a network architecture are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a central server may be configured to execute an application to generate a user interface to enable configuration of tax compliance data via a network link, to receive transaction data from one or more client systems via the network, to calculate transaction taxes corresponding to the transaction data, and to store tax information, including outputs and computational logic generated by tax calculation engines executed by the server. In another embodiment, the tax calculations may be executed client-side, while administration of tax compliance data and reporting are facilitated by the central server.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

configuring at least one tax engine to calculate taxes corresponding to one or more transactions;

receiving transaction data corresponding to the one or more transactions from at least one client system via a network communication link, the transaction data generated from at least two business applications;

calculating, by the tax engine, the taxes corresponding to the one or more transactions;

storing tax information corresponding to the taxes in a central storage; and

returning a tax calculation to the at least two business applications that generated the transaction data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises a domestic tax engine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises an international tax engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction data are incorporated into elements of an extensible markup language document by the at least one client system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two business applications comprise one or more of order entry, quotes, accounts payable, e-commerce, and a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two business applications comprise at least two instances of a single application being executed by multiple client systems.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two business applications comprise multiple applications being executed by the at least one client system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the taxes comprise taxes selected from a group including turnover taxes, sales and use taxes, and value added taxes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the at least one tax engine to calculate taxes corresponding to transactions includes providing tax compliance configuration data via a graphical user interface.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include nexus information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include location information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions are implemented by way of an input filter.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one zone.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one taxing authority.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include registration information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax information comprises audit data to enable centralized reporting, analysis of sales information corresponding to a location, or both.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax information includes a record of computational logic and outputs generated by the at least one tax engine.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the returning a tax calculation includes reporting a consolidated tax calculation comprehensive of one or more selected from the group consisting of two or more tax transactions, two or more business applications, and two or more locations.

20. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable medium including coded instructions configured, when executed on a computing device, to cause the device to;

(a) configure at least one tax engine to calculate taxes corresponding to one or more transactions;

(b) process transaction data corresponding to the one or more transactions received from at least one client system via a network communication link, the transaction data generated from at least two business applications executed at one or more locations;

(d) calculate the taxes corresponding to the transactions;

(e) store tax information corresponding to the taxes in a central storage; and

(f) process a tax calculation to send to the at least two business applications executed at one or more locations that generated the transaction data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least two business applications comprise one or more of order entry, quotes, accounts payable, e-commerce, and a combination thereof.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises a domestic tax engine.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises an international tax engine.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the transaction data are incorporated into elements of an extensible markup language document by the at least one client system, and the instructions to process the transaction data include instructions to parse the extensible markup language document.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computing device to generate a user interface including data entry fields configured to enable entry of tax compliance configuration data, and to process the tax compliance configuration data received via a communication link.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include nexus information.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include location information.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein the exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions are implemented by way of an input filter.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one zone.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 30, wherein the tax compliance configuration data further include a selection of at least one taxing authority.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include registration information.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the tax information comprises audit data to enable centralized reporting, to enable analysis of sales information corresponding to a location, or to enable both.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the tax information includes a record of computational logic and outputs generated by the at least one tax engine.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further configured when executed to cause the computing device to report a consolidated tax calculation comprehensive of one or more of the group consisting of two or more tax transactions, two or more business applications, and two or more locations.

36. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory memory coupled with the processor, the memory including a plurality of machine-readable instructions; and

a communications interface coupled to the processor and configured to communicate with at least one client system via a network, wherein execution of the plurality of instructions by the processor causes the apparatus to;

(a) configure at least one tax engine to calculate taxes corresponding to one or more transactions;

(b) receive, from the at least one client system via the communication interface, transaction data corresponding to the one or more transactions, the transaction data generated from at least two business applications executed at one or more locations;

(d) calculate the taxes corresponding to the one or more transactions;

(e) store, in a central storage coupled with the apparatus, tax information corresponding to the taxes; and

(f) return, via the communications interface, a tax calculation to the at least two business applications that generated the transaction data.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the at least two business applications comprise one or more of order entry, quotes, accounts payable, e-commerce, and a combination thereof.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises a domestic tax engine.

39. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the at least one tax engine comprises an international tax engine.

40. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the transaction data are incorporated into elements of an extensible markup language document by the at least one client system.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein configuring the at least one tax engine includes generating a user interface to enable entry of tax compliance configuration data, and processing the tax compliance configuration data received via the communications interface.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include nexus information.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include location information.

44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the exceptions and exemptions to standard tax provisions are implemented by way of an input filter.

46. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one zone.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the tax compliance configuration data further include a selection of at least one taxing authority.

48. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include registration information.

49. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the instructions to return a tax calculation include instructions to return a consolidated tax report comprehensive of one or more of the group consisting of two or more tax transactions, two or more business applications, and two or more locations.