SYSTEMS METHODS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCTS FOR ENCODING AND DECODING TAX RETURN DATA

• US 20120215669A1
• Filed: 02/18/2011
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Lieberman, Jonathan A., Steckler, Ryan M., Marr, Justin C., Kanter, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,117,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Tax data, e.g., Form W2 data, is encoded as a two-dimensional machine readable representation, such as a QR CODE. Certain tax data is encoded as segments of a QR CODE, and a tax form generated by an employer or payroll processing service and provided to an employee or user includes the QR CODE representing certain W-2 or other tax data. An image of the QR CODE is acquired using a camera of a mobile communication device or computer or other image capture device. When using a Smartphone, a tax preparation application executing on the Smartphone decodes the QR CODE image to determine the tax data, and populates fields of an electronic tax return with decoded data, thus allowing a consumer to prepare an electronic tax return using a mobile communication device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for symbolically representing tax data, the method comprising:

encoding tax data into a two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data; and

generating a document comprising the two-dimensional machine readable representation.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising

determining an identification of a person for whom the tax return is to be prepared, the identification being encoded into the two-dimensional machine readable representation, the identification comprising at least one of a name and social security number of the person.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the tax data comprising data to be included in an electronic tax return.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the tax data comprising data of a W2 tax form.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the two-dimensional machine readable representation comprising a two-dimensional matrix.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, the two-dimensional matrix comprising a Quick Response code.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein

a first type of tax data is encoded as a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code;

a second type of tax data is encoded as a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code; and

a verification of the first and second types of tax data is encoded as a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the two-dimensional machine readable representation being readable by a mobile communication device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, encoding the tax data comprising:

identifying respective tax data to be encoded;

mapping respective identified tax data to respective segments of the two-dimensional machine readable representation; and

generating the two-dimensional machine readable representation based at least in part upon mapping of respective selected tax data to respective segments.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the document further comprising the tax data that was encoded.

11. A computer-implemented method for preparing a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, the method comprising:

receiving an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data;

decoding the two-dimensional machine readable representation to determine the tax data;

determining respective fields of the electronic tax return for respective tax data; and

populating respective fields with respective tax data.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, the tax data comprising data of a W2 tax form.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, the two-dimensional machine readable representation comprising a two-dimensional matrix.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, the two-dimensional matrix comprising a Quick Response code.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein

a first type of tax data is decoded from a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code;

and

a second type of tax data is decoded from a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code,

the method further comprising, before populating respective fields, verifying the first and second types of tax data based at least in part upon decoding a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, the received image comprising an image generated by camera of a mobile communication device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, the received image comprising an image generated by a camera or a scanner.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, decoding the two-dimensional machine readable representation comprising:

parsing the image of the two-dimensional machine readable representation into respective segments;

reading respective segments to determine respective tax data,

wherein respective fields of the electronic tax return are populated with respective determined tax data.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, determining respective fields of the electronic tax return for respective tax data comprising mapping parsed segments to respective fields of the electronic tax return.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, the electronic tax return being populated with a tax preparation application executing on a mobile communication device.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the electronic tax return is completed using the tax preparation application executing on the mobile communication device based exclusively on tax data decoded from the two-dimensional machine readable representation.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, further comprising utilizing the mobile communication device to electronically file a completed electronic tax return with a computer of a tax authority through a network.

23. A method for preparing a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, the method comprising:

acquiring an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data using an image capture device of a computing device; and

populating at least one field with tax data decoded from the two-dimensional machine readable representation using the computing device.

24. The method of claim 23, the tax data comprising data of a W2 tax form.

25. The method of claim 23, the two-dimensional machine readable representation comprising a two-dimensional matrix.

26. The method of claim 25, the two-dimensional matrix comprising a Quick Response code.

27. A method for preparing a portion of an electronic tax return with using a symbolic representation tax data and a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

acquiring an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data utilizing a camera of the mobile communication device; and

populating at least one field with tax data decoded from the two-dimensional machine readable representation using the mobile communication device.

28. The method of claim 27, the mobile computing device comprising a Smartphone.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

completing the electronic tax return utilizing the mobile communication device; and

electronically filing the completed electronic tax return with a tax authority using the mobile communication device.

30. The method of claim 27, the electronic tax return being completed using the mobile communication device based exclusively on tax data determined by decoding the two-dimensional machine readable representation.

31. The method of claim 27, the tax data comprising data of a W2 tax form.

32. The method of claim 27, the two-dimensional matrix comprising a Quick Response code.

33. A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document comprising:

tax data of a person to be included in the tax return;

an

a two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data.

34. A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document consisting of:

an identification of a person;

a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data of the person, wherein no numerical tax data is printed on the tax document.

35. A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document comprising:

an identification of a person;

tax data of the person to be included in the tax return; and

a Quick Response code representing the tax data, wherein a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a first type of tax data, a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a second type of tax data, and a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded for verification of the first and second types of tax data.

36. A system for symbolically representing data utilized to prepare a tax return, comprising:

a computer configured to generate a tax document and comprising instructions which, when executed, determine tax data to be included in the tax return, encode the tax data into a two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data, and generate a document comprising the two-dimensional machine readable representation.

37. A system for preparing a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, comprising:

a computer configured to receive an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data of a person and comprising instructions which, when executed, decode the two-dimensional machine readable representation to determine the tax data, determine respective fields of the electronic tax return for respective tax data, and populate respective fields with respective tax data.

38. A system for preparing at least a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, the method comprising:

a computer comprising an image capture device operable to acquire an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data and comprising instructions which, when executed, populate at least one field with tax data decoded from the two-dimensional machine readable representation using the computing device.

39. A system for preparing at least a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, comprising:

a mobile communication device comprising a camera operable to acquire an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data and comprising instructions which, when executed, populate at least one field with tax data decoded from the two-dimensional machine readable representation using the mobile communication device.

40. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying one or more instructions executable by a computer to perform a process for symbolically representing tax data, the process comprising encoding tax data into a two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data, and generating a document comprising the two-dimensional machine readable representation.

41. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying one or more instructions executable by a computer to perform a process for preparing a portion of an electronic tax return using a symbolic representation of tax data, the process comprising receiving an image of a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data, decoding the two-dimensional machine readable representation to determine the tax data, determining respective fields of the electronic tax return for respective tax data, and populating respective fields with respective tax data.