Point of sale tax reporting and automatic collection system with tax register

• US 6,078,899 A
• Filed: 08/25/1998
• Issued: 06/20/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Taxvantage LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Frederick J. Petschauer, Paul A. Francisco
• Inventors: Petschauer, Frederick J., Francisco, Paul A.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALLEN, AKIBA KANELLE
• Assistant Examiner(s): Robinson-Boyce, Ahiba
• Application Number:
  US09/139,265
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 705/19, 705/31, 705/16
• US Class Current: 705/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/207 Tax processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/12 electronically operated digital data processing aspects G06Q20/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/14 Systems including one or more distant stations co-operating with a central processing unit data transmission in general H04L; telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station H04Q9/00

Abstract

A point of sale tax reporting and automatic collection system including a smart tax register located at a retailer location. The retailer smart register processes consumer transactions and calculates the amount of sales tax due the retailer by the consumer for each transaction. Following the transaction, the consumer requests and is give a tax paid receipt. After the sales tax is paid to the retailer by the consumer, the register either immediately or periodically forwards the amount of the transaction and the amount of sales tax collected by the retailer to a computer and memory located at a remote location (e.g. state government taxing authority). The computer and memory receive and store the retailer'"'"'s transaction and sales tax information, and report same to the Internal Revenue Service at least once a year. After receiving the retailer'"'"'s sales tax information, the computer accesses and debits an account belonging to the retailer, the amount debited corresponding to the amount of sales tax collected by the retailer. In sum, the system automatically reports all retailer transactions and sales tax collected by retailers from consumers to local and federal government authorities and then automatically collects the sales tax amounts from retailer accounts so as to prevent retailers from turning over the collected sales tax. A tax paid receipt is given to each consumer as evidence that the tax paid will be turned over to the proper authorities.

Claims

1. A point of sale tax reporting system comprising:

at least one tax register located at a retailer location, said at least one tax register for processing consumer sales transaction data at the retailer location and computing sales tax data to be paid to the retailer by the consumer based on the amount of a sale, said at least one tax register forwarding said transaction data and said sales tax data to a first remote location;

a printer located at the retailer location and in communication with said at least one tax register, said printer for printing consumer receipts, said receipts having listed thereon the computed sales tax paid to the retailer by the consumer;

a first computer and corresponding first memory disposed at said first remote location, said first computer and memory for receiving and storing said forwarded transaction and sales tax data; and

a first communication link connecting said tax register at said retailer location to said first computer and memory at said first remote location, said first communication link for permitting said tax register to forward said transaction and sales tax data to said first computer and memory whereby said transaction and sales tax data from the retailer is stored at said first remote location in order to help enforce tax laws and prevent retailers from avoiding the payment to the government of collected sales tax.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said first computer periodically accesses and debits an account of said retailer, the amount debited corresponding to the amount of sales tax paid to the retailer by consumers, the system thereby automatically debiting the retailer'"'"'s account in accordance with said sales tax data computed and forwarded to said first computer by said register.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a second communication link disposed between said first computer and said retailer'"'"'s account, said second communication link allowing said first computer at said first remote location to access and debit said retailer'"'"'s account an amount in accordance with the sales tax paid to the retailer by consumers.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said first and second communication links are one of:

(i) satellite channels;

(ii) fiber optic cables;

(iii) telephone lines;

(iv) RF channels; and

(v) microwave channels.

5. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a second computer and second memory located at a second remote location, said second remote location being remote from said first remote location and said retailer location;

a third communication link disposed between said first and second remote locations and connecting said first computer to said second computer; and

wherein said first computer forwards said transaction and sales tax data to said second computer so that said second computer and memory receive and store said computed retailer tax data at said second remote location.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a verifying computer with a telephone line connected thereto, said verifying and first computers being in communication with one another, said verifying computer and corresponding telephone line allowing consumers to call said verifying computer via telephone in order to verify that sales tax paid to the retailer by the consumer has been reported by the retailer and stored in said first memory.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said first remote location is a state government office and said second remote location is a Federal Internal Revenue Office.

8. The system of claim 3, further comprising a credit card terminal at said retailer location, said credit card terminal being in communication with said at least one register and for permitting the retailer to input consumer credit card data into the system thus allowing consumers to purchase goods or services via credit card.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said at least one register is a single register for processing said consumer sales transactions and computing said sales tax data therefrom, said printer being an integral part of said register.

10. A method of automatically reporting sales tax paid by consumers to a retailer, the method comprising the steps of:

the consumer purchasing a good or service from said retailer;

at least one retailer register calculating the base sales cost and the corresponding sales tax owed the retailer by the consumer;

the retailer collecting the calculated sales tax from the consumer;

The register printing a consumer receipt using a printer, said consumer receipt having listed thereon the amount of sales tax paid to the retailer by the consumer;

the register forwarding as sales tax data the amount of sales tax paid to the retailer by the consumer to a first computer located at a first remote location;

said first computer receiving and storing said sales tax data in a first memory at said first remote location; and

repeating the above steps so that said first memory is periodically updated with sales tax data from the retailer whereby the amount of sales tax paid to the retailer by consumers is stored and summed by said computer at said first remote location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of storing said sales tax information in said register via a second memory and continually updating the sales tax information stored in said second memory each time a consumer pays the retailer sales tax, and periodically forwarding the sales tax information stored in said second memory to said first computer and first memory for storage at said first remote location.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of said first computer automatically debiting a retailer account an amount corresponding to the sales tax data forwarded by the register whereby the sales tax paid to the retailer by the consumer is automatically collected from the retailer'"'"'s account by said first computer.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of said first computer forwarding said sales tax data to a second computer located at a second remote location, said second computer receiving and storing said sales tax data at said second remote location.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

said register computing and forwarding sales transaction data to said first computer and memory so that all retail sales transactions upon which sales tax is collected are forwarded to said first computer and stored in said first memory.

15. A retailer tax register for automatically reporting collected sales tax data, the tax register comprising:

means for processing retail transactions and recording the amount of sales tax collected; and

means for automatically forwarding collected sales tax data to a remote location in order to help enforce tax laws and prevent retailers from avoiding payment to the government of collected sales tax.

16. The tax register of claim 15, further comprising means for printing tax-paid receipts to be handed over to consumers as evidence of payment of sales tax.

17. The tax register of claim 15, further comprising means for processing collected tip data and means for reporting said collected tip data to said remote location so that tip money collected is automatically reported to the taxing authorities.