Tax return outsourcing and systems for protecting data
First Claim
1. A financial services outsourcing method for facilitating a direct service provider'"'"'s outsourcing of tax preparation services for numerous ultimate clients, the tax preparation services being outsourced to an outsourcing group abroad, the method comprising:
- for plural respective direct service providers, loading, onto a remotely accessible part of a common host server located in the United States, ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials, the host server providing access to a remote client computer of information concerning the ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials;
retaining outsourced personnel to perform the tax preparation services for ultimate clients of the direct service provider, the outsourced personnel performing the tax preparation services while located outside the United States;
providing the outsourced personnel limited access to a predefined set of data associated with the ultimate client stored on the host server, wherein the outsourced personnel utilize terminals for accessing information on the server, the terminals providing only screenshot image information concerning the ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials pertaining to a given tax return worked on by a given outsourced individual;
the outsourced personnel performing the tax preparation services through a remote limited access client located outside the United States connected to the host server;
maintaining a web tracking server;
logging statuses associated with the tax preparation services into the web tracking server while the outsourced personnel is performing the tax preparation services;
accessing, by the direct service provider, the web tracking server to obtain a status report produced from logging the statuses associated with tax preparation services; and
sending, by the web tracking server, an unsolicited notification to the direct service provider in response to a status change occurring with the tax preparation services.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A financial services outsourcing method or system facilitates a direct service provider'"'"'s ability to outsource financial services to numerous ultimate clients. The financial services are outsourced to an outsourcing group abroad. Ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials are loaded onto a remotely accessible part of a host server located in the United States. The host server provides access to a remote client computer of information concerning the ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials. The access may be limited to limited screen shot access. Outsourced personnel are retained to perform financial service projects (e.g., prepare individual tax returns) for ultimate clients of direct financial services firms. The outsourced personnel perform the financial service projects while located outside the United States. The status of the financial service project is monitored and reported.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A financial services outsourcing method for facilitating a direct service provider'"'"'s outsourcing of tax preparation services for numerous ultimate clients, the tax preparation services being outsourced to an outsourcing group abroad, the method comprising:
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for plural respective direct service providers, loading, onto a remotely accessible part of a common host server located in the United States, ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials, the host server providing access to a remote client computer of information concerning the ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials; retaining outsourced personnel to perform the tax preparation services for ultimate clients of the direct service provider, the outsourced personnel performing the tax preparation services while located outside the United States; providing the outsourced personnel limited access to a predefined set of data associated with the ultimate client stored on the host server, wherein the outsourced personnel utilize terminals for accessing information on the server, the terminals providing only screenshot image information concerning the ultimate client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials pertaining to a given tax return worked on by a given outsourced individual; the outsourced personnel performing the tax preparation services through a remote limited access client located outside the United States connected to the host server; maintaining a web tracking server; logging statuses associated with the tax preparation services into the web tracking server while the outsourced personnel is performing the tax preparation services; accessing, by the direct service provider, the web tracking server to obtain a status report produced from logging the statuses associated with tax preparation services; and sending, by the web tracking server, an unsolicited notification to the direct service provider in response to a status change occurring with the tax preparation services. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A financial services outsourcing method for facilitating outsourcing tax preparation services for numerous clients, the tax preparation services being outsourced to an outsourcing group abroad, the method comprising:
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loading, onto a host computer system, client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials, the host computer system providing access to information concerning the client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials; retaining outsourced personnel to perform the tax preparation services for clients, the outsourced personnel performing tax preparation service projects while located outside the United States; providing the outsourced personnel limited access to a predefined set of data associated with a particular client of the clients stored on the host computer system, wherein the outsourced personnel utilize terminals for accessing information on the host computer system, the terminals providing only screenshot image information concerning the client specific financial files and corresponding reference materials pertaining to a given tax return worked on by a given outsourced individual; the outsourced personnel performing the tax preparation services; a web-based and web-accessible tracking system to log status information regarding the tax preparation services while the tax preparation services are being performed, the status information comprising the tax preparation services having been submitted to the outsourced personnel for processing, significant events that have been performed by the outsourced personnel with respect to the tax preparation services, questions regarding the tax preparation services having been posted to the web-based tracking system, and the tax preparation services having been completed; accessing, by a financial firm that facilitated the outsourcing, the tracking system to obtain a status report produced from logging the status information regarding the tax preparation services; and sending, by the tracking system, an unsolicited notification to the financial firm in response to a status change occurring with the tax preparation services. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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Specification