Income tax preparation system for traveling taxpayers

• US 7,761,333 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2004
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Martin A. Kapp
• Original Assignee: Martin A. Kapp
• Inventors: Kapp, Martin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart; Matthew S
• Assistant Examiner(s): GLASS, RUSSELL S
• Application Number:
  US10/964,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20050086137A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,106 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• 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

A system for determining travel deductions includes a city rate table identifying allowed per diem expense rates for each city. Cities visited, durations of stay and expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer are input to the system. The system calculates a total of all per diem expenses and for offsets reimbursements received against the total to determine an incidental expense allowance. For use with merchant sailors, a ship location table with city rate codes for each day of a tax year for a plurality of ships is compared with the sailor'"'"'s input ship names and starting and ending dates for work on each of the ships. A system for truckers and bus drivers includes a GPS tracking system that continuously provides vehicle locations to the system for calculation of per diem expense allowances when coupled with a daily vehicle use table and receiver code and vehicle number correlation table.

Claims

1. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in cities remote from their homes as part of their employment, comprising:

a city rate table identifying allowed per diem expense rates for a given tax year for a plurality of cities as identified by a city code;

means for inputting and maintaining data in said table;

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver affixed to a taxpayer'"'"'s vehicle, said vehicle having a unique vehicle identification number and said receiver having a unique receiver code;

said GPS receiver receiving location waypoint information for said receiver;

a GPS receiver correlation table, said correlation table comprising said vehicle identification number and said receiver code;

a vehicle use table, said vehicle use table comprising said taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, vehicle identification numbers and dates of use for each of said vehicle identification numbers;

means for inputting and maintaining data in said tables;

a data relay, said data relay passing location waypoints received from said coded GPS receiver to a data collection system at predetermined intervals;

a mapping system, said mapping system accessing said data collection system and said city rate table and determining and storing a highest per diem cost city code within a predetermined distance of said waypoints during a given day for each of said receiver codes;

a data analysis system, said analysis system accessing said GPS receiver correlation table, said vehicle use table and said mapping system to determine and store said highest per diem cost city code for said taxpayer for each day of a tax year;

means for inputting expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

means for calculating a total of all per diem expenses based upon said city rate table and the input cities and number of days of stay in said cities; and

means for offsetting the reimbursements against said total to determine an incidental expense allowance.

2. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

a client information table, said information table comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, address, zip code, Social Security number and a work code;

a USA States table, said States table comprising each state'"'"'s name, a state ID code, a lower 48 state code, and an IRS center code;

said city rate table further comprising a tax year, a city code, combined meal and incidental rate, full rate, and high cost city code;

a city name table, said city name table comprising said city code, said city, said state ID code, and a country name;

supporting schedules, said supporting schedules merging data from said client information table, said USA States table, and said city rate table with the input cities and durations of stay for the taxpayer; and

means for inputting and maintaining data in each of said tables.

3. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

an airport table, said airport table comprising an airport identifier code, an airport name, city code and country name; and

whereby, when a location is input using either of an airport identifier code and an airport name, the appropriate city is determined for use in said supporting schedules.

4. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

an airlines table, said airlines table comprising an airline name and an airline ID number; and

said airlines table permitting data merged with the client information table to be sorted by airline.

5. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

an IRS service centers table, said IRS service centers table comprising an IRS mailing address for tax return submission, an IRS mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and an IRS ID code; and

said IRS service centers table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s federal tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s federal estimated tax payments to.

6. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

a state service centers table, said state service centers table comprising a state income tax mailing address for tax return submission, a state mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and a state ID code; and

said state service center table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s state tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s state estimated tax payments to.

7. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

a zip code table, said zip code table comprising a five-digit zip code, a corresponding city, county and state;

said zip code table being used to verify the zip code input in the client information table and to provide the taxpayer'"'"'s county; and

said zip code table being used to generate mailing labels for the taxpayer'"'"'s state and federal tax returns.

8. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

an attachments table, said attachments table storing links to IRS and state tax publication pages, tax year and work code; and

said attachments table being compared to the client information table to determine appropriate publication pages to include with the taxpayer'"'"'s tax returns.

9. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 2, further comprising:

a meal rate percent table, said meal rate percent table comprising the tax year and meal rate percent; and

said meal rate percent being used to reduce the meal rate allowed.

10. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 9, further comprising:

further supporting schedules, said further supporting schedules displaying a taxpayer'"'"'s travel computations and providing means to calculate the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction based upon the plurality of travel calculation rates allowed by the IRS;

said further supporting schedules providing means to enter the expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

said further supporting schedules providing means to optionally decline use of the meal rate percent table to reduce the meal rate allowed;

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out IRS publications and revenue procedures related to the taxpayer'"'"'s occupation; and

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out an IRS rate sheet for each city visited; and

said rate sheets are printed in descending order based upon the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction for each city visited with the city highlighted on each sheet.

11. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 10, further comprising:

a plurality of customizable document templates, said templates being selected by the system based upon tax year, work code, combined meal and incidental rate, incidental portion and full rate applied and an amended return code; and

said templates comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, tax year, occupation description, legal justification for claiming travel deductions, each city visited, applicable deduction for said city, a total travel deduction figure, expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer, meal rate percent for the tax year, a meal rate percent reduction amount and a remaining amount available for deduction.

12. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

means for identifying all tasks associated with the preparation of a tax return;

means for identifying all results associated with the performance of said tasks;

means for linking said results to a subsequent task;

means for determining the skill level of a tax preparation worker required to complete each task;

means for identifying the skill level of each tax preparation worker;

means for assigning each uncompleted task to workers of the required skill level;

means for indicating which worker will work on each task; and

means for indicating completion of each task for removal from the system.

13. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

a client information table, said information table comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, address, zip code, Social Security number and a work code;

a USA States table, said States table comprising each state'"'"'s name, a state ID code, a lower 48 state code, and an IRS center code;

said city rate table further comprising a tax year, a city code, combined meal and incidental rate, full rate, and high cost city code;

a city name table, said city name table comprising said city code, said city, said state ID code, and a country name;

supporting schedules, said supporting schedules merging data from said client information table, said USA States table, and said city rate table with the input cities and durations of stay for the taxpayer; and

means for inputting and maintaining data in each of said tables.

14. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

an IRS service centers table, said IRS service centers table comprising an IRS mailing address for tax return submission, an IRS mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and an IRS ID code; and

said IRS service centers table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s federal tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s federal estimated tax payments to.

15. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

a state service centers table, said state service centers table comprising a state income tax mailing address for tax return submission, a state mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and a state ID code; and

said state service center table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s state tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s state estimated tax payments to.

16. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

a zip code table, said zip code table comprising a five-digit zip code, a corresponding city, county and state;

said zip code table being used to verify the zip code input in the client information table and to provide the taxpayer'"'"'s county; and

said zip code table being used to generate mailing labels for the taxpayer'"'"'s state and federal tax returns.

17. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

an attachments table, said attachments table storing links to IRS and state tax publication pages, tax year and work code; and

said attachments table being compared to the client information table to determine appropriate publication pages to include with the taxpayer'"'"'s tax returns.

18. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, further comprising:

a meal rate percent table, said meal rate percent table comprising the tax year and meal rate percent; and

said meal rate percent being used to reduce the meal rate allowed.

19. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 18, further comprising:

further supporting schedules, said further supporting schedules displaying a taxpayer'"'"'s travel computations and providing means to calculate the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction based upon the plurality of travel calculation rates allowed by the IRS;

said further supporting schedules providing means to enter the expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

said further supporting schedules providing means to optionally decline use of the meal rate percent table to reduce the meal rate allowed;

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out IRS publications and revenue procedures related to the taxpayer'"'"'s occupation; and

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out an IRS rate sheet for each city visited; and

said rate sheets are printed in descending order based upon the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction for each city visited with the city highlighted on each sheet.

20. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 19, further comprising:

a plurality of customizable document templates, said templates being selected by the system based upon tax year, work code, combined meal and incidental rate, incidental portion and full rate applied and an amended return code; and

said templates comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, tax year, occupation description, legal justification for claiming travel deductions, each city visited, applicable deduction for said city, a total travel deduction figure, expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer, meal rate percent for the tax year, a meal rate percent reduction amount and a remaining amount available for deduction.

21. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 1, wherein said data collection system is a computerized data base receiving and storing said location waypoints received from said coded GPS receiver at said predetermined intervals.

22. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in cities remote from their homes as part of their employment, comprising:

a city rate table identifying allowed per diem expense rates for a given tax year for a plurality of cities as identified by a city code;

means for inputting and maintaining data in said table;

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver carried by a traveling taxpayer, said receiver having a unique receiver code;

said GPS receiver receiving location waypoint information for said receiver;

a receiver use table, said receiver use table comprising said taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, GPS receiver code and dates of use for each of said receiver codes;

means for inputting and maintaining data in said table;

a data relay, said data relay passing location waypoints received from said coded GPS receiver to a data collection system at predetermined intervals;

a mapping system, said mapping system accessing said data collection system and said city rate table and determining and storing a highest per diem cost city code within a predetermined distance of said waypoints during a given day for each of said receiver codes;

a data analysis system, said analysis system accessing said receiver use table and said mapping system to determine and store said highest per diem cost city code for said taxpayer for each day of a tax year;

means for inputting expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

means for calculating a total of all per diem expenses based upon said city rate table and the input cities and number of days of stay in said cities; and

means for offsetting the reimbursements against said total to determine an incidental expense allowance.

23. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

a client information table, said information table comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, address, zip code, Social Security number and a work code;

a USA States table, said States table comprising each state'"'"'s name, a state ID code, a lower 48 state code, and an IRS center code;

said city rate table further comprising a tax year, a city code, combined meal and incidental rate, full rate, and high cost city code;

a city name table, said city name table comprising said city code, said city, said state ID code, and a country name;

supporting schedules, said supporting schedules merging data from said client information table, said USA States table, and said city rate table with the input cities and durations of stay for the taxpayer; and

means for inputting and maintaining data in each of said tables.

24. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

an airport table, said airport table comprising an airport identifier code, an airport name, city code and country name; and

whereby, when a location is input using either of an airport identifier code and an airport name, the appropriate city is determined for use in said supporting schedules.

25. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

an airlines table, said airlines table comprising an airline name and an airline ID number; and

said airlines table permitting data merged with the client information table to be sorted by airline.

26. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

an IRS service centers table, said IRS service centers table comprising an IRS mailing address for tax return submission, an IRS mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and an IRS ID code; and

said IRS service centers table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s federal tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s federal estimated tax payments to.

27. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

a state service centers table, said state service centers table comprising a state income tax mailing address for tax return submission, a state mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and a state ID code; and

said state service center table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s state tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s state estimated tax payments to.

28. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

a zip code table, said zip code table comprising a five-digit zip code, a corresponding city, county and state;

said zip code table being used to verify the zip code input in the client information table and to provide the taxpayer'"'"'s county; and

said zip code table being used to generate mailing labels for the taxpayer'"'"'s state and federal tax returns.

29. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

an attachments table, said attachments table storing links to IRS and state tax publication pages, tax year and work code; and

said attachments table being compared to the client information table to determine appropriate publication pages to include with the taxpayer'"'"'s tax returns.

30. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 23, further comprising:

a meal rate percent table, said meal rate percent table comprising the tax year and meal rate percent; and

said meal rate percent being used to reduce the meal rate allowed.

31. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 30, further comprising:

further supporting schedules, said further supporting schedules displaying a taxpayer'"'"'s travel computations and providing means to calculate the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction based upon the plurality of travel calculation rates allowed by the IRS;

said further supporting schedules providing means to enter the expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

said further supporting schedules providing means to optionally decline use of the meal rate percent table to reduce the meal rate allowed;

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out IRS publications and revenue procedures related to the taxpayer'"'"'s occupation; and

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out an IRS rate sheet for each city visited; and

said rate sheets are printed in descending order based upon the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction for each city visited with the city highlighted on each sheet.

32. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 31, further comprising:

a plurality of customizable document templates, said templates being selected by the system based upon tax year, work code, combined meal and incidental rate, incidental portion and full rate applied and an amended return code; and

said templates comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, tax year, occupation description, legal justification for claiming travel deductions, each city visited, applicable deduction for said city, a total travel deduction figure, expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer, meal rate percent for the tax year, a meal rate percent reduction amount and a remaining amount available for deduction.

33. A system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

means for identifying all tasks associated with the preparation of a tax return;

means for identifying all results associated with the performance of said tasks;

means for linking said results to a subsequent task;

means for determining the skill level of a tax preparation worker required to complete each task;

means for identifying the skill level of each tax preparation worker;

means for assigning each uncompleted task to workers of the required skill level;

means for indicating which worker will work on each task; and

means for indicating completion of each task for removal from the system.

34. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

a client information table, said information table comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, address, zip code, Social Security number and a work code;

a USA States table, said States table comprising each state'"'"'s name, a state ID code, a lower 48 state code, and an IRS center code;

said city rate table further comprising a tax year, a city code, combined meal and incidental rate, full rate, and high cost city code;

a city name table, said city name table comprising said city code, said city, said state ID code, and a country name;

supporting schedules, said supporting schedules merging data from said client information table, said USA States table, and said city rate table with the input cities and durations of stay for the taxpayer; and

means for inputting and maintaining data in each of said tables.

35. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

an IRS service centers table, said IRS service centers table comprising an IRS mailing address for tax return submission, an IRS mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and an IRS ID code; and

said IRS service centers table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s federal tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s federal estimated tax payments to.

36. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

a state service centers table, said state service centers table comprising a state income tax mailing address for tax return submission, a state mailing address for submitting estimated tax payments and a state ID code; and

said state service center table being merged with said supporting schedules to determine an address to mail either of a taxpayer'"'"'s state tax return and a taxpayer'"'"'s state estimated tax payments to.

37. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

a zip code table, said zip code table comprising a five-digit zip code, a corresponding city, county and state;

said zip code table being used to verify the zip code input in the client information table and to provide the taxpayer'"'"'s county; and

said zip code table being used to generate mailing labels for the taxpayer'"'"'s state and federal tax returns.

38. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

an attachments table, said attachments table storing links to IRS and state tax publication pages, tax year and work code; and

said attachments table being compared to the client information table to determine appropriate publication pages to include with the taxpayer'"'"'s tax returns.

39. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, further comprising:

a meal rate percent table, said meal rate percent table comprising the tax year and meal rate percent; and

said meal rate percent being used to reduce the meal rate allowed.

40. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 39, further comprising:

further supporting schedules, said further supporting schedules displaying a taxpayer'"'"'s travel computations and providing means to calculate the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction based upon the plurality of travel calculation rates allowed by the IRS;

said further supporting schedules providing means to enter the expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer;

said further supporting schedules providing means to optionally decline use of the meal rate percent table to reduce the meal rate allowed;

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out IRS publications and revenue procedures related to the taxpayer'"'"'s occupation; and

said further supporting schedules providing means to print out an IRS rate sheet for each city visited; and

said rate sheets are printed in descending order based upon the taxpayer'"'"'s travel deduction for each city visited with the city highlighted on each sheet.

41. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 40, further comprising:

a plurality of customizable document templates, said templates being selected by the system based upon tax year, work code, combined meal and incidental rate, incidental portion and full rate applied and an amended return code; and

said templates comprising a taxpayer'"'"'s name, Social Security number, tax year, occupation description, legal justification for claiming travel deductions, each city visited, applicable deduction for said city, a total travel deduction figure, expense reimbursements received from the taxpayer'"'"'s employer, meal rate percent for the tax year, a meal rate percent reduction amount and a remaining amount available for deduction.

42. The system for determining travel deductions for taxpayers who stay overnight in locations remote from their homes as part of their employment as described in claim 22, wherein said data collection system is a computerized data base receiving and storing said location waypoints received from said coded GPS receiver at said predetermined intervals.