Methods and apparatus for centralized global tax computation, management, and compliance reporting

• US 8,099,342 B1
• Filed: 01/02/2002
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEIKH, ASFAND M
• Application Number:
  US10/037,035
• Time in Patent Office: 3,667 Days
• Field of Search: 705/31
• 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:

providing, from a central server to a client system located remotely from the central server, a graphical user interface configured with tax compliance configuration data entry fields including plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options and product code cross-reference group options and a user-selectable tax rate modification field;

receiving, at the central server, tax compliance configuration data transmitted from the client system, the tax compliance configuration data including transaction location management data corresponding to a user selection from among the plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options of the graphical user interface;

generating, at the central server, tax engine configuration data based on the received tax compliance configuration data, wherein the tax engine configuration data is specifically configured, when executed on the client system, to configure a transaction tax calculation engine coupled with the client system to calculate a tax on a transaction according to the tax compliance configuration data;

communicating the specifically configured tax engine configuration data from the central server to the client system;

receiving tax information at the central server from the client system, wherein the tax information includes transaction taxes calculated by the tax engine according to the tax engine configuration data; and

storing, at a central storage of the central server, the received tax information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax information is incorporated into elements of an extensible markup language document.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax compliance configuration data are incorporated into an extensible markup language document prior to communicating the tax compliance configuration data to the client system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include information specifying either or both of transaction tax registrations and transaction tax zones.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include information defining exceptions to and exemptions from standard tax provisions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

customizing the tax compliance configuration data in a hierarchical relationship by way of multiple filters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one international tax zone.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, at the central server, a tax compliance report regarding compliance of the tax information relative to at least one taxing authority.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the tax engine is an international tax engine.

10. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, including instructions which when executed on a server, are configured to cause the server to;

communicate from the server to a client system a graphical user interface configured with tax compliance configuration data entry fields, wherein the tax compliance configuration data entry fields include plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options and product code cross-reference group options and a user-selectable tax rate modification field;

receive, from the client system, and process tax compliance configuration data derived from one or more of the tax compliance configuration data entry fields of the user interface including as user selection from among the plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options;

generate tax engine configuration data based on the tax compliance configuration data, wherein the tax engine configuration data is specifically configured, when executed on the client system, to configure as transaction tax calculation engine coupled with the client system to calculate a tax on a transaction according to the tax compliance configuration data;

communicate the specifically configured tax engine configuration data from the server to the client system;

receive tax information at the server from the client system and process the tax information, wherein the tax information includes transaction taxes calculated by the tax engine according to the tax engine configuration data, and;

store the tax information in a central storage of the server.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the tax information is incorporated into elements of an extensible markup language document, and the instructions to process the tax information include instructions to parse the extensible markup language document.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the instructions to process the tax compliance configuration data include instructions to incorporate the tax compliance configuration data into an extensible markup language document prior to communication of the tax compliance configuration data to the at least one client system.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include nexus information.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the tax compliance configuration data include:

location information.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured, when executed on the server, to cause the server to generate a tax compliance report regarding compliance of the tax information relative to at least one taxing authority.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one global geographic zone.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include a selection of at least one taxing authority.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the tax compliance configuration data include taxation registration information.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a memory, coupled to the processor, to store a plurality of instructions; and

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

generate a graphical user interface, wherein the graphical user interface is configured with tax compliance configuration data entry fields including plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options and product code cross-reference group options and a user-selectable tax rate modification field;

provide, via the communications interface, the user interface to a client system;

receive from the client system, via the communications interface, tax compliance configuration data corresponding to a user selection from among the plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options;

configure tax engine, configuration data based on the received tax compliance configuration data;

configure, using the tax engine configuration data, at least one tax engine coupled with the apparatus;

receive from the client system, via the communications interface, transaction data corresponding to a taxable transaction;

parse the transaction data;

activate the at least one tax engine;

calculate, by the tax engine, transaction taxes corresponding to the parsed transaction data;

store tax information including the calculated, transaction taxes in a central storage coupled to the apparatus; and

send to the client system, via the communications interface, the tax information including the calculated transaction taxes.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein execution of the plurality of instructions by the processor further causes the apparatus to:

incorporate the tax information into elements of an extensible markup language document prior to sending the tax information to the client system.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein execution of the plurality of instructions by the processor further causes the apparatus to:

generate a tax compliance report.

22. A method of operating a tax information system, comprising:

providing from a central server a graphical user interface to a client system located remotely from the central server, wherein the graphical user interface is configured with tax compliance configuration data entry fields including plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options and product code cross-reference group options and a user-selectable tax rate modification field;

receiving, at the central server, tax compliance configuration data transmitted from the client system, wherein the tax compliance configuration data includes transaction location management data corresponding to a user-selection from among the plural user-selectable taxable transaction location options;

generating, at the central server, tax engine configuration data based on the tax compliance configuration data, wherein the tax engine configuration data is specifically configured, when executed on the central server, to configure a transaction tax calculation engine of the central server to calculate a tax on a transaction according to the tax compliance configuration data;

communicating the specifically configured tax engine configuration data to a transaction tax calculation engine of the central server;

receiving from the client system, at the central server, validated transaction information relating to a taxable transactions;

parsing the transaction information;

processing each of the tax engine configuration data and the parsed transaction information at the transaction tax calculation engine of the central server, wherein the processing includes calculating taxes corresponding to the taxable transaction information;

storing, at the first server, tax information including the calculated taxes;

serializing the tax information to a markup language; and

sending the serialized tax information to the client system.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating, at the central server, a tax compliance report regarding compliance of the tax information relative to at least one taxing authority.

24. A method of operating a tax information system, comprising:

providing a graphical user interface from a central server to a first client system, wherein the graphical user interface is configured with tax compliance configuration data entry fields including plural user-selectable taxable transaction international location options and product code cross-reference group options and a user-selectable tax rate modification field;

activating at least one tax engine at the central server, including an international tax engine;

receiving at the central server tax compliance configuration data from the first client system through the user interface, wherein the tax compliance configuration data includes data specified by a user at the transaction location management data entry fields;

input filtering the tax compliance configuration data to customize global tax compliance configuration data responsive to the user-specified transaction location management data, such that the customized global tax compliance configuration data are specific to the data specified by the user at the first client system;

configuring the at least one tax engine with the customized global tax compliance configuration data calculating, by the at least one tax engine, a transaction tax based on transaction data received from the first client system; and

generating at least one global tax compliance report for the first client system, wherein the at least one global tax compliance report including information corresponding to the calculated transaction tax.