Funds collection tools and techniques

• US 8,719,126 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2005
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: John W.L. Ogilvie
• Original Assignee: John W.L. Ogilvie
• Inventors: Hall, Josh, Ogilvie, John W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ebersman, Bruce I
• Application Number:
  US11/261,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20060095350A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,112 Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/207 Tax processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/227 characterised in that multiple accounts are available, e.g. to the payer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/123 Tax preparation or submission

Abstract

Tax collection tools and techniques automatically and electronically separate tax amounts from other funds in a commercial transaction, and divert the collected tax into a holding fund. The holding fund bears income, at little or no risk. Funds collected are tracked, as are their payment due dates, and tax payments are made automatically from the holding fund to tax authorities in a timely manner on behalf of merchants. Income from the holding fund may be distributed among various parties. Collection of debt, whether taxes or otherwise, through automatic incremental billing is also described.

Claims

1. A funds collection system, comprising:

an automatic incremental billing computer system configured to perform automatic attempts to collect payment from a consumer for a charge from at least one credit card transaction by the consumer, by recharging a credit card of the consumer at automatically determined amounts which are lower than the charge, while following credit card charging rules which are in effect at a time of the credit card transaction and thereby avoiding renegotiating the charge or a payment plan with the consumer; and

an accounting module with software and computing hardware comprising a computer processor, the accounting module configured to digitally receive credit card transaction data sent electronically from a card reader and to automatically separate a sales tax amount from a purchase amount owed to a merchant by a consumer, by using the credit card transaction data, wherein the accounting module is configured to separate a sales tax amount from a purchase amount which has been actually collected by using the automatic incremental billing computer system;

wherein the system is configured to manage funds as follows;

to provide a transfer of sales tax funds to a sales tax holding account, to a sales tax collection authority, or to both, wherein the sales tax holding account is an interest-bearing account which holds sales tax funds prior to transfer of said sales tax funds to the sales tax collection authority in response to execution of a specified number greater than one of credit card transactions since sales tax funds were last so transferred, wherein the accounting module is configured to track re-investment of interest back into the sales tax holding account, and at least a portion of profits from the interest-bearing account are re-invested for a period which is in a range of 45-120 days, and wherein the automatic incremental billing system uses at least two different wait periods, including a first wait period between retries to collect and a second wait period between retries to collect, and wherein the first wait period is used for a transaction which occurred in November, December, or January, and the second wait period is used for a transaction which did not occur in November, December, or January.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein sales tax funds are transferred by the system to the sales tax holding account within two business days of being digitally separated from the purchase amount.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the accounting module is configured to track tax amounts in the sales tax holding account for a specified merchant.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting module is configured to automatically calculate the sales tax amount based on a transaction'"'"'s location, namely, the card reader'"'"'s location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatic incremental billing system is configured to perform automatic attempts to collect payment using a sequence of increasingly lower amounts.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting module is configured to track at least two types of holding funds, namely, a tax investment interest bearing account in which funds reside for at least 20 days before being paid to the tax authority, and a pre-payout interest bearing account in which funds reside for at least 90 days.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting module is configured to register the merchant with the sales tax collection authority.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting module is configured to transfer funds from the sales tax holding account to a sales tax collection authority at least in response to accumulation of undirected funds past a specified threshold amount.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to transfer the sales tax amount to the sales tax collection authority at least ten business days after the sales tax amount is separated.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatic incremental billing system uses a first wait period between retries to collect when a credit card was used in the transaction and uses a second different wait period between retries when a debit card was used in the transaction.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the automatic incremental billing system uses at least three different wait periods.

12. A point of sale tax collection system, comprising:

an internet gateway for credit card transactions;

an automatic incremental billing computer system configured to perform automatic attempts to collect payment from a consumer for a charge from at least one credit card transaction by the consumer, by recharging a credit card of the consumer at automatically determined amounts which are lower than the charge, while following credit card charging rules which are in effect at a time of the credit card transaction and thereby avoiding renegotiating the charge or a payment plan with the consumer; and

an accounting module with software and computing hardware comprising a computer processor, the accounting module configured to digitally receive credit card transaction data sent electronically from the internet gateway and to automatically separate a sales tax amount from a purchase amount using the credit card transaction data, wherein the accounting module is configured to separate a sales tax amount from a purchase amount which has been actually collected by using the automatic incremental billing computer system;

wherein the system is configured to provide a transfer of sales tax funds to a sales tax collection authority, to a sales tax holding account, or to both, in response to execution of a specified number greater than one of credit card transactions since sales tax funds were last so transferred, wherein the sales tax holding account is an interest-bearing account which holds sales tax funds prior to transfer of said sales tax funds to the sales tax collection authority, wherein the accounting module is configured to track re-investment of interest back into the sales tax holding account, and at least a portion of profits from the interest-bearing account are re-invested for a period which is in a range of 45-120 days, and wherein the automatic incremental billing system uses at least two different wait periods, including a first wait period between retries to collect and a second wait period between retries to collect, and wherein the first wait period is used for a transaction which occurred in November, December, or January, and the second wait period is used for a transaction which did not occur in November, December, or January.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a memory configured by sale tax rates based on location, in a look up communication with the accounting module.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein sales tax funds are transferred by the system to the sales tax holding account, and the accounting module is configured to track how much interest money is generated from tax amounts deposited in the sales tax holding account for a specified merchant.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the automatic incremental billing system is configured to perform automatic attempts to collect payment using a sequence of increasingly lower amounts.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the accounting module is configured to register a merchant with a sales tax collection authority.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the accounting module is configured to transfer funds from the sales tax holding account to a sales tax collection authority at least in response to accumulation of undirected funds past a specified threshold amount.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured to transfer the sales tax amount to a sales tax collection authority at least two business days after the sales tax amount is separated.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured to provide a transfer of sales tax funds to a sales tax collection authority.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is configured to track a service fee which is based on separating the sales tax amount from the purchase amount and on providing the transfer of the sales tax funds to the sales tax collection authority.