AUTOMATED TAX RETURN WITH UNIVERSAL DATA IMPORT

摘要

Automated tax return preparation is provided using a relationship-based interview process coupled with universal data import. Information is collect ed through a process called the interview (204), during which a taxpayer is ask ed various questions about her background and relationships with financial institutions. The taxpayer provides to the tax planning software a list of financial institutions with which the taxpayer has a relationship, and the software retrieves tax data directly from the financial institutions. The automatic preparation of tax returns is accomplished through the combination of the interview (204), universal data import (206), and existing stored dat a (208).