Systems methods and computer program products for encoding and decoding tax return data

Abstract

Tax data, e.g., Form W2 data, is encoded as a two-dimensional machine readable representation, such as a QR CODE. Certain tax data is encoded as segments of a QR CODE, and a tax form generated by an employer or payroll processing service and provided to an employee or user includes the QR CODE representing certain W-2 or other tax data. An image of the QR CODE is acquired using a camera of a mobile communication device or computer or other image capture device. When using a Smartphone, a tax preparation application executing on the Smartphone decodes the QR CODE image to determine the tax data, and populates fields of an electronic tax return with decoded data, thus allowing a consumer to prepare an electronic tax return using a mobile communication device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document comprising:
 tax data of a person to be included in the tax return; an   a two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data.   
     
     
         2 . A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document consisting of:
 an identification of a person;   a two-dimensional machine readable representation of tax data of the person, wherein no numerical tax data is printed on the tax document.   
     
     
         3 . A tax document for use in preparing a tax return, the tax document comprising:
 an identification of a person;   tax data of the person to be included in the tax return; and   a Quick Response code representing the tax data, wherein a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a first type of tax data, a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a second type of tax data, and a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded for verification of the first and second types of tax data.   
     
     
         4 . The tax document of  claim 1 , the tax data comprising wage and salary data and data of withheld taxes that is to be entered into the tax return. 
     
     
         5 . The tax document of  claim 1  being a hybrid form of the person's Form W-2. 
     
     
         6 . The tax document of  claim 1 , the two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data being a QR code. 
     
     
         7 . The tax document of  claim 1 , wherein a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a first type of tax data, a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a second type of tax data, and a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded for verification of the first and second types of tax data. 
     
     
         8 . The tax document of  claim 1  being a tax document generated by an employer of the person. 
     
     
         9 . The tax document of  claim 1  being a tax document generated by a financial institution or a brokerage firm utilized by the person. 
     
     
         10 . The tax document of  claim 1  being separate from a tax return that is to be prepared for the person. 
     
     
         11 . The tax document of  claim 2 , the tax data comprising wage and salary data and data of withheld taxes that is to be entered into the tax return. 
     
     
         12 . The tax document of  claim 2 , the tax data being a hybrid form of the person's Form W-2, wherein no numerical tax data of Form W-2 is printed on the tax document. 
     
     
         13 . The tax document of  claim 2 , the two-dimensional machine readable representation of the tax data being a QR code. 
     
     
         14 . The tax document of  claim 2 , wherein a first pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a first type of tax data, a second pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded with a second type of tax data, and a third pre-determined segment of the Quick Response code is encoded for verification of the first and second types of tax data. 
     
     
         15 . The tax document of  claim 2  being a tax document generated by an employer of the person. 
     
     
         16 . The tax document of  claim 2  being a tax document generated by a financial institution or a brokerage firm utilized by the person. 
     
     
         17 . The tax document of  claim 2  being separate from a tax return that is to be prepared for the person. 
     
     
         18 . The tax document of  claim 3 , the tax data comprising wage and salary data and data of withheld taxes that is to be entered into the tax return. 
     
     
         19 . The tax document of  claim 3 , the tax data being a hybrid form of the person's Form W-2, wherein no numerical tax data of Form W-2 is printed on the tax document. 
     
     
         20 . The tax document of  claim 3  being a tax document generated by an employer of the person. 
     
     
         21 . The tax document of  claim 3  being a tax document generated by a financial institution or a brokerage firm utilized by the person. 
     
     
         22 . The tax document of  claim 3  being a tax document generated by a source of the tax data that is to be entered into an electronic tax return. 
     
     
         23 . The tax document of  claim 3  being separate from a tax return that is to be prepared for the person.