Logo

A Service of iTips
Internet Tax Information Processing Services, Inc

OUR GOAL

Simplify and streamline
the income tax return preparation experience
of taxpayers and their tax preparers
in a tax-software-agnostic way.


To achieve this goal we are developing a new system that includes

Application Program Interfaces

Docker Images, and

Software Development Kits

for use by

Tax Document Issuers and

Tax Software Companies

The "Why" of Tax Doc Hub

The system is based on the following premises:

  1. MANUAL DATA ENTRY IS TEDIOUS, ERROR-PRONE, AND UNNECESSARY
    It makes no sense for issuers of tax information documents to have data in electronic form -- only to print it to paper and require manual data entry by taxpayers or tax preparers to get the data back into electronic form in tax software. Manual data entry should be replaced with one or more of the following:
    1. API
    2. Industry standard file export/import
    3. QR code scan
  2. WHEN SCANNING PRINTED TAX FORMS: QR IS BETTER THAN OCR
    Some use optical character recognition (OCR) software to get printed tax form data into tax software. We believe that OCR software is too costly and is not sufficiently reliable. A better technology for this purpose is two-dimensional bar codes such as QR codes.
  3. WHEN DOWNLOADING TAX FORMS FROM A WEBSITE: Industry-standard files are better than generic PDF
    "Paperless" delivery of tax information documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) via email and web download speeds delivery and saves paper. But PDF can still require manual data entry. Issuers should make document data downloadable in a standard digital format. And tax software should accept digital data files via "drag and drop". Additionally, the older Tax Exchange Format (TXF) should be replaced with a modern, well-supported, standard.
  4. DIRECT ELECTRONIC IMPORT INTO TAX SOFTWARE VIA API SHOULD BE EXPANDED AND IMPROVED
    Use of Open Financial Exchange (OFX) server technology makes end-to-end electronic delivery of tax data possible.
    However:
    1. Medium and smaller sized companies shouldn't have to incur the cost and headache of developing and operating their own OFX server.
    2. More tax information documents (especially Schedules K-1 and other documents with multiple data items) should be commonly importable by tax software programs.
    3. The credentials used to retrieve tax documents should not be the same as those to log on to a financial instituion web site.
    4. Ideally, tax software users should not have to authorize the application to retrieve their tax document data each year. An "until-revoked" authorization should be available.

The "What" of Tax Doc Hub

Our system will have the following elements:

  1. Application Program Interfaces (APIs) which can be used by tax document issuing software to:
    • generate PDF,
    • electronically deliver, and/or
    • allow tax software import of data.
  2. APIs which can be used by tax preparation software to import over 50 types of tax information document data into their program. (Both OFX and REST APIs.)
  3. Email notifications to recipients of availability of tax information documents.
  4. Secure web download of tax information documents by recipients.
  5. Smart phone apps to scan QR codes and make data available for import into tax software.

Documents for Import into
Tax Software (1040) Programs

Tax preparation (1040) software may now import over 50 types of tax information document data into their program.

  1. Business Income Statement : Business Income Statement for IRS Form 1040 Schedule C
  2. Farm Income Statement : Farm Income Statement for IRS Form 1040 Schedule F
  3. Farm Rental Income Statement : Farm Rental Income Statement for IRS Form 4835
  4. Rental Income Statement : Rental Income Statement for IRS Form 1040 Schedule E
  5. Royalty Income Statement : Royalty Income Statement for IRS Form 1040 Schedule E
  6. 1041-K-1 : Beneficiary's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc.
  7. 1042-S : Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding
  8. 1065-K-1 : Partner's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc.
  9. 1095-A : Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
  10. 1095-B : Health Coverage
  11. 1095-C : Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage
  12. 1097-BTC : Bond Tax Credit
  13. 1098 : Mortgage Interest Statement
  14. 1098-C : Contributions of Motor Vehicles, Boats, and Airplanes
  15. 1098-E : Student Loan Interest Statement
  16. 1098-MA : Mortgage Assistance Payments
  17. 1098-Q : Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contract Information
  18. 1098-T : Tuition Statement
  19. 1099-A : Acquisition or Abandonment of Secured Property
  20. 1099-B : Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions
  21. 1099-C : Cancellation of Debt
  22. 1099-CAP : Changes in Corporate Control and Capital Structure
  23. 1099-DIV : Dividends and Distributions
  24. 1099-G : Certain Government Payments
  25. 1099-H : Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) Advance Payments
  26. 1099-INT : Interest Income
  27. 1099-K : Merchant Card and Third-Party Network Payments
  28. 1099-LS : Reportable Life Insurance Sale
  29. 1099-LTC : Long-Term Care and Accelerated Death Benefits
  30. 1099-MISC : Miscellaneous Income
  31. 1099-NEC : Nonemployee Compensation
  32. 1099-OID : Original Issue Discount
  33. 1099-PATR : Taxable Distributions Received From Cooperatives
  34. 1099-Q : Payments From Qualified Education Programs
  35. 1099-QA : Distributions From ABLE Accounts
  36. 1099-R : Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
  37. 1099-S : Proceeds From Real Estate Transactions
  38. 1099-SA : Distributions From an HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA
  39. 1099-SB : Seller's Investment in Life Insurance Contract
  40. 1120S-K-1 : Shareholder's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, etc.
  41. 2439 : Notice to Shareholder of Undistributed Long-Term Capital Gains
  42. 3921 : Exercise of an Incentive Stock Option Under Section 422(b)
  43. 3922 : Transfer of Stock Acquired Through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan under Section 423(c)
  44. 5227-K-1 : Split-Interest Trust Beneficiary's schedule K-1
  45. 5498 : IRA Contribution Information
  46. 5498-ESA : Coverdell ESA Contribution Information
  47. 5498-QA : ABLE Account Contribution Information
  48. 5498-SA : HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA Information
  49. W-2 : Wage and Tax Statement
  50. W-2c : IRS form W-2c, Corrected Wage and Tax Statement
  51. W-2G : Certain Gambling Winnings

Electronically deliver your company's 1098, 1099, and W-2 forms

Notify recipients of secure download availability via email

Recipients may opt in to secure web download of tax information documents in PDF format.

Participating Tax Software programs include:
  • H&R Block
  • TaxAct
  • Intuit TurboTax

Make your company's 1098, 1099, and W-2 forms importable into Tax Software

without hosting your own
API server
Options:
  • Individual document data submission to our API
  • Bulk data upload

Scan Tax Document Data in QR Format

Smart phone apps to scan tax document QR codes and make data available for import into tax software.

 

If Your Company is a Financial Data Aggregator
or a Tax Software Company

As a small company, we can do only so much by ourselves. If you believe in the concepts and features described above, consider teaming with us via merger, acquisition, or joint venture. Email us at info@taxdochub.com to discuss the possibilities.