Systems, methods and articles for automating access of tax documents for preparing an electronic tax return

Abstract

Systems, methods and articles of manufacture for preparing an electronic tax return for a taxpayer which automatically access tax documents from sources of tax documents, such as financial institutions at which the taxpayer has an account. The system receives a request from a tax preparer for tax data regarding a taxpayer. The system analyzes a prior year tax return for the taxpayer and identifies tax documents used to prepare the tax return. The system identifies the source and the type of tax document. The system generates a request to the taxpayer to access the tax documents for the current tax year. The request allows the taxpayer to provide account credentials to access the tax documents from the source. The system accesses the tax documents from the source using the account credentials. The system converts the tax documents into a standard data structure which is automatically imported into a tax return.