Abstract: A method to estimate a tax refund range. The method includes receiving, by a computer processor and from a user, a reduced portion of tax preparation input data prior to receiving a remainder portion of the tax preparation input data, calculating, by the computer processor and prior to receiving the remainder portion, a tax refund range estimate based on the reduced portion, presenting the tax refund range estimate to the user, and receiving, in response to presenting the tax refund range estimate to the user, the remainder portion for later use when preparing a tax filing for the user.

Abstract: A method for operating a tax inference engine involves receiving tax data items, assigning confidence ratings to the tax data items using inference rules, and assigning relevance ratings to tax questions using the inference rules. The method further involves determining tax questions having ratings that exceed a threshold amount, and ordering the tax questions by the relevance ratings, personalizing a tax question using the inference rules, tax data items, and confidence ratings by altering a wording of the tax question, and determining tax advice using the inference rules, the tax data items, and the confidence ratings.

Abstract: A technique for collecting income-tax information is described. This collection technique allows a user (such as a taxpayer) to provide income-tax information by submitting an image of a document, such as an income-tax summary or form. After receiving the image, the income-tax information is extracted from the document, and a subset of the income-tax information that is relevant to the user is determined. This subset of the income-tax information is then provided to the user for validation, and the user subsequently provides feedback about the subset of the income-tax information, such as acceptance of the subset or correction of any errors. Furthermore, after receiving the user feedback, fields in an income-tax return of the user may be populated using the subset of the income-tax information.