Patent ID: 8229847

Claim:
In a relationship between a tax preparer, a financial institution, a money transfer service, and a taxpayer, a method of providing a tax refund to the taxpayer, the method comprising: creating a first account identifier comprising: a) a first money transfer service identifier comprising a set of one or more characters that identifies an account at the financial institution as corresponding to the money transfer service; b) a preparer identifier comprising a second set of characters that identifies the tax return preparer; c) a birthdate identifier comprising a third set of characters corresponding to the birthdate of the taxpayer; and d) a taxpayer identifier comprising a fourth set of characters that is derived from either a federal taxpayer identification number for the taxpayer or a telephone number corresponding to the taxpayer; creating a second account identifier comprising: a) a second money transfer service identifier comprising a set of one or more characters that identifies an account at the financial institution as corresponding to the money transfer service; b) the preparer identifier; and c) the taxpayer identifier; providing a routing number for the financial institution, along with the first account identifier, to a first governmental entity, as a direct deposit target for a first portion of the tax refund corresponding to the tax return; providing the routing number for the financial institution, along with the second account identifier, to the first governmental entity, as a direct deposit target for a second portion of the tax refund corresponding to the tax return, the second portion of the tax refund corresponding to a fee for the tax preparer; receiving, at a first host computer operated by the financial institution, a first direct deposit transaction from a second governmental entity, the first direct deposit having associated therewith a name of the taxpayer and being directed to a first account identified by the first account identifier; receiving, at the first host computer, a second direct deposit transaction from the second governmental entity, the second direct deposit transaction being directed to a second account identified by the second account identifier; performing a host-to-host transaction between the first host computer and a second host computer operated by the money service provider, wherein the host-to-host transaction transfers an amount of money corresponding to at least a portion of the first direct deposit transaction, and wherein the host-to-host transaction has associated therewith a set of data, the set of data comprising the name of the taxpayer, the birthdate identifier, and the taxpayer identifier; and providing, to the taxpayer, an amount of money corresponding to at least a portion of the amount of the host-to-host transaction.