Patent ID: 7747484

Claim:
A system for preparing a tax return for a taxpayer using an interview, comprising: a user database for storing taxpayer data; an import subsystem for electronically importing tax data related to the taxpayer from a plurality of input sources via a communications network, the import subsystem comprising: a universal data import engine for communicating electronically with the plurality of import sources and retrieving a tax data item from the plurality of import sources, wherein the tax data item is retrieved during the interview; and a source database, coupled to the universal data import engine, for storing information associated with the plurality of import sources indicative of the tax data item provided by each of the plurality of import sources; a default profile database comprising a plurality of default profiles and a plurality of interview questions, wherein a default profile of the plurality of default profiles comprises suggested responses based on demographics of the taxpayer, and wherein the plurality of interview questions are based on a financial life of the taxpayer; and an interview engine operatively connected to the user database, the import subsystem, and the default profile database, for conducting the interview and configured to: obtain the plurality of interview questions, decrease the plurality of interview questions based on suggested responses of the default profile by skipping a first question, decrease the plurality of interview questions based on the tax data item retrieved from the plurality of import sources by skipping a second question, and prompt the plurality of interview questions in order to complete a portion of the tax return, wherein the first and second question are excluded.