Information processing method for managing and determining tax provision information

1. A multi-user information processing method for a multi-jurisdictional entity for managing said entity's tax provision based on data originating from at least one jurisdiction, comprises:

a. collecting said data from each jurisdiction of said multi jurisdictional entity with an import engine;

b. storing said data for determining the tax provision of said multi jurisdictional entity in a source database, wherein said tax provision comprising current and deferred tax provision, which are estimated tax expenses that may be later adjusted based on required changes to the entity's filed tax return, for its tax return to be filed for the current year, and that are certain to come due in the future, respectively;

c. calculating said tax provision of said multi jurisdictional entity in accordance to a predetermined, non-governmental, accounting standard from said data stored in said source database with a calculation engine;

d. storing said tax provision of said multi-jurisdictional entity as determined by said calculation engine in a transformed database;

e. producing reports for the entity's financial statement to be filed with and as required by a regulatory authority using said tax provision from said transformed database with a report engine;

f. accessing said source database and said transformed database with a user interface unit;

g. testing different scenarios of said tax provision for tax planning purposes by changing said tax provision stored in said transformed database with said user interface unit;

h. automatically tracking the changes made to said tax provision stored in said transformed database for reconciliation of said tax provision to the filed tax return with a tracking engine; and

i. automatically tracking the origination of said tax provision to support the financial statement to be filed with the regulatory authority with said tracking engine.

2. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

managing the input of said data into said source database with a source data maintenance engine.

3. The information processing method as recited in claim 2 , wherein said method further comprises:

translating said data for input to said source data maintenance engine with said import engine.

4. The information processing method as recited in claim 2 , wherein said method further comprises:

interacting with said source data maintenance engine for data entry with a data entry interface of said user interface unit.

5. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

producing reports with an interactive report interface of said report engine.

6. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

synchronizing said data in said transformed database with said data in said source database with said calculation engine.

7. The information processing method as recited in claim 2 , wherein said method further comprises:

a. directing the preparation of a tax provision with an interface of said source data maintenance engine; and

b. determining a tax provision with said calculation engine.

8. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises collecting data from at least one remote location with said import engine.

9. An information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

translating data from a legacy system into data for said source database with a software bridge.

10. The information processing method as recited in claim 9 , wherein said software bridge translates said data using extensible markup language protocol.

11. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said report engine produces report in extensible markup language protocol.

12. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

normalizing data from at least one legacy data source to conform to the data format of said source database with a software bridge.

13. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

loading data from at least one legacy external data source with a software bridge that automates the process of extracting data from said external data source and transforming the extracted data into a format for importing into said source database with said software bridge.

14. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

loading data from at least one remote location into said source database with said import engine.

15. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

loading data from existing financial statements and existing tax returns into said source database with said import engine.

16. The information processing method as recited in claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:

performing tax planning operations using information from said transformed database with said user interface unit.

17. A multi-user information processing method for a multi-jurisdictional entity for managing said entity's tax provision based on data originating from at least one jurisdiction, comprises:

a. collecting said data from each jurisdiction of said multi-jurisdictional entity with an import engine;

b. transforming said data into transformed data with a software bridge;

c. storing said transformed data for determining the tax provision of said multi-jurisdictional entity in a source database, wherein said tax provision comprising current and deferred tax provision, which are estimated tax expenses that may be later adjusted based on required changes to the entity's filed tax return, for its tax return to be filed for the current year, and that are certain to come due in the future, respectively;

d. calculating said tax provision of said multi jurisdictional entity in accordance to a predetermined, non-governmental, accounting standard from said transformed data stored in said source database with a calculation engine;

e. storing said tax provision of said multi jurisdictional entity as determined by said calculation engine in a transformed database;

f. producing reports for the entity's financial statement to be filed with and as required by a regulatory authority using said tax provision from said transformed database with a report engine;

g. accessing said source database and said transformed database with a user interface unit;

h. testing different scenarios of said tax provision for tax planning purposes by changing said tax provision stored in said transformed database with said user interface unit;

i. automatically tracking the changes made to said tax provision stored in said transformed database for reconciliation of said tax provision to the filed tax return with a tracking engine; and

j. automatically tracking the origination of said tax provision to support the financial statement to be filed with the regulatory authority with said tracking engine.

18. The information processing method as recited in claim 17 , wherein said method further comprises:

performing financial planning operations using information from said transformed database with said user interface unit.