COMPUTER NETWORK SYSTEM AND PROCESS FOR COLLECTING TAX ON ONLINE COMMERCE

1 . A process for facilitating online transactions, the process comprising:

receiving transaction data from a payment gateway over a computer network, the transaction data representative of a pending transaction between a remote computer and an online merchant system, the transaction data including at least an indication of a location of the transaction and an amount of the transaction;

applying the transaction data to a database to obtain tax data for the pending transaction;

transmitting an indication of the tax data for the pending transaction to the payment gateway over the computer network;

receiving over the computer network from the payment gateway a transaction record that is representative of execution of the pending transaction between the remote computer and the online merchant system, execution of the pending transaction being performed using the tax data;

storing the transaction record in a data store; and

transmitting a record storage confirmation indicator to the payment gateway over the computer network.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the record storage confirmation indicator is used by the payment gateway as a condition for reporting execution of the transaction to the online merchant system.

3 . The process of claim 1 , further comprising reporting data for a plurality of transaction records including the transaction record to a taxation authority system of a tax jurisdiction for the location.

4 . The process of claim 3 , further comprising receiving a command from the taxation authority system, and, in response to the command, intercepting requests from online merchant systems to the payment gateway and blocking the intercepted requests from reaching the payment gateway.

5 . A system for facilitating online transactions, the system comprising:

a data store configured to store a plurality of transaction records;

a transaction control system configured to receive transaction data from a payment gateway over a computer network, the transaction data representative of a pending transaction between a remote computer and an online merchant system, the transaction data including at least an indication of a location of the transaction and an amount of the transaction;

the transaction control system further configured to apply the transaction data to a database to obtain tax data for the pending transaction;

the transaction control system further configured to transmit an indication of the tax data for the pending transaction to the payment gateway over the computer network;

the transaction control system further configured to receive over the computer network from the payment gateway a transaction record that is representative of execution of the pending transaction between the remote computer and the online merchant system, execution of the pending transaction being performed using the tax data;

the transaction control system further configured to transmit the transaction record to the data store; and

the transaction control system further configured to transmit a record storage confirmation indicator to the payment gateway over the computer network.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the record storage confirmation indicator is used by the payment gateway as a condition for reporting execution of the transaction to the online merchant system.

7 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the data store is further configured to report data for a plurality of transaction records including the transaction record to a taxation authority system of a tax jurisdiction for the location.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the transaction control system is further configured to receive a command from the taxation authority system, and, in response to the command, cause a policy service to intercept requests from online merchant systems to the payment gateway and block the intercepted requests from reaching the payment gateway.