التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
| العنوان: |
Tax refund system |
| Document Number: |
20050261967 |
| تاريخ النشر: |
November 24, 2005 |
| Appl. No: |
10/507991 |
| Application Filed: |
March 18, 2003 |
| مستخلص: |
The present invention relates generally to the field of computers and in particular to methods and systems for processing tax refunds. Existing VAT refund systems are either expensive or overly cumbersome with paperwork. The present invention provides a solution to these problems by providing a tax claim system comprising a payment card system 1 suitable for accepting payment card transactions at a point of sale, the payment card system comprising a display for displaying information to a payment card system terminal user. The tax claim system further includes at least one data capture device for receiving card details from a payment cardholder and an indication receiving element for receiving an indication that a tax refund claim is required for a transaction. The system further provides a claim generation module for generating a tax refund claim in response to a received indication that a tax refund claim is required for a transaction and communicating this generated claim to an associated printer device. |
| Inventors: |
Barry, Gerard J. (Salthill Co Galway, IE); Bews, Duncan Alexander (Middlesex, GB); Parkin, Christopher David (West Sussex, GB); Duffy, John (Galway, IE) |
| Claim: |
1. A VAT refund transaction record system comprising a payment card system suitable for performing payment card transactions at a point of sale, the card system comprising a display for displaying information to a card system user, at least one data capture device for receiving card details from a cardholder, an indication receiving element for receiving an indication that a VAT refund record may be appropriate for a transaction, and a record generation module for generating a VAT refund transaction record in response to a received indication that a VAT refund record is appropriate for a transaction and communicating this generated record to at least one associated record output device. |
| Claim: |
2. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the record output device comprises a printer for printing a VAT refund claim. |
| Claim: |
3. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the record output device may comprise a communications device adapted to forward generated transaction records to a host. |
| Claim: |
4. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the record output device may comprise a memory writer adapted to output VAT refund transaction records to a memory card or other removable data storage device. |
| Claim: |
5. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the payment card system includes a VAT recognition module for recognising from the card details entered for a payment card presented by a cardholder for payment whether or not the cardholder may be eligible to a VAT refund. |
| Claim: |
6. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 5, where in response to a recognition that a cardholder may be eligible to a VAT refund, the VAT recognition module causes a message to be displayed on the display and/or cause a beep to be emitted from the speaker of the card system or other prompting method so that it is clearly brought to the attention of the terminal user that a VAT refund is possible. |
| Claim: |
7. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 5, wherein the VAT recognition module is adapted to identify an issuer code from the card details, and from the issuer code determine whether the cardholder is entitled to a VAT refund. |
| Claim: |
8. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 7, wherein the identification of issuer code is performed by comparison of the extracted issuer code with selections in a table. |
| Claim: |
9. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 8, wherein each selection in the table may contain an issuer code and a corresponding VAT class code. |
| Claim: |
10. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 8, wherein the selections in the table may define a range of issuer codes, with each range of issuer codes having a corresponding VAT class code. |
| Claim: |
11. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 9, wherein the VAT class code is a flag indicating whether the issuer code relates to a cardholder from a country to which the customer would be entitled to a VAT refund. |
| Claim: |
12. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 5, the VAT recognition module may extract a country identifier from the card details and from this country identifier determine whether the cardholder is potentially entitled to a VAT refund. |
| Claim: |
13. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 5, wherein the VAT recognition module exploits other read/capture inputted details, for example passport and/or immigration numbers etc to enhance the eligibility delineation for potential zero VAT liability for customers. |
| Claim: |
14. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 5, wherein the VAT recognition module is adapted to initially check to determine if the transaction amount exceeds a predetermined minimum level for generating a VAT refund transaction record. |
| Claim: |
15. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the system is adapted to display a message prompting the terminal user to question the cardholder as to whether the cardholder desires a VAT refund claim form. |
| Claim: |
16. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the indication receiving means comprises a key on a keypad of the card system. |
| Claim: |
17. A VAT refund transaction record system according to claim 1, wherein the system comprises a payment card terminal having an integrated display, with an integrated printer and/or data writer. |
| Claim: |
18. A method of operating a VAT refunding scheme for processing VAT refunds on transactions comprising the steps of: in response to a request to create a refund transaction record for an individual, creating a refund transaction record, associating the refund transaction record with the individual, storing the associated transaction record in response to receiving a request to process created refund transaction records, extracting stored transaction records associated with the individual and outputting the records associated with the individual in an aggregated form. |
| Claim: |
19. A method of operating a VAT refunding scheme according to claim 18, wherein the association of the refund transaction record with the individual is achieved using a unique identifier associated with the individual. |
| Claim: |
20. A method of operating a VAT refunding scheme according to claim 19, wherein the unique identifier is the card number of a payment card of the individual. |
| Claim: |
21. A method of operating a VAT refunding scheme according to claim 19, wherein the unique identifier is the passport number of the individual. |
| Claim: |
22. A method of determining whether a payment cardholder is entitled to a VAT refund by comparison of cardholder details obtained from the card with entries in a database. |
| Claim: |
23. A method of determining whether a payment cardholder is entitled to a VAT refund according to claim 22, wherein the cardholder details comprise a portion of the card number. |
| Claim: |
24. A method of determining whether a payment cardholder is entitled to a VAT refund according to claim 22, wherein the cardholder details comprise a country code. |
| Claim: |
25. The use of a method according to claim 22 in a payment card terminal or a till system for generating VAT refund claims. |
| Claim: |
26. The use of a method in accordance with claim 25 performed in conjunction with a host system. |
| Claim: |
27. A computer system adapted to carry out the method steps of claim 18. |
| Claim: |
28. A computer system according to claim 27, wherein the computer system is a payment card terminal or a POS till device incorporating payment card processing. |
| Claim: |
29. (canceled) |
| Claim: |
30. (canceled) |
| Claim: |
31. (canceled) |
| Current U.S. Class: |
705016/000 |
| رقم الانضمام: |
edspap.20050261967 |
| قاعدة البيانات: |
USPTO Patent Applications |
