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Tax season is here, but have no fear – mobile capture can help.

By Joe Budelli posted 01-19-2011 12:00

  

A few weeks back, my AIIM Community peer Lawrence Wischerth discussed using e-forms and self-service systems as a means to simplify business processes. He gave a prime example of his local government system that still uses paper filing, but could easily make the move to an e-Forms process. His post got me to thinking about other systems that can be and have been transitioned to electronic formats.

When thinking about forms, there is one that lingers over all of our heads until mid-April. This form is one that none of us look forward too, and yet, year after year must complete.

You guessed it, tax forms.

In the mid-1980s, ChipSoft developed the first simple software solution for automating tax preparation. However, the user was still forced to print out the tax forms and send them to the IRS for manual processing. The Internet changed this, making electronic submission an option. This reduced a lot of the stress, process and lag time that every American and the IRS experienced. Today, everything is nice and automated. Forms can be accessed securely from any computer via multiple online services like those from H&R Block, TurboTax and TaxAct, and we can e-file with the click of a button. As a matter of fact, Americans have flocked to e-filing their taxes, quickly making it the standard. The IRS reported that in 2010 nearly 70 percent of tax returns used the e-file system. That is a very significant increase compared to the 30 percent of tax filers that used a computer to prepare their own taxes back in 2001.

I think that this growth is due to the simplified and expedited process. When we e-file, we get our refunds faster, can have them deposited directly into our accounts and can even check the status of our return to alleviate the angst we all feel. This is all great stuff and quite frankly makes my life easier, but let’s be honest, who really wants to sit in front of their computer for hours filing their taxes?

This is where capture technology comes in and is starting to revolutionize this process yet again. Last week, TurboTax announced the availability of a new mobile application that lets you file tax forms from your iPhone or Android phone. This new service is called SnapTax and it uses OCR to enable the user to capture relevant tax information from a W-2 with their phones built in camera, automatically populate the relevant sections of your tax filing and e-file directly from a mobile phone. 

If we take a look at this with the same eye that Lawrence did, we may not see the same sort of process changes that he detailed surrounding the parking permits. However, what we will see is that the impact on the end user is significant, saving time and money.  In the end, simplifying a time consuming, overly complex process is the goal of capture technologies.  It is also a use of the technology that directly impacts the end user, making them more comfortable with data capture and seeking additional ways for it to simplify life.

The SnapTax example is one I see tremendous benefit from as I believe that it will make the general consumer more open to incorporating capture technologies into various areas, opening doors for interesting and innovative next generation applications.  This type of solution also signals a shift in perception of data management and processing, making it relevant to people beyond corporate accounts payable departments and legal offices.

What other recently announced applications of capture technologies have you seen as new opportunity drivers? What industries do you think will be the next ones to adopt the technology to revolutionize tired processes?



#Capture #OCR #mobileapps #ScanningandCapture #e-forms
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