Tax Code Software Foundation :: Overview
Tax Code is best known as "the Linux of tax software". Tax Code for taxpayers is a free, secure, ad-free alternative to consumer tax preparation software like TurboTax, TaxCut, and TaxAct. For tax professionals, Tax Code replaces expensive software packages like ProSeries, TaxWise , and Drake. Tax Code that allows preparers to prepare every tax form and e-file it where possible, as well as take advantage of popular practice management techniques. Under the hood, Tax Code is a set of XML technologies that enable a taxpayer or professional tax preparer to prepare tax forms and e-file prepared tax forms to the appropriate government agency. Government agencies can also use Tax Code to offer services to taxpayers.
Tax Code technologies offer several key advantages:
- Open -- the TaxCode XML Stuctures are free, open, public, and easily understandable; in addition, multiple implementations exist for clients, servers, components, and code libraries. Since paying taxes and filing tax forms is a requirement of citizenship, it is important that the software code to be public and open source so that transparency can be maintained.
- Free - No royalty is necessary to use Tax Code Software in any way shape or form, subject to the Mozilla Public License(MPL)
- Standard - TaxCode uses goverment supplied standard forms and efile record layouts for its core fucntions. Tax Code structures unstructured government data into XMLSchemas, XForms, and XSLT to deliver standard preparation and e-file functionality creatied from the specifications themselves.
- Complete -- the architecture of the Tax Code enables it to be used for all Federal and State form packages including 1040, 1120, 1065, 706, 94x, etc. ยท Secure -- any TaxCode server may be isolated from the public (e.g., on a company intranet), and robust security using SSL and Kerberos has been built into the core specifications.
- Extensible -- using the power of XML namespaces, anyone can build custom functionality on top of the core code; to maintain interoperability, common extensions are managed by the TaxCode Software Foundation.
- Flexible -- TaxCode can be used for almost any tax preparation solution. TaxCode provides the foundation for writing good tax software using the TaxCode
- Diverse -- a wide range of companies and open-source projects use the TaxCode to build and deploy real-time applications and services; you will never get "locked in" when you use Tax Code technologies.
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