Intuit's eSort scan and import system, introduced last year, has disappeared into a new product, called ProLine Tax Import, which Intuit is picturing as an evolution of eSort. However, product managers say the new offering, now offers capabilities the previous product incarnation lacked.Tax Import will be able to import information from W-2s, 1099s, K-1s and brokerage statement from the participating companies directly into the Lacerte and ProSeries tax packages.
However, the system keeps control over that information in the hand of the taxpayers, notes interaction designer Robert Torres. The tax preparer can email clients who can click on a link that takes them to a site called 1099 Dropoff where they can approve transfer of the information from the bank or brokerage house.
Information is "sent directly into the tax return," says Torres, who explains that this process eliminates the need to give account passwords to preparers.
The system also accepts scanned documents. Once source document information has been scanned, it is transmitted to Intuit where data is extracted and then returned to the preparer for import into the tax return.
