TAXAVA - Tax Return Responsive Web App Design Challenge

Welcome to "TAXAVA - Tax Return Responsive Web App Design Challenge". In this challenge, we need your help to create several screens for our new SaaS based website that guides a user through the information gathering and the consolidation for purposes of efficiently gathering information and filing business personal property tax returns in the USA.

Read the challenge specification carefully and watch the forums for any questions or feedback concerning this challenge. Let us know if you have any questions in the challenge forum!

Round 1

Submit your initial designs for checkpoint feedback
01) Dashboard Screen
02) Account Configuration Screen
03) Asset Management Screen
04) Returns Screen

• As part of your checkpoint submission, you must upload your submission to MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs. Please include the MarvelApp URL in your notes.txt
• Make sure all pages have the correct flow. Use the proper file numbers, (1, 2, 3, etc.)

Round 2

Submit your final designs with all checkpoint feedback implemented
01) Dashboard Screen
02) Account Configuration Screen 
03) Asset Management Screen
04) Returns Screen
05) Reporting & Insights Screen

• As part of your Final submission, you must replace your checkpoint submission with the final submission into MarvelApp so we can provide direct feedback on your designs. Please include the MarvelApp URL in your notes.txt
• Make sure all pages have the correct flow. Use the proper file numbers, (1, 2, 3, etc.)
• If you're not submitting in the Checkpoint/Round 1, you are not eligible to submit in the Final/Round 2

CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE

• Create new screens for our new SaaS web based application 
• 5 Desktop screens + interaction screens that is the major features of the app
• Responsive web application (focus on desktop only for this challenge)

BACKGROUND OVERVIEW

• Annually, thirty-eight U.S. states require business owners of personal property to file a property tax return with local taxing jurisdictions 
• Small to mid-sized business owners or employees generally have limited tax expertise in filing these state-mandated personal property returns
• This application aims to ease specific pain points and facilitate these business owners with easy-to-follow process steps to: 
  • Efficiently collect & assemble user information
  • Access critical tax rules & content
  • Accurately calculate, report, & file data for use in a tax return and for submission to the appropriate tax assessor
  • Provide for easy access to app support & tax expert collaboration
• Information to be collected will include assets, liabilities, and fixed purchases which will include amount spent and a description of the asset to help determine depreciation. Once this information is entered into the application it can be edited before a return is created for you to print and mail to the county assessor 
• This application is meant to be well guided and user friendly for people not familiar with complex income and personal property tax code 
• This cloud-based solution will serve mid-market clients (those filing between 100-200 annual returns) in the preparation and filing of their U.S. business personal property tax returns
• This initial MVP includes five U.S. States (Texas, Florida, California, Arizona, and North Carolina)

PROJECT GOALS

• The goal of this application is to collect the necessary information from users to create a return that gives an accessor the right amount of information to assign value to personal property

TARGET AUDIENCE

• Small to mid-sized businesses that do not have a large dedicated tax team

PERSONA

• Name: Geralt Rivia
• Occupation: Business Owner of ACME company 
• Goals: Easily filled in a property tax return with local taxing jurisdictions
• Frustrations: Geralt is trying to be responsible for filing property tax returns in multiple jurisdictions but has little tax experience. His experience level is low in property tax but has familiarity or access to information regarding the personal property fixed assets and can obtain information about the fixed assets (i.e., location, cost, date of purchase, description) 

SCREEN REQUIREMENTS

• Need to provide some guidance for a new customer that is just using the application so they know how to move through the app/use the app, it can be created as part of onboarding experience or as part of the dashboard “Getting Started Guide” section with option to close the section once the user familiar with the application
• Needs to create visual information like a Calendar or Map to show filing deadline so the user knows and aware about when the return is due, it also can be used to show what steps the user needs to take now (on progress wizard, step by steps) for the filling preparation
• Show list of Tasks/Works that needs to be done by the user to meet the return deadline 
• Insights & Analytics, such as: 
  • Year-over-year tax obligations (i.e. amount owed) 
  • State-by-state tax obligation comparison
  • Depreciation tables used in calculations (or other metrics to highlight the value of the product) 

• New users need to set up their account configuration elements before being able to use the application.  
• Once the setup is complete, the user will only need to update those elements whenever they buy new properties or if there are some changes happens in the user contacts over the year 
• Elements Information that needs to be supplied by the user before using the applications are:
  • Client / multiple clients setup / management
  • Legal entity setup / management
  • Location / property setup / management
  • Account setup / management (They will mainly be free form text fields except for the State field, Industry, and the linking of an account to a Legal Entity and the Legal Entity to a Client)
  • User/contact 
  • Assessor management / Assessor mapping/linking (The assessor will be mapped by selecting an assessor from a drop-down list - that we should pre-filter based on the location of the property)
• Each element above should have the following features:
  • View, Sort, Search, Filter content
  • CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) content
• Please note that those components are related to each other, this means for example, you can’t jump to fill the location without setting the client and legal entity first. Please find how the components hierarchy works from this LINK

• Import assets
  • Once the configuration setup is complete, the next step for the user is to import/upload their assets information to the system in a bulk mode
  • There are two options for the user to import their assets to the system:
    • They can download a spreadsheet template which available in this screen where they can see the required and additional fields already defined/set in a formatted columns on the spreadsheet to make the user easier to fill their assets data 
    • OR upload their own spreadsheet and mapping their columns to the required data as well as optional data fields
  • If users choose to upload their own spreadsheet, then the app should provide the user with guidance around the required fields before they upload their file 
  • Additionally, feedback should be provided to the user if some of the required fields are not provided when they upload their own data 
  • Please see the "Asset import fields and notes.xlsx" to see which fields are required and which one are additionals 

• Asset Maintenance
  • Once the user upload/import their assets, they will be able to see their assets in the app/system
  • This should be a tabular view of the asset data with the ability to reorder the columns, sort, search, filter and edit the data.
  • Additional functionality on required for assets include:
    • Create assets – allow a user to create one or more assets rather than importing them
    • Edit taxability – currently this is a unique page within the application and may need to be for large-scale editing, but it might be better done in-line here. Users should be able to add or edit the taxability (taxable or non-taxable) for every asset in the system
    • Rollover assets - allows a user to copy their asset data from one year to the next. At the beginning of a new year, a user should be able to essentially copy everything from a previous year to use as the foundation for the new tax year. They can then add additional assets, dispose of assets, edit the taxability, etc. for the year. This means that a user should be able to view the assets per year as one of the filters in this asset maintenance view.
    • Transfer assets – move assets from one location to another
    • Dispose – disposal of an asset (i.e., reporting that previously reported asset is no longer in use) 
    • Remove – remove an asset (but this will likely just be a soft delete because I think you’ll need to keep the data for an audit trail)

• Map assets to asset classes
  • Even Though asset classes are optional field when importing assets in previous step because it is unlikely that a user knows the unique asset classes for each of their jurisdictions and maintains that information in an external database or spreadsheet, this information is required in this step to be able to apply the correct depreciation and to have the data show up correctly on the tax return forms
  • Users will need to map their asset data to asset classes per state or assessor (or generally the highest level possible because individual assets can be mapped differently as needed at an asset level, see above.) 
  • An example of the two types of data that need to be mapped is shown HERE and HERE, please note that in the screenshot you can select/mapping them from a drop-down box of possible asset classes

• Preview Return
  • Display the populated "Return" for the user to preview (Important! If the form asset class mapping doesn't exist, the user needs to mapping it first before able to see preview of the return)
  • Show users where to edit / add additional form data that was not populated based on the data entered under the account configuration section. Users could edit in-line or be linked to where to change the data within the site. This means, it could be the incomplete/optional data from the asset import fields or it could be editing something that was imported but is no longer correct. For example, maybe the contact is wrong, or you need to change the packet mailing address. Ideally, users should be asked if they want to add/change this information just for this one form or if they want to make this change globally.
  • Please see how return forms example from HERE

• Generate packet
  • Users should prepare and approve the returns for filing
  • Users can edit / apply a digital signature
  • Users can prepare the return package by selecting which additional documents (from a list) they want to include with the return
  • The app should suggest what the user may needed for their jurisdiction(s)

• Report builder - The report format will likely be limited to Excel files but we may also support pdf files. As for the data, a starting point would be any or all of the data that is viewable from the Asset Maintenance section, so all of your asset data, or all of your asset data for 2022, or all of your asset data for 2022 in TX, or all of your asset data that is tied to a specific asset class, etc.
• Show options for aggregation of data to show what is owed and maybe how it compares to another set of data (state, last year, etc.)

DOCUMENTATION

• Asset import fields and notes.xlsx 
• Branding Guidelines
• Tax Return forms example

CHALLENGE FORUM

• If you have any doubts or questions regarding challenge requirements, please ask in our challenge forum: https://apps.topcoder.com/forums/?module=ThreadList&forumID=841117

DEVICE SPECIFICATIONS

• Web/Desktop: Min 1400px Width with Height adjusting accordingly

DESIGN GOALS AND PRINCIPLES

• Follow best practice for Responsive web design
• Modern, simple, easy to use, and clean design
• Seamless Navigation and enhanced Features
• Reduce the number of interactions required from users as much as possible
• Use color or great visual comparison to highlight a comparison of important information
• Intuitive for the user; should never be left asking "what do I do next?"
• Easy viewing for pages that may be over overcrowded with information
• Keep things consistent. This means all graphics styles should work together
• All of the graphics should have a similar feel and general aesthetic appearance

BRANDING GUIDELINES

• Please see and follow our provided Branding Guidelines!

JUDGMENT CRITERIA

• Creativity: Impactful - the solution is different or unique from what is already out there and can be implemented
• Exploration: Flexible - follow the provided screen requirements section and propose improvements or different paths that positively impact the user goals.
• Aesthetics: Hi-fidelity design - provide a top-notch finished looking visual design
• Branding: Strict - carefully follow the provided guidelines and stick to them

TERMS & GLOSSARY

• SMB (Small Business Tax Information): https://www.usa.gov/business-taxes 
• PT (Property Tax): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_tax 
• Tax Return: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_return_(United_States) 

MARVEL PROTOTYPE

• We need you to upload your screens to MarvelApp
• Please request your MarvelApp prototype in the respective thread in the challenge forum
• You MUST include your Marvelapp URL (in your marvel app prototype, click on share and then copy the link & share it with your notes/comment this link while you upload)

FINAL DELIVERABLES

• Submit JPG/PNG image files based on Challenge submission requirements stated above
• Declaration files document contains the following information:
  • Stock Photos Name and Links from allowed sources
  • Stock Art/Icons Name and Links from allowed sources
  • Fonts Name and Links source from allowed sources
• Full Details of the Topcoder Policy can be found in this LINK

• All source files of all graphics created in Figma (client recommendation), Sketch, or XD and saved as an editable layer

FINAL FIXES

• As part of the final fixes phase, you may be asked to modify your files, add or remove screens or combine details to create a final presentation