27. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22 , the instructions when executed by a processor further comprising functionality for: generating an inferred tax data item from the first and second tax data items; and further generating the partially completed tax return by further populating the tax form using the inferred tax data item and further calculating the preliminary tax liability therefrom.
22. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for preparing a tax return for a user, the instructions when executed by a processor comprising functionality for: collecting tax data items without user intervention by: identifying, by applying a plurality of inference rules based on information of the user, a first document and an entity configured to maintain the first document; identifying an access mechanism for accessing the first document from the entity and obtaining a downloaded copy of the first document based on the access mechanism; retrieving a first tax data item from the first document by applying the plurality of inference rules based on the downloaded copy; obtaining a scanned image of a second document; and retrieving a second tax data item from the second document by applying the plurality of inference rules based on the scanned image; generating a partially completed tax return by populating a tax form of the tax return using the first and second tax data items and calculating a preliminary tax liability therefrom; and displaying the partially completed tax return comprising the preliminary tax liability to the user.