"Melancon noted that 77 tax strategy patents have been approved so far, and 129 are pending. They apply to a broad range of areas affecting regular taxpayers, including charitable contributions, estate and gift taxes, pension plans and deferred compensation. For example, Melancon noted, a patent has been granted for the process of computing and disclosing the federal income tax consequences involved in the conversion from a standard IRA to a Roth IRA. In the bill, the term "tax planning method" is defined as "a plan, strategy, technique, or scheme that is designed to reduce, minimize, or defer, or has, when implemented, the effect of reducing, minimizing, or deferring, a taxpayer’s tax liability, but does not include the use of tax preparation software or other tools used solely to perform or model mathematical calculations or prepare tax or information returns." "
Source: http://www.bankinvestmentconsultant.com/news/congress-ban-tax-strategy-patents-2662004-1.html
