ftax Privacy Policy

(Effective January 29, 2014 Updated Last on September 11, 2024)

California Privacy Policy
Colorado Privacy Policy
Connecticut Privacy Policy
Virginia Privacy Policy

ftax ("ftax", "we", "us" or "our") recognizes your need for the appropriate protection and management of your personally identifiable information ("Personal Information") that we may acquire in connection with your use of our website (the "Web Site"), tax preparation software (the "Software"), and the services offered on our web site (the "Services"). Accordingly, we have instituted this privacy policy ("Privacy Policy") to inform you how we collect, use, and store your Personal Information. URL's covered by this privacy policy: www.ftax.com.

Acceptance of and Changes to Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is a part of and subject to the ftax User Agreement and the ftax Professional Tax Preparer User Agreement (each, the "Agreement"). Accordingly, when you click the "I Agree" button, or access or use the Web Site, Software, or the Services, you agree that you have read, understand, and agree that we can collect, use, and disclose your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree or are not comfortable with any part of this Privacy Policy, you should indicate that you do not agree to the Agreement (including this Privacy Policy) and you may not use the Web Site, Software, or the Services. By accessing or using our platform, you are consenting to receive notifications electronically.

When you receive notification of a change in our Privacy Policy, you should review the new Privacy Policy carefully to make sure that you understand our practices and procedures. Notifications of such changes are sent to you electronically and/or posted on our websites identified by the URL's above. We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time and it is your responsibility to update yourself regarding any and all modifications to this privacy policy, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by e-mail, or by means of a notice on our home page prior to the change becoming effective.

Information Collection and Use of Personal Information

We collect Personal Information from you for the purpose of providing the Web Site, Software, and Services. Further, we use your Personal Information to allow you to prepare and file tax returns, collect your tax refund, and use the other Services that we offer.

Categories of Personal Information Collected - We collect your name, Social Security number, e-mail address, mailing address, income, dependents and financial information you provided us when you completed and filed any tax return using the Software and the Services.

Tax Information - We collect the information that you provide to us when you complete and file any tax return using the Software and the Services. This information includes, but is not limited to: your name, e-mail address, social security number, address, income, dependents, and other financial information. We may also use this information to contact you regarding your use of the Services. Further, if you make a claim for a refund under the limited warranty in the Agreement, we will use any Personal Information that you have provided in order to evaluate your claim.

Upon request ftax will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. You may review and change this Personal Information at any time before the IRS or state taxing authority accepts your tax return by simply logging on to the Web Site and accessing your tax return. After the IRS or state taxing authority accepts your tax return, you cannot change the Personal Information contained in that tax return. The only exception is changing your e-mail address, a "change e-mail address" link is provided on your status screen after you log into your account. However, you may access that tax return through your account on the Web Site up until October 20 of the next tax year following acceptance by the applicable taxing authority.

We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services contact us at customerservice@ftax.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We will respond to your request within 10 business days.

Registration Information -If you register to use the Services and the Software, we collect your name and e-mail address and we will use this information to provide you with customer service. We will likely send you a welcoming e-mail verifying you have entered a valid e-mail address. Also, we will likely send a yearly e-mail reminder to return to ftax to complete your latest tax return. If you no longer want to receive the reminder e-mails simply click the "unsubscribe" link in the e-mail. For service related e-mails i.e. your tax return status you will not be able to unsubscribe. You must contact Customer Service if you no longer wish to receive service related e-mails. If you request to be removed from the service related e-mails list the only way to obtain the status of your tax return filed with us is to log into your account on the Web Site(s). If you need to change your e-mail address and you have an accepted return, a link is provided on your status screen after you log into your account. Contact ftax Customer Service if you believe that you have provided ftax with an incorrect e-mail address or if you need further e-mail address correction assistance

Financial Information- We collect credit card, banking, and other financial information ("Financial Information") from you in order to allow you to pay to use the Software and Services and, in some cases, to receive your tax refund via direct deposit. You will know when we are collecting Financial Information from you, because you will provide it to us via the Web Site. At times, however, we will obtain relevant information that we need from third parties. For example, if you choose to pay with a credit card, you will need to provide us with your credit card information. As another example, if you choose to receive your refund through direct deposit, you must provide us with your bank information. We do not use Financial Information for anything other than to process transactions. If you would like to review or request changes to your Financial Information, please contact ftax Customer Service and we will allow you to review your Financial Information and we will make any changes that we believe are applicable.

Disclosure of Personal Information

There are no companies affiliated with us to which we will disclose your Personal Information. We will generally not disclose your Personal Information to unaffiliated third parties. Specifically, we do not share, sell or rent your Personal Information to third-party advertisers, "spammers", or anyone else who we know will use it for their own advertising or marketing purposes. We will, however, disclose your Personal Information under the limited circumstances listed below:

Your Consent - We will disclose your Personal Information to a third-party when you specifically instruct us in writing to do so.

Tax Returns - When you prepare and file a tax return using the Software and Services, that tax return, and the Personal Information that you include in it, will be provided to the taxing authority with whom the tax return is filed. The IRS and any applicable state taxing authority will use this information to process your return. In addition, each year the IRS analyzes data from tax returns to monitor tax-filing trends, improve its processes, prevent fraud, and promote its services. The IRS currently requires that all returns filed through the Free File indicate that they originated from the Free File, and may use that information consistent with IRS rules governing the collection and use of taxpayer data. ftax does not control and takes no responsibility for IRS use of Personal Information. The IRS requires that your IP address be linked to your Personal Information. The IP address includes the IP address itself, and also includes, but is not limited to, date, time and time zone information. Accordingly, we treat your IP address as "Personal Information" and will protect it as such, as outlined in this Privacy Policy. In addition, in an attempt to detect fraud, we provide your IP address to the applicable taxing authority when you file your tax return using the Services.

Third-Party Providers - We may disclose certain Personal Information to third-party service providers who help us maintain the Web Site, Software, or the Services through the Web Site. For example, Tax Products Group (TPG) provides "pay from refund" services. If you request either of these services, we will disclose the Personal Information contained in your tax return to them so that they can process and evaluate your request for these services. We will also disclose your Financial Information to the institutions and companies who will process your payment for the Services. We use Right Now to host our customer service pages. They do not have access or control of your Personal Information entered on these pages and they are not allowed to use it for their promotional purposes. Where possible, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that these third-party service providers are obligated to protect your Personal Information on our behalf.

Emergencies and Disclosure Required by Law - We reserve the right to disclose your Personal Information without your consent to prevent an emergency, to protect or enforce our rights, to protect or enforce the rights of a third-party, as required or permitted by law (including, without limitation, to comply with a subpoena or court order), in response to an inquiry or request from regulatory authorities, or to protect against fraud. You should note that the taxing authorities frequently request information regarding our user's use of the Software and Services, and we comply with such requests. If ftax is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Web site of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information. In certain situations, ftax may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. Disclosure of your Personal Information may also be allowed by applicable law for such reasons as to administer a transaction, to protect the confidentiality or security of records, to prevent fraud, or to comply with legal or regulatory requirements. If we do disclose your Personal Information under the limited circumstances set forth above, only the following will be disclosed:

Categories of Personal Information Disclosed - We may disclose your name, Social Security number, e-mail address, mailing address, income, dependents and financial information you provided us when you completed and filed any tax return using the Software and the Services, under the limited and specific circumstances set forth herein.

SSL and Data Security

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) on our order forms, we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). We restrict access to our user's information that we keep in our offices. Only employees who need such information to perform a specific job are granted access to it.

We cannot and do not act as insurers of the security of your Personal Information, particularly when it is transmitted over the Internet. Accordingly, we assume no liability for any disclosure of data due to errors in transmission, unauthorized third-party access or other acts of third parties, or acts or omissions beyond our reasonable control. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can contact us at customerservice@ftax.com.

Log Files

As is true of most web sites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. We collect information from you that cannot be easily used to personally identify you in most cases, such as your browser type and the URL of the previous web site you visited. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the Web Site, track a user's movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We may set an indicator (cookie) on your computer to assist in gathering the information. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, to improve site functionality.

Tracking technologies

ftax and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track user's movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level, but if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on our website or service.

Links to Other Sites

Our Site includes links to other Web sites whose privacy practices may differ from those of ftax If you submit personal information to any of those sites, your information is governed by their privacy policies. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy policy of any Web site you visit.

Social Media Features

Our Web site includes Social Media Features, such as the Facebook button. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the Feature to function properly. Social Media Features are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it

A Note About Children's Privacy

The Web Site, Software, and Services are intended for users ages eighteen and older. Individuals under eighteen years old are not allowed to use the Web Site, Software, or Services. Accordingly, we will not knowingly collect or use any Personal Information from individuals we know to be under the age of eighteen. In addition, if notified, we will delete any Personal Information in our database that originates from anyone under the age of eighteen. However, a parent or guardian may input data for a taxpayer under the age of eighteen.

Better Business Bureau

Your trust is important to us. By participating in the Council of Better Business Bureau's BBBOnLine ® Reliability Program we have made a commitment to meet the programs' strict requirements regarding how we treat your information. Further information about this program is available at www.bbbonline.org.

Dispute Resolution

If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request.

Device

Browser Name:

Chrome

Browser Platform:

win10

Browser Version:

111.0

Host name:

ip72-199-71-7.sd.sd.cox.net

IP Address:

72.199.71.7

ISP:

Cox communications

Languages:

en;q=0.9

Access and Individual Rights

ftax respects your control over your information and, upon request, we will confirm whether we hold or are processing information that we have collected from you. You also have the right to amend or update inaccurate or incomplete personal information, request deletion of your personal information, or request that we no longer use it. Under certain circumstances we will not be able to fulfill your request, such as if it interferes with our regulatory obligations, affects legal matters, we cannot verify your identity, or it involves disproportionate cost or effort, but in any event we will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe and provide you an explanation. In order to make such a request of us, please create a ticket at Customer Service www.ftax.com/main/ftax/service.php or send a mail to Privacy@olt.com

QUESTIONS? If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact our Customer Service Department or you can send a letter to: On-Line Taxes, Inc., 724 Jules Street, Saint Joseph, MO 64501.

United States Privacy Policy

This Policy applies to residents of the United States.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

On-Line Taxes is a financial institution subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). Except as necessary to provide you with tax preparation services or as authorized by law, we will not use or disclose your Tax Information unless you consent. Please find our GLBA Notice here. By using, accessing, or interacting with the software and services, you are consenting to receive notices about your financial privacy electronically

California Notice

Scope. On-Line Taxes is a financial institution and collects personal information about you pursuant to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA"), the California Financial Information Privacy Act ("CFIPA"), the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and certain other state or federal privacy laws as applicable. This California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") Notice ("California Notice") applies only to California residents and explains how ftax collects, uses, and discloses Personal Information subject to the CCPA and describes your rights with respect to your Personal Information. For purposes of this section, the term "Personal Information" has the meaning given in the CCPA but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CCPA. For purposes of this CCPA Disclosure, "consumer" or "you" means individuals who are in California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, and individuals who are domiciled in California who are outside California for a temporary or transitory purpose ("California Residents") and "we" or "us" means ftax.

At ftax, most of the information we collect on consumers relates to the services we provide with our Tax Products which is not subject to the CCPA; however we also collect personal information related to California Residents in other contexts, including in connection with our marketing activities, our websites, and mobile applications that is subject to the CCPA.

CCPA CATEGORIES	ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES	SOURCES	RECIPIENTS	PURPOSES FOR COLLECTION	RETENTION
Identifiers	Name, address, email address, online identifiers, internet protocol address, Social Security numbers, or other similar identifiers	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Personal information as defined in the California Records Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80	Contact and financial information	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Protected classifications under California or federal law	Age, marital status, sex, and veteran or military status	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Commercial information	Information about past transactions or purchases	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Internet or similar network activity information	Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer's interaction with a website, application, or advertisement	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Geolocation data	Device location	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub
Audio, electronic, visual, or similar information	Call and video recordings	Voice mail from customer	Seeking help on the software	To help customer	3 months
Inferences drawn from other personal information	Certain inferences concerning an individual's preferences and characteristics	Input From customer	Internal Revenue Service Or/and California department Of revenue Or Other state agencies	To prepare And file a Tax return	As defined by IRS Pub

Personal Information that we collect, use, and disclose. In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information, as defined in the CCPA, relating to California residents. The categories of personal information that we collect, use, and disclose about a California resident will depend on our specific relationship or interaction with that individual. The examples provided in each category below include both financial and non-financial information and are for illustrative purposes only.

Your California privacy rights. As a California resident, you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Access. You may request that we provide the following information about how we have collected and used your Personal Information during the past 12 months:

the categories of Personal Information we have collected about you,
the sources from which that information was collected,
the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, and/or sharing your Personal Information,
the categories of personal information we shared or sold about you,
the categories of third parties to whom we shared or sold personal information about you,
the categories of personal information we disclosed for a business purpose, and
the categories of third parties to whom we disclosed personal information about you for a business purpose.

Request a copy of your Personal Information. While not subject to the CCPA, cou may access that tax return through your ftax account until October 20 of the next tax year following acceptance by the applicable taxing authority. You may also contact Customer Service with your request.

Correction. You may review and change this Personal Information at any time before the IRS or state taxing authority accepts your tax return by simply logging on to the Web Site and accessing your tax return. After the IRS or state taxing authority accepts your tax return, you cannot change the Personal Information contained in that tax return. The only exception is changing your e-mail address, a "change e-mail address" link is provided on your status screen after you log into your account.

Deletion. You may have the right, under certain circumstances, to request that we delete the personal information you have provided to us. Once the IRS or a state taxing authority accepts your return, you may not delete your Tax Information. You may still contact ftax to delete information we collected for marketing purposes.

Opt-out of Sales and/or Sharing. We do not sell or share personal information under the CCPA and therefore we do not offer a "Your California Privacy Rights" link on its website. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of individuals under 16 years of age.

Limit processing of sensitive personal information. We only use sensitive personal information as necessary for our (1) Service delivery and operations, (2) compliance and protection, (3) research and development, or (4) Service improvement and analytics purposes in accordance with CCPA. If we use sensitive personal information outside the permitted purposes of CCPA, we will provide you with the right to limit processing of sensitive personal information.

Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination or retaliation related to your exercise of any of your California privacy rights.

Verification. In order to protect your personal information from unauthorized access or deletion, we may require you to verify your credentials before you can submit a rights request. If you do not have an account with us, or if we suspect your account has been accessed without your authorization, we may ask you to provide additional personal information for verification. For ftax customers, we may require that you confirm certain pieces of personal information that we have on file and/or log into your ftax account. If we are subsequently unable to confirm your identity, we may refuse your rights request.

Authorized agents. You may use an authorized agent to submit a rights request. If you do so, the authorized agent must present signed written authorization to act on your behalf, and you will also be required to independently verify your own identity directly with us and confirm with us that you provided the authorized agent permission to submit the rights request. This verification process is not necessary if your authorized agent provides documentation showing that the authorized agent has power of attorney to act on your behalf under Cal. Prob. Code § §4121 to 4130.

Colorado Residents

Scope. This section applies only to Colorado residents. It describes how we collect, use, and share Personal Data of Colorado residents in our capacity as a business under the Colorado Privacy Rights Act ("CPA") and your rights with respect to that Personal Data. For purposes of this section, the term "Personal Data" has the meaning given in the CPA but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CPA. Please note that we may claim legal exemptions for certain types of personal information and certain Intuit companies from all or certain parts of the CPA.

Your Colorado privacy rights. As a Colorado resident, you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Access your Personal Information. While not subject to the CCPA, you may access your tax return through your ftax account until October 20 of the next tax year following acceptance by the applicable taxing authority. You may also contact Customer Service with your request.

Opt-out of tracking for targeted advertising purposes. You can submit requests to opt-out of tracking for targeted advertising purposes by visiting the "Manage Cookies" or "Privacy Settings" link in the footer of our website. We do not otherwise "sell" your Personal Data to third parties for monetary consideration.

Opt-out of profiling. You can opt-out of the automated processing of your Personal Data to evaluate, analyze, or predict personal aspects related to your economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements, to the extent this results in decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Sensitive Personal Data. We will not process your sensitive personal data without your consent.

Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination related to your exercise of any of your Colorado privacy rights.

Authentication. In order to protect your Personal Data from unauthorized access or deletion, we may require you to verify your credentials before you can submit a rights request. If you do not have an account with us, or if we suspect that your account has been accessed without your authorization, we may ask you to provide additional personal information for verification.

Connecticut Residents

Scope. This section applies only to Connecticut residents. It describes how we collect, use, and share Personal Data of Connecticut residents in our capacity as a business under the Connecticut Data Privacy Act ("CDPA") and your rights with respect to that Personal Data. For purposes of this section, the term "Personal Data" has the meaning given in the CDPA but does not include information exempted from the scope of the CDPA. Please note that we may claim legal exemptions for certain types of personal information from all or certain parts of the CDPA.

Your Connecticut privacy rights. As a Connecticut resident, you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Sensitive Personal Data. We will not process your sensitive personal data without your consent.

Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination related to your exercise of any of your Connecticut privacy rights.

Virginia Residents

Scope. This section applies only to Virginia residents. It describes how we collect, use, and share Personal Data of Virginia residents in our capacity as a business under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act ("VCDPA") and your rights with respect to that Personal Data. For purposes of this section, the term "Personal Data" has the meaning given in the VCDPA but does not include information exempted from the scope of the VCDPA. Please note that we may claim legal exemptions for certain types of personal information and certain Intuit companies from all or certain parts of the VCDPA.

Your Virginia privacy rights. As a Virginia resident, you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases we may decline your request as permitted by law.

Sensitive Personal Data. We will not process your sensitive personal data without your consent.

Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination related to your exercise of any of your Virginia privacy rights.

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