Privacy Notice for California Residents – Supplement to TaxAct’s Privacy Notice
Last Updated: December 29, 2022
This Privacy Notice for California Residents (“CA Privacy Notice Supplement”) supplements the information contained in the Privacy Notice, located on our Website (the “Site”), of TaxAct, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, “TaxAct,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), and applies solely to visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (“residents,” “consumers,” or “you”). In the event of any conflict between this notice and our Privacy Notice, this privacy notice shall govern. We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) and other California privacy laws. Any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this Privacy Notice.
This Notice does not apply to job applicants or current and former employees/contractors. If you are an employee or current or former employee/contractor, a separate privacy notice will be provided to you in the course of your employment. If you are applicant, please review our California applicant privacy notice. If you have any questions, please contact us as provided below.
Information We Collect
The information we collect is identified in the “Information We Collect” section of our Privacy Notice. It includes information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or reasonably could be linked, directly or indirectly, with a specific individual, consumer, or personal device (“Personal Information”) and, for limited purposes, sensitive personal information as described below.
If you have used our Services, we have collected the following categories of Personal Information from you within the last twelve (12) months:
Categories: Identifiers.
Examples
A real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, social security number, driver’s license number, passport number, or other similar identifiers. Business Identifiers such as business name, email address, physical address, phone number, professional registration numbers, and role or title.
Purpose
TaxAct uses this information only in accordance with applicable laws, such as to prepare, assist in preparing, or obtain or provide services in connection with the preparation of a tax return; to provide you with the products and services you specifically request or consent to and other uses or disclosures as you expressly consent to from time to time; or as required by law. We also collect this information to establish and maintain business relationships. The use and disclosure of Tax Return Information is governed by Section 301-7216 of the Internal Revenue Code and many state codes and regulations.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Personal Information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)).
Examples
A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, associated telephone numbers, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.
Purpose
TaxAct uses this information only in accordance with applicable laws, such as to prepare, assist in preparing, or obtain or provide services in connection with the preparation of a tax return; to provide you with the products and services you specifically request or consent to and other uses or disclosures as you expressly consent to from time to time; or as required by law. The use and disclosure of Tax Return Information is governed by Section 301-7216 of the Internal Revenue Code and many state codes and regulations.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.
Examples
Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).
Purpose
TaxAct uses this information only in accordance with applicable laws, such as to prepare, assist in preparing, or obtain or provide services in connection with preparing your tax return; to provide you with the products and services you specifically request or consent to and other uses or disclosures as you expressly consent to from time to time; or as required by law. The use and disclosure of Tax Return Information is governed by Section 301-7216 of the Internal Revenue Code and many state codes and regulations.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Commercial information.
Examples
Records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
Purpose
TaxAct only collects and uses commercial information such as records of personal property in relation to providing tax related services.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Biometric information.
Examples
Genetic, physiological, behavioral, and biological characteristics or activity patterns used to extract a template or other identifier or identifying information, such as fingerprints, faceprints, and voiceprints, iris or retina scans, keystroke patterns, gait, or other physical patterns, and sleep, health, or exercise data.
Purpose
Your device may utilize this information to authenticate you, but TaxAct does not collect this category of information.
Collected
No
Categories: Internet or other similar network activity.
Examples
Browsing history, search history, information on a consumer’s interaction with a website, application, or advertisement.
Purpose
TaxAct uses your information to personalize or customize your experience and our products, develop new features or services, and to improve the overall quality of our product offerings.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Geolocation data.
Examples
Physical location or movements.
Purpose
TaxAct uses your information to personalize or customize your experience and our products, develop new features or services, and to improve the security and overall quality of our product offerings.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Sensory data.
Examples
Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.
Purpose
TaxAct does not collect this category of information except for the recording of customer service calls, in instances where we ask to share your screen to help resolve your inquiry, or where interactions with our service staff is conducted by video conferencing and recorded. TaxAct uses this information to provide support and to improve the overall quality of our offerings.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Professional or employment-related information.
Examples
Current or past job history.
Purpose
TaxAct only collects and uses professional and employment history in relation to providing tax related services.
Collected
Yes
Categories: Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99)).
Examples
Education records directly related to a student maintained by an educational institution or party acting on its behalf, such as grades, transcripts, class lists, student schedules, student identification codes, student financial information, or student disciplinary records.
Purpose
TaxAct does not collect this category of information.
Collected
No
Categories: Inferences drawn from other Personal Information.
Examples
Profile reflecting a person’s preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes.
Purpose
TaxAct itself creates this sort of information based on other information collected as part of its marketing planning efforts. TaxAct uses this information to provide, support, and improve the Services.
Collected
Yes
The above chart also includes the Sensitive Personal Information we collect and the purpose for which it is collected.
Under California law, we only collect the following sensitive information from consumers: Social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; Account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account.
We do not collect the following types of Sensitive Personal Information from consumers. Personal Information that reveals a consumer’s racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership; biometric information for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer; concerning a consumer’s health; concerning a consumer’s sex life or sexual orientation, or precise geolocation (location within a radius of 1,850 feet).
Not included in the definition of Personal Information is information that is publicly available, information that has been de-identified or aggregated, or other information exempt from the purview of the CCPA.
We may collect Personal Information and Sensitive Personal Information from the following sources:
Directly from you. For example, when you sign up to receive information from us, sign up for our services, or any other time you submit Personal Information to us voluntarily.
Automatically when you use our website. For example, we may collect your usage history when you use our website.
Other parties. For example, we may receive Personal Information from service providers who provide us with IT services, advertising services, or help facilitate our sales.
Retention, Use, and Disclosing of Personal Information
We may use or disclose your Personal Information as described in the “How We Use Your Information” and “How and Why We Disclose Your Information” sections of our Privacy Notice.
Retention
We keep the categories of Personal Information described above for as long is necessary for the purposes described in this Notice or otherwise authorized by law. This generally means holding the information for as long as one of the following apply:
Your Personal Information is reasonably necessary to manage our operations, to manage your relationship with us, or to satisfy another purpose for which we collect the information;
Your Personal Information is reasonably necessary to carry out a disclosed purposes that is reasonably compatible with the context in which the Personal Information was collected;
The Personal Information is reasonably required to protect or defend our rights or property (which will generally relate to applicable laws that limit actions in a particular case); or
We are otherwise required or permitted to keep your Personal Information by applicable laws or regulations.
Where Personal Information is used for more than one purpose, we will retain it until the purpose with the latest period expires. For more information about our retention policies, please contact us using the contact details below.
Personal Information Disclosed for a Business Purpose
In the preceding twelve (12) months, we may have disclosed the following categories of personal information for a business purpose:
Identifiers;
Professional and Employment Related Information;
California Customer Records personal information categories;
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law;
Internet or similar network activity;
Geolocation;
Sensory Data;
Commercial Information; and
Inferences drawn from other personal information.
We disclose your personal information for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:
Service providers and Contractors
Third parties in connection with products or services we provide to you
Affiliates
How we Sell and Share Personal Information
Under California law, a “sale” of Personal Information does not necessarily involve one party purchasing personal information from the other or an exchange of money. Instead, the term also includes disclosures of Personal Information to Third Parties under circumstances where the Third Parties are not restricted from using the information obtained from providing us services to improve their own products and service.
As described in our general privacy notice, we utilize interest-based advertising services from third parties on our website. When you interact with our website, some of your Personal Information may be shared, if legally permitted, with certain of these third-party providers who may use it for online or “cross-context” behavioral advertising, which meets the definition(s) of “share” and/or “sale” under California law. You have the right to opt out of the “sale or share” of your Personal Information, as detailed below.
The following categories of personal information may have been sold or shared to a third party for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising:
Identifiers;
Internet or similar network activity information;
Commercial Information; and
Inferences drawn from other Personal Information.
Each of the categories of personal information listed above may be sold or shared with the following categories of third parties for the purpose of cross-context behavioral advertising:
Advertisers and marketing partners;
Data analytics providers; and
Social media networks.
Rights and Choices
California consumers and residents are provided with certain rights regarding their Personal Information under California law. For requests received directly from a California resident consumer, this section describes your rights and explains how to exercise those rights.
Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, you may request we disclose to you:
The categories of personal information we collected about you.
The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
Our business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling or sharing that personal information and how long we keep your information.
The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
The categories of Personal Information that we disclosed for a business purpose, and for each category identified, the categories of recipients to which we disclosed that particular category of Personal Information.
The categories of Personal Information that we sold or shared, and for each category identified, the categories of recipients to which we sold or shared that particular category of Personal Information.
The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
Deletion Request Rights
You have the right to request that we delete your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.
Rectification Request Rights
You have the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete Personal Information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will provide a response that may include self-service tools that enable you to update your Personal information, unless an exception applies.
Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information
We do not use or disclose sensitive Personal Information for purposes to which the right to limit use and disclosure applies under California law.
Opt-out Rights
Opt-out of Sale or Share
You may elect to add your name to our “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” list by visiting Personal Data Protection Form - Protect Your Personal Data (taxact.com), https://www.taxact.com/do-not-sell-personal-information or clicking the button labeled “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” on any TaxAct web page.
If you are a professional user and wish to opt-out of having information about you shared with our affiliated companies for marketing purposes, please visit: https://www.taxact.com/email/preference-center/global-dne
Note, however, that even if you opt-out of receiving marketing communications, we may still contact you for non-marketing purposes (such as account information, feedback or research purposes, legal notices, account security, bug alerts, or changes that may impact your ability to use TaxAct products and services).
However, note that if you provide your information to a third party for their own use, or if said third party otherwise collects your information as part of your interactions with them, then their use of your information will be subject to the limits of their privacy statement or notice, rather than ours.
Certain web browsers allow users to opt-out of tracking by websites and online services by enabling an opt-out preference signal such as Do Not Track (“DNT”) or Global Privacy Control (“GPC”). If you choose to enable an opt-out request preference signal, you will only be opted out of online sales or sharing of your information and will need to turn it on for each browser you use.
To submit a request to opt out of offline sales and sharing which would not otherwise be controlled by an opt-out preference signal, please click on the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” button located on any TaxAct webpage.
Opt-out of Automated Decision making
You have the right to opt-out of automated decision making and request information about the logic involved in in any automated decision-making processes, as well as a description of the likely outcome of the process as it pertains to you.
Request Submissions
To exercise the rights under CCPA, please submit a verifiable consumer request by completing the online form at: https://privacy.taxact.com/You may also call the following toll-free number: (866) 981-1144.
Verifiable Requests
A verifiable request may be submitted by you if you are a California resident or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that is authorized to act on your behalf. These requests must:
Detail sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative; and
Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor's identity or authority to make the request.
Timeframe for Responding to Requests and Format
TaxAct shall confirm receipt of a consumer’s request within ten (10) days of receipt. TaxAct will respond to the request within forty-five (45) days of receipt of the request.
The period of response may be extended to ninety (90) days if more time is required. In that event, we will inform you of the reason for the extension period in writing. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period.
Fee
We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded.
No Discrimination
The CCPA prohibits a business from discriminating against California consumers for exercising the rights outlined above. Unless permitted by CCPA, we will not discriminate against you for exercising the rights by:
Denying goods or services to you;
Charging different prices or rates for goods or services, including through the use of discounts, benefits, or other penalties;
Providing a different level or quality of goods or services; and
Suggesting a different price or quality of goods or services will apply if rights are exercised.
Please note, that certain information is required to effectively use our Services. For example, if you exercise the right to delete your information your account will be deactivated, which prevents the use of our goods and services. This in no way prevents you from creating a new account in the future.
No Financial Incentive
We do not offer any financial incentives or price or service difference in an attempt to influence a consumer’s decision whether or not to exercise a right afforded to the consumer under California law.
California “shine the light”
A California resident with whom TaxAct has an established relationship has the right to request certain information with respect to any Personal Information TaxAct may have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Alternatively, TaxAct may provide a cost-free means to opt out of such sharing. TaxAct has opted to provide you with a cost-free means to opt out of such sharing. If you do not want TaxAct to disclose your Personal Information to other companies for their marketing purposes, please use our Personal Data Protection Form - Protect Your Personal Data, https://www.taxact.com/do-not-sell-personal-information or clicking the button labeled “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” on any TaxAct web page or contact us at privacypolicy@taxact.com.
Changes to Privacy Notice
From time to time, we may change this Privacy Notice and will notify you of changes by posting the changed or modified Privacy Notice on our Site. If the changes are material, we will provide you with additional notice (such as sending you an email notification or posting a banner notice on our web page). Any changes will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Privacy Notice unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of our Site following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.
TaxAct Contact Information
If you have any questions about the Privacy Notice or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Our postal address:
3200 Olympus Blvd, Suite 150
Dallas, Texas 75019
Other ways to reach us:
Telephone: 319-373-3600