Privacy Policy

The privacy of your personal information is very important to us. We have gone to great lengths to ensure that the information you provide us is safe.

This website is secured by both SSL and Extended Validation SSL, with 256-bit encryption. When you enter tax information on this website you will see a pad lock next to the URL. This helps let you know that your information is being submitted in a secure place and makes you aware of precisely whom this website is owned by.

At E-file.com, we are committed to safeguarding customer information collected through our products and services via our website (E-file.com)("Site"). This Privacy Policy is provided for website visitors and users of our products and services (“you”). As a financial services and technology company, E-file.com LLC (“E-file”, “we”, and “us”) provides these guidelines to explain what information we may gather about you and how we may share it. This Privacy Policy explains E-file’s collection, use, retention, and security of information about you. It also describes your choices regarding use, access, and correction of your personal information.

Since your privacy is a priority to us, E-file.com will not share nonpublic information about you with third parties outside of the E-file.com corporate family without your consent, except as explained in our Privacy Policy.

As a U.S. based company offering products related to the preparation of U.S. federal and state tax returns, E-file.com does not market to nor target subjects of other countries including those in the European Economic Area. In addition, as a provider of tax preparation software, E-file.com may be considered an exempt financial institution (or some of the data that E-file.com collects may be exempt) under certain U.S. state privacy laws. While the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and various data privacy laws do not apply to E-file, we strive to meet all rules and regulations relating to data protection and security promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit (https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/security-summit for more information) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ("GLBA").

As a service to our customers, our Site may contain links to various tax agencies/services such as IRS.gov. The links provided are maintained by these separate entities and are not the property of, or affiliated with, E-file.com in any way. 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 website you visit.

Similarly, certain portions of our Site may include features that are powered by third parties, including video tutorials and social media features such as like or share buttons or widgets. These features may collect your IP address, other identifiers, which page you are visiting on our site, and other information, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Your interactions with such features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

Information That This Site Collects

We collect information from you directly, the devices that you use to interact with us, and third-party analytics providers.

Information You Give to Us

You may provide the following information to us directly when you enter and use our Site, contact us for support, or purchase products and services:

• Contact information, such as name, email address, and phone number.

• Account information, such as username and password.

• Payment information, including credit card information (collected by us or our third-party payment processor) is used only to complete your transaction.

• Information contained in communications to us, including your requests for support or assistance and information necessary to contact you or otherwise fulfill your request. We may ask you to share your screen or chat with us via video conferencing, and we will always ask your permission before recording any of these sessions.

• Information you provide to us to prepare or file a tax return using our Site, which information may include your Social Security Number, date of birth, income, employment status, marital status, claimed deductions, credits, and other information necessary to accurately complete your tax return (collectively, "Tax Return Information").

• Banking information, such as account and routing numbers, which we use to facilitate refunds.

• Information that you make available to us via a social media platform, including content that you post on our social media pages and community pages.

• Information you submit to inquire about or apply for a job with us.

• Information you provide when you provide customer testimonials or feedback; post comments on our blog or community forums; or participate in our surveys, promotions, marketing events, trade shows, webinars, conferences, training, or product research.

• Any other information you submit to us.

Information We Collect Automatically

We and partners working on our behalf may use cookies, web beacons, pixels, tags, or other digital technologies on our Site, or portions thereof, that collect information from the device you use to interact with our Site and services. We also create records when you make purchases or otherwise interact with the Site or services. The information collected may include:

• Internet service provider

• Device identification number, including mobile device ID and IP address

• Operating system and browser type

• Analytical information about how you interact with our Site and services, including how often you use the Site; access dates and times; your activities on our Site, including page views, mouse clicks, movements, and scrolling activity, events that occur on the Site; performance information; and referring and exit pages

What Are Cookies

A cookie is a small file sent to a browser by a website you visit to help that website remember information about your visit. Other technologies, including unique identifiers used to identify a browser, application or device, pixels, and local storage, can also be used for these purposes.

Please note that if you do not accept cookies or other technologies, some features or activities may not be available to you. Also, if you use a different browser, or use a new or different device, you may need to renew your cookie preferences.

The following sets out the different categories of cookies that E-file.com may use:

Essential Cookies

Essential cookies are necessary to allow the technical operation of our Services. We use  these cookies to authenticate you, run your session securely while you’re logged in, help detect and prevent fraud, and provide you with our Services.

Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to help remember your site preferences and choices so that we can deliver Services, monitor our Services, and offer you enhanced functionality when using our Services.

Analytics Cookies

Analytics cookies are used to help us understand how you access our Services so we can make improvements.

Advertising Cookies

Advertising cookies and pixels are used to deliver relevant ads and track ad campaign performance and efficiency. For example, we and our ad partners may use information collected to serve you interest-based ads on our website or on other websites.

Please note that even if you opt out of cookies or targeted advertising, you will still receive advertisements, but they may not be tailored to your interests.

There are also cookies that allow us to advertise to prior visitors of this site on third-party websites, such as Google. This technology is commonly referred to as remarketing. Remarketing means that an advertisement may be shown to a visitor based on their visit to a particular website. If you would like information on opting out of this, please see here.

Managing Cookies in Your Browser

You can also set your Internet browser (e.g., Chrome, Safari, Edge, Internet Explorer, etc.) to warn you each time a cookie is being sent or to turn off all cookies (except Flash cookies). Check your browser’s Help menu to find out how. You can also use third-party tools to identify and make additional choices about many technologies, including cookies.

Mobile Devices  

Most mobile devices allow you to manage how other technologies, such as unique identifiers are set and used. For example, the Advertising ID on Android devices or Apple’s Advertising Identifier can be managed in your device’s settings. Please reference your mobile operating system support documentation to learn more.

Children's information

Our products and services are not intended for or directed to children under the age of 18, nor do we knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18.

How Information is Used

We may use the information we collect for the following purposes:

• Tax preparation and related services: Section 301-7216 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 7216”) specifically governs the use and disclosure of “Tax Return Information” as that term is used in Section 7216. Tax Return Information may also be considered “Nonpublic Customer Information” protected under the GLBA. Some states may also have additional laws and regulations related to use and disclosure of the same information. We use your Tax Return Information only in accordance with those applicable laws and regulations to prepare and assist in preparing your tax return, to provide services associated with preparing your tax return, and to provide you with other products and services you specifically request or consent to, unless otherwise allowed under applicable law.

• Service functionality: To provide products and services you request, including to process payments, fulfill orders, import data for tax return preparation, process forms, and facilitate service communications, as well as to conduct general business operations, such as accounting, recordkeeping, and audits.

• Service improvement: As permitted by law, to improve our services, analyze our customer base and purchasing trends and the effectiveness of our marketing.

• Customer support: As permitted by law, to address questions submitted to our customer or technical support systems and to send updates or security alerts.

• Marketing, advertising, and promotions: As permitted by law, to send marketing messages; to provide notification of new or related products and services, enhancements, and promotions; and to personalize advertisements that you see on our services and third-party online platforms and measure the effectiveness of our advertising.

• Personalization: To personalize your online experience, such as by recording your preferences and settings.

• Security and fraud prevention: To monitor and investigate fraud, identity theft, and other illegal activity; to protect your rights and safety or the rights and safety of others; and to protect and secure our services, Site, assets, network, and business operations.

• Legal compliance: To comply with legal process, such as subpoenas, court orders, warrants, and other lawful regulatory or law enforcement requests and to comply with legal requirements.

Unless allowed by applicable law (including Section 7216) and we have your consent, we do not:

• Sell or rent your personal information for money;

• Use Tax Return Information to market products or services unrelated to tax preparation; or

• Share your Tax Return Information or other sensitive personal information with nonaffiliated third parties for their own use or commercial purposes. You can opt out of certain online technologies as described further below.

Disclosure

The privacy and security of your information is important to us. As indicated below, we may share your information to support the products and services you request, or provide your information to third parties, upon your specific consent, for products and services that may benefit you.

We may share your information with the following types of entities:

• IRS and State Revenue Authorities: We disclose Tax Return Information only in accordance with your requests, such as when filing a tax return with the IRS or state revenue authority, or as allowed by applicable law (including certain permitted disclosures to other tax preparers or providers of auxiliary services).

• Public Authorities: E-file.com may be required to preserve and disclose personal information including Tax Return Information, and any part thereof, without your consent as provided by law, such as, to respond to lawful requests by authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements, a subpoena or court order, judicial process or bankruptcy proceedings, or regulatory authorities to protect against fraud and in compliance with the IRS Security Summit. We may also disclose your personal information when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect your rights and safety, or the rights and safety of others. We may disclose your information to federal, state, or local officials to assist in the investigation or prosecution of a crime. As permitted by law, we may disclose your information to the IRS and Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) to prevent stolen identity refund fraud (SIRF) and as related to potential cyber security threats.

• Acquiring Businesses: Your information may be disclosed in connection with an actual sale, merger, acquisition, dissolution or transfer of all or a portion of our business or relevant operating unit. We reserve the right to transfer your information as part of the transaction. In such an event, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership, incompatible new uses of your personal information, and choices you may have regarding your personal information.

• Service Providers: In some cases, your information may be disclosed to our service providers to complete a product purchase, to fulfill a service you request, to provide analytics about our product, to conduct or facilitate product surveys or user research, to improve our product or services, to market one of our products or services, or to provide other services related to the support, maintenance, and management of our tax return preparation products and services. Our service providers include companies that use web analytics software or tools, deliver downloadable products, process forms, assist with data import, offer online software applications, or send emails on our behalf. Not all service providers may be applicable to you. Some service providers are only relevant if you use certain tax forms or otherwise prepare a tax return using our software.

• Joint Marketing and Custom-Label Partners: We may provide information to individuals or companies with whom we have a joint marketing and/or custom-label arrangement. We require all marketing and custom-label partners to have written contracts with us that require them to safeguard your information and prohibits them from selling, retaining, using, or disclosing your information for any purpose other than for performing the contract. We only share Tax Return Information with custom-label partners as permitted under Section 7216.

• Online Advertising Partners: We partner with companies that assist us in advertising our services, including partners that use cookies and similar technologies to collect information to personalize, retarget, and measure the effectiveness of advertising.

• Social Media Platforms: If you interact with us on social media platforms, the platform may be able to collect information about you and your interaction with us. If you interact with social media objects on our Site, both the social media platform and your connections on the platform may be able to view that activity. To control the sharing of information, please review the privacy policy of the relevant social media platform.

• Video Content Platforms: Our Site features video powered by YouTube. If you watch a video featured on our Site, Google and YouTube may be able to collect information about you and your interaction with us. Your viewing activity is governed by the Google/YouTube terms of service and privacy. To control the sharing of information, please review the Google/YouTube privacy policy.

• Other Platform Visitors: We may post customer testimonials on our website. These testimonials may contain personal information such as a customer’s name. We will obtain your consent to use your name prior to posting your testimonial. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, contact us at support @ e-file.com. Our website also offers publicly accessible blogs. Any information you provide in these areas may be read, collected, and used by others who access them. To request removal of your personal information from our blog, contact us at support @ e-file.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why. For example, if you used a third-party application to post such information, you may need to contact that third-party application directly.

Protecting Customer Information

E-file.com understands the importance of protecting customer information and we have implemented reasonable administrative, technical, and physical security measures designed to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. This includes a designated information security contact, written information security policies and procedures, incident detection and response measures, network firewalls, encryption, password protections, and restrictions on which personnel can access any customer personal information. For example, E-file.com employees are only allowed to access customer information necessary to perform their job functions and only for the purposes for which it was collected.

With respect to your Tax Return Information, E-file.com meets all rules and regulations relating to data protection and security for the tax industry promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit (https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/security-summit for more information).

E-file.com’s Site secure information by utilizing a variety of security-related technologies to comply with regulatory standards and our internal information security policies.

Data

We retain your Tax Return Information for at least three tax years to comply with our legal obligations, or as needed to provide you services. Other information may be retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services, contact us at support @ e-file.com.

Your Rights

You have control over your personal data and how it’s collected, used, and shared. You have the right to access any information held by E-file.com that you either input directly or information collected as described above, subject to our data retention policy above.

Request a copy of your information

Upon request, E-file.com will provide you with certain personal information you specifically request by contacting customer support at support @ e-file.com or via a request sent to our address provided below. Your information will be provided in a machine-readable format.

Change or correct personal information

You may view, manage, and/or make changes to your personal information by visiting your account and selecting “Edit Account Information” in the My Account dashboard or by contacting our customer support.

Opt out of website technologies

You may choose to opt out of certain technologies used on E-file’s website, including those used for online advertising purposes. However, the choice to opt out of certain technologies may affect, alter, or eliminate the functionality of certain features of or the products and services offered by E-file.

We do not share sensitive personal information (including financial information you provide to prepare your tax return) with any business except service providers that provide a service related to our tax preparation software business. These service providers are contractually obligated to use that information only for the purpose of providing services to E-file.com and to protect such information from disclosure to other parties. Under the GLBA, you may not opt out of sharing with our service providers.

We may share some information about your website experience that is not sensitive or financial in nature with third parties that operate cookies on our site.

We work with the a number of vendors to provide services on or help us improve our site. You will need to refer to our vendor's privacy policies for information on managing those individual cookies.

• Cloudflare: To read Cloudflare’s privacy policy, click here . To read Cloudflare’s cookie policy and to opt out, click here .
• Google (including DoubleClick & Google Analytics):  To read Google’s privacy policy, click here . To opt out of Google Analytics, click here . To opt out of Google Analytics for display advertising or to customize Google Display Network ads, click here .
• Commission Junction (CJ) : To read CJ's privacy policy, click here .
• Microsoft (Bing Ads): To read Microsoft’s privacy policy and to opt out, click here .
• YouTube: To read YouTube’s privacy statement and to opt out, click here .
• Ad.net: To read Ad.net’s privacy policy and to opt out, click here .
• AdMedia: To read AdMedia’s privacy policy, click here . To read AdMedia’s opt out, click here .
• Criteo: To read Criteo’s privacy policy and to opt out, click here .
• LinkConnector: To read LinkConnector’s privacy policy, click here . To read LinkConnector’s opt out, click here .
• Awin: To read Awin’s privacy policy, click here . To read Awin’s opt out, click here .

Opt out of email communications

At any time, if you wish to unsubscribe yourself from receiving general marketing messages you may do so here.

Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy, you may contact customer support at support @ e-file.com.

You can also write us at:

E-file.com LLC
830-13 A1A North #484
Ponte Vedra, FL 32082

Any claim, controversy, or dispute arising out of or in connection with this Privacy Policy shall be subject to the informal resolution and arbitration provisions in our Terms of Service. If you have an unresolved privacy or data use concern that you feel has not been addressed satisfactorily, you may contact us.

California Residents

California law provides California residents with additional rights regarding our collection and use of your personal information. To learn more about your California privacy rights, visit the Privacy Notice for California Residents, here.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time.

Any material changes to our policy will be immediately posted and made available to consumers on our website. Notification of changes may be made by email or by means of a notice on the Website.