TaxACT Privacy Policy Statement

www.taxact.com is the web site of 2nd Story Software, Inc.

Our postal address is
1425 60th Street NE, Suite 300
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

We can be reached via e-mail at customerservice@taxact.com
Or you can reach us by telephone at 319-373-3600
Or you can reach us by fax at 319-447-4674

We, at 2nd Story Software, respect your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information (including email address). Our company's resources and entire staff are fully committed to safeguarding your personal data (including email address) by ensuring that the highest security and other precautionary measures are in place to protect your non-public information. That is why we do not share your information (including email address) with third parties, affiliates, or partners in ways other than disclosed in this privacy statement. We only collect, store and use your personal information (including email address) for defined purposes. The purposes include fulfilling orders, supplying service and support, and notifying you of new/enhanced products and services.

2nd Story Software is committed to protecting your privacy and data. At any time, you may contact 2nd Story Software to request what information you have given us and request correction or deletion. Our goal is to ensure the highest levels of security and confidentiality.

Participant of TRUSTe Privacy Program

2nd Story Software, Inc. is a certified licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program. TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to enable individuals and organizations to establish trusting relationships based on respect for personal identity and information (including email address) by promoting the use of fair information practices. This privacy statement covers the site www.TaxACT.com. Because the owner of this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to our users' privacy, 2nd Story Software has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact 2nd Story Software, Inc.'s Customer Service department by using one of the methods, which have been listed at the top of this page. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry is not satisfactorily addressed, you should then contact TRUSTe through the TRUSTe Watchdog Dispute Resolution Process http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php TRUSTe will serve as a liaison between you and 2nd Story Software, Inc.

The TRUSTe program covers only information that is collected through this Web site, and does not cover information that may be collected through software downloaded from the site.

Information Collected

2nd Story Software will only collect, store, use, and share your personal information (including email address) as it is defined by TaxACT.com's privacy statement and as regulated by state and federal laws. Information collected on the TaxACT.com website is stored by 2nd Story Software and, unless it is otherwise stated, is only used to complete orders, supply service and support, as well as notify you when new/enhanced products and services become available. We do not disclose your information (including email address) to third parties except as stated in this privacy statement. We do not supplement your personally identifiable customer information (including email address) with information from other companies.

In order to purchase or download our free tax software, a user must first complete the registration form. During registration a user is required to give contact information (such as name and e-mail address). We use this information to contact you about services on our site, to send a confirmation e-mail, or if we have any trouble processing your order.

If you decide to purchase our TaxACT products, we request additional information. On the payment information page, you have the option of either paying by credit card or paying by check or money order. If you decide to pay by credit card, financial information such as credit card number and expiration date will be collected. This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your order. If we have trouble processing an order, the contact information collected is used to contact you.

If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our site, we will ask you for your friend's name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site. 2nd Story Software stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.

Your friend may contact us at refer@taxact.com to request that we remove this information from our database.

Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)

We use clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let us know the number of emails that have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. We do not tie the information gathered by clear gifs to our customers' personally identifiable information. If you would like to opt-out of these emails, please see "Changing and Deleting Personal Information."

Third Party Intermediaries

We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. This company does not retain, share, store, or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes.

We use an email delivery and marketing company to send emails that you have agreed to receive. Pixel tags and cookies are used in those email messages and at our website to help us measure the effectiveness of our advertising and how visitors use our site. For more information about the technology used to deliver our emails, or how to set your browser to reject cookies, please click here.

We may use advertising companies to serve advertisements for or on our website. These companies may employ cookies and action tags (also known as single pixel gifs or web beacons) to measure advertising effectiveness. Any information that these third parties collect via cookies and action tags is completely anonymous. If you would like more information about this practice and your choices, click here (http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp) and here (http://www.advertising.com/Privacy.html). We do not share, rent or sell any personally identifiable information (including email address) to these companies.

On occasion, we will enter into a written contract with third party intermediary companies to help us to complete a business process, service, or function on our behalf. Without limitation, third party intermediaries may specialize in providing services such as: consulting or contracted development and maintenance, temporary workers, data processing, as well as direct and network marketing. These third party intermediaries may not use or retain personally identifiable information (including email address) for any secondary purpose. Additionally, they may not divulge, rent or sell any information (including email address) that may be gained through their relationship with 2nd Story Software.

2nd Story Software may also enter into marketing alliances and joint marketing relationships. 2nd Story Software's relationship with these companies shall not represent our endorsement for the products or services these companies offer; and, are only being made available within TaxACT.com to serve as added conveniences for our site's visitors. Unless you have supplied your consent, 2nd Story Software does not share your name and other personally identifiable information (including email address); and, 2nd Story Software shall never sell or rent any information that identifies you personally or individually. Otherwise, for a third party intermediary to obtain your contact information or personal data, you, yourself, will need to supply them with your information or become their direct customer. If you consent to share your personal information with a 3rd party through TaxACT.com, you may unsubscribe by contacting us at any of the points of contact above.

Written agreements are established between 2nd Story Software and all third party intermediaries, as well as joint marketing and alliance companies. Each agreement strictly limits the use of your personally identifiable information to the scope of the contract. Contractual agreements, such as these, also stipulate safeguard, handling, and other precautionary care procedures, which are required to be taken. The contractual agreements we have in place and/or establish also govern confidentiality rights by limiting the information that we can share to include only aggregated statistical data.

Links to Other Web Sites

TaxACT.com may contain links to third-party Web sites. Each of these links shall be clearly identified. 2nd Story Software does not direct or oversee the policies, procedures, or other practices for companies other than 2nd Story. 2nd Story Software does not endorse the products and services that are offered by third party companies. The presence of third party links within TaxACT.com are for convenience purposes only and should not be considered as representing an endorsement by 2nd Story. Some of these third party sites may collect information about you or request sensitive, personal information from you. If accessing a third party site via a link, which originated from TaxACT.com you will be subject to the policies and procedures that have been established by the third party. We encourage you to review their privacy policies to learn more about what information is collected, how it is used, and how it is stored.

2nd Story Software may provide third parties with links to TaxACT.com. Once you have been redirected to a TaxACT.com web page, the terms and conditions of our site shall apply.

Changing and Deleting Personal Information

If you supply us with your postal or email address, you may periodically receive mailings from us containing information on new products, services, or upcoming events. You may choose to be removed from our mailing list by contacting 2nd Story Software using one of the methods listed at the top of this page (email, phone, mail or fax). If your personally identifiable information changes (such as zip code, phone, email or postal address), we provide a way to correct, and update your personally identifiable information. This can be done by accessing your account online at www.TaxACT.com and selecting "My Account" in top right-hand corner of the home page.

If you do not want to receive promotional e-mail from us in the future, please let us know by sending an email to us at the above address or calling us at the above telephone number or writing to us at the above address and telling us that you do not want to receive e-mail from our company. Please make sure you supply the same e-mail address to us that you are receiving the e-mail from. In some cases, e-mail addresses are being forwarded by your ISP to another e-mail address. We must have the one that is listed in the e-mail you receive from us. In addition, users may unsubscribe by replying to the opt-out instructions at the bottom of each email they receive.

If you supply us with your postal address online you may receive periodic mailings from us with information on new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please let us know by sending email to us at the above address or calling us at the above telephone number or writing to us at the above address. When requesting to be removed from our mailing list, please provide us with your exact name and address. Alternatively, you may log into your account on our web site by selecting "My Account" in the upper right-hand corner of the home page.

Persons who supply us with their telephone numbers on-line may receive telephone contact from us with information regarding orders they have placed on-line. They also may receive telephone contact from us with information regarding new products and services or upcoming events. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please let us know by sending email to us at the above address or calling us at the above telephone number or writing to us at the above address. Please provide us with your correct phone number. Alternatively, you may log into your account on our web site by selecting "My Account" in the upper right-hand corner of the home page.

Security Measures

Our primary concern is that your personal information is private and secure. At 2nd Story Software we use the industry-standard Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol which provides data encryption, message integrity, and server authentication when your data is sent to us. When you see a small lock in the bottom right or left corner of your browser window, you know your data is being encrypted for transmission.

All information you enter while using TaxACT is used strictly by 2nd Story Software, Inc. to provide the services requested by our customers. We maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. All data is stored on 2nd Story Software servers and is backed up to prevent the loss of data. Electronically filed returns, which are further encrypted, are sent directly from 2nd Story Software to the IRS via a secure connection. Access to (and the use thereof) personally identifiable customer information (including email address) is restricted to authorized personnel and is permitted only when prompted by you, or as dictated by service, support, and/or fulfillment requirements. 2nd Story Software, Inc. will not sell or rent your name or other personal information (including email address) to any third party in ways other than disclosed in this privacy statement. Personally identifiable information (including email address) is only shared with third party intermediaries providing they have been contracted to act on 2nd Story Software's behalf or to carry out a specific function. Under these circumstances, third party intermediaries may not sell or transfer this information (including email address) nor may they use information for any secondary purpose.

Notices and Service Alerts

Although we respect and honor your privacy preferences, 2nd Story Software shall maintain and reserve the right to contact you (via email, phone, fax, mail, or otherwise) when it deems appropriate, such as for nonmarketing purposes (such as bug alerts, security breaches, and/or changes that may impact your ability to use TaxACT products and services). In certain circumstances, we may use our website, newspapers, or other public means to post a notice.

Service, Support and Suggestions

2nd Story Software offers technical support and customer service on the TaxACT product line to our customers. You may choose to submit a question through the service and support section of the TaxACT.com web site or contact our support staff directly. The information submitted via the service and support section (including email address) is not stored or shared with third parties, affiliates, alliance or joint marketing companies, or any other third party intermediaries. It is used to research and address your question, problem, or request for more information. 2nd Story Software retains the right to respond when contact is in direct relationship to your inquiry, request, suggestion, or it becomes necessary when fulfilling an order.

If you make a suggestion using the service and support section of our web site, the suggestion alone may be stored, but no personal data (including email address) will be stored with the suggestion. 2nd Story Software, Inc. does retain the right to use your suggestions and product enhancement ideas to improve the TaxACT web sites and product line without obligation to you.

Affiliate Program

TaxACT.com offers an affiliate program to broaden it's marketing reach. Affiliate sites may register with TaxACT.com to sell the TaxACT product line. All information collected from the affiliate (including email address) is used to apply proper credit to the affiliate's sales, contact the affiliate if products and offers change, and to make payment to the affiliate for their sales commissions. No information (including email address) supplied by an affiliate is shared or sold to a third party.

Use of Log Files, LiveStats and Cookies

Like most Web servers, 2nd Story Software relies on log files. Log files include: Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), number of page views, platform type, date and time stamps, as well as the number visitors to our web site. This information is used by 2nd Story Software to administer the site, analyze trends, track aggregated user movements, and gather broad demographic information for aggregated use only. Our Web site also uses tracking software, which is supplied by LiveStats by DeepMetrix. This software further enables us to anonymously analyze trends occurring on our Web site. Personally identifiable information (including email address) is not stored by the LiveStats server, as the software does not collect personal information such as name, age, phone number, mailing address, email address or credit card numbers from visitors. For more information about the LiveStats Log Analyzer Software and DeepMetrix's commitment to privacy for the companies who use LiveStats, visit http://www.deepmetrix.com/legal/privacy/products/. For each visitor to our Web page, LiveStats automatically recognizes only the consumer's domain name, IP address, access times, and pages viewed. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information (including email address).

TaxACT.com employs the use of cookies. A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's computer tied to information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information (including email address) while on our site. We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. For the session ID cookie, once users close the browser, the cookie simply terminates. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on the user's hard drive for an extended period of time. If users reject the cookie, they will not be able to purchase products from the TaxACT.com website.

General Disclosure of Aggregated Information

2nd Story Software may disclose aggregate information to the IRS or other parties, however, may not represent any information, which may be used to identify you personally or individually (including email address) without your expressed consent. Examples may include, but are not limited to: the total number of users served by a TaxACT product/service, general age group ratios, and other statistical data relating to tax preparation and electronic filing service.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

If, however, we are going to use users' personally identifiable information (including email address) in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users by posting a prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days.

If we merge with, or are acquired by another company, the resulting combined company will use the Personal Information you have provided as described in this policy. If we cease operation, your Personal Information may be transferred to and used by another company that offers similar or related products or services. You will be notified via prominent notice on our Web site for 30 days of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information.

Disclaimer

Though we make every effort to preserve user privacy, we may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our Web site.