Income Tax Preparation
GainsKeeper Compatible
 PRIVACY POLICY
 
Our Commitment to Privacy

This Service is provided to you through CCH INCORPORATED ('CCH'), the owner of this product. CCH is committed to keeping your information private and recognize the importance all customers place on the privacy and confidentiality of their information. While new technologies allow us to more efficiently serve our clients, we are committed to maintaining the rigorous privacy standards that are synonymous with our established and trusted name.

By participating in the Council of Better Business Bureau's BBBOnLine® Privacy Program we have made a commitment to meet the program's strict requirements regarding how we treat your information and have it verified by BBBOnLine®. Further information about this program is available at http://www.bbbonline.org.

In keeping with our Privacy Policy, we provide this Policy explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this Policy easy to find, we make it available throughout our web site and on other pages throughout our web site.

 

Covered Web Sites

The Privacy Policy described herein is applicable to this entire web site, including all areas where financial information is gathered and income tax data is input, printed and/or transmitted. It does not apply to any other online services, or to any other web sites published and/or maintained by us.

This Privacy Policy covers all the online information practices of www.completetax.com. Other sites maintained by CCH, such as www.tax.cchgroup.com and www.tax.cchgroup.com/pfx/products/CompleteTaxPro/ operate under their own Privacy and security policies.

Please Note: Our Service is applicable to filers of resident U.S. Federal income tax returns only, and the statements made in this Privacy Policy apply solely to residents of the United States.

 

Our Commitment to Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

 

Internal Controls

When collecting, storing and retrieving your personal data, extensive internal controls are maintained throughout the process to ensure security and confidentiality.

Our Internet-based systems are protected behind firewalls, and all mission critical servers are deployed in a cluster environment to provide an even greater level of security and protection against system failure. All data is maintained and backed-up on a regular schedule to provide adequate redundancy and ensure that the integrity of information is never jeopardized.

Our employees are subject to strict guidelines regarding confidentiality, and internal access to customer data is restricted to highly trained personnel on an "as-needed" basis.

 

Transmitting Information

When transmitting information between you and our server, as well as when communicating with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for electronic filing, data security is handled through a protocol called Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is an established and mature Internet security standard with two dominant features: web server authentication and data encryption.

  • Web Server Authentication

    An SSL certificate is issued to ensure authentic and accurate identification of a secured web server. This translates into a digital ID, an electronic fingerprint, which is included in the key used to encrypt the data. Only our web server, in this case, is able to decrypt the data that you transmit because it is the intended (and digitally certified) secured web server for this data transmission.

  • Data Encryption

    Data encryption is the process of transforming legible information into a complex arrangement of illegible information. SSL uses a private/public key combination to encrypt data when it is sent and to decrypt data when it is received. SSL encrypts data using a mathematical formula, also referred to as a "key."

    Encryption strength is measured by the length of the key used to encrypt the data; the longer the key, the more effective the encryption. Using the SSL protocol, data transmission between you and our web server is performed at a standard level of encryption strength.


The Information We Collect

This Policy applies to all information collected or submitted on our web site. If a credit card is used to pay for the Service, in addition to tax return information, we collect the following credit card and personal information:

    Cardholder's Name
    Credit Card Type
    Credit Card Number
    Expiration Date
    Cardholder's Billing Address
    Daytime Phone Number
    E-mail Address
    Employer's or Relative's Phone Number

The credit card information is used to process your transaction. This information is not made available to anyone else.

We also collect the following information for use in answering your inquiries for technical support when you submit an e-mail requesting our assistance:

    Your Name
    User ID
    E-mail Address
    Operating System
    Browser Type
    Connection Type/Speed

None of the information from our "Tell a Friend" page is saved.

 

The Way We Use Information

The tax return information that we collect is used strictly for lawful purposes and is never shared with federal, state or other taxing authorities without your consent. The foregoing notwithstanding, we reserve the right to disclose your information without your consent in response to a court order, subpoena, search warrant or other inquiry or request from governmental or regulatory authorities, or to protect against fraud or other criminal activities. If you choose to electronically file your return, we will transmit your tax return to the appropriate federal and state taxing authorities.

The IRS requires us to provide the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer from which the return originated, as well as the e-mail address of the person who electronically filed the return. This information is sent to the IRS at the time you choose to submit your return to the IRS for electronic filing.

In order to electronically file your return, we must share your submitted tax information with the appropriate tax authorities in order to complete your request. You can control whether or not you wish your tax information shared for this purpose by deciding whether or not to complete the tax returns forms, which are all clearly labeled.

The above listed credit card information that we collect will be used strictly for order processing and billing purposes, and will not be shared with any other party. When appropriate, bank account or credit card information is also passed to our bank, for processing purposes, if you choose to use our Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL), Deduct Fee from Refund or Credit Card Payment of Balance Due options. You will enter this information during the routine course of a purchase. In the event that our Internet Service staff should need to research and resolve any status or billing issues associated with an order, the information will only be accessed by authorized personnel.

Our Basic Service entitles you to notification via e-mail of filing deadlines, estimate reminders, tax law changes, as well as tax planning and financial information that may affect your tax return. In order for us to provide you with the Basic Service, it is required that you provide us with your e-mail address and consent to our limited review of your tax return information with our proprietary software program to determine whether your tax return information would trigger such notifications.

In addition to our Basic Service, we may send to you, via your e-mail address, information and promotional messages about other products and services that we think may be of interest to you.

Personally identifiable information is only shared as indicated in this document. Any sharing of such information is subject to the opt-out option as discussed in the paragraph below.

 

Consent to Use Information

Your use of this Service means that you consent to our limited access and review of your tax return information necessary to provide you with the Basic Service described above.

In addition, we may provide you with promotional messages. If you wish to opt-out of receiving such promotional messages, you may send an email to support@completetax.com or write to CCH INCORPORATED, Online Tax Group - MS 28, 21250 Hawthorne Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90503. Declining to receive e-mail promotional messages will not affect our ability to deliver our Basic Service to you.

 

Third Party Services

For the purpose of providing you with additional information or services, our web site may also provide links or references to our other web sites or to third party web sites of online information providers, advertisers, and other business partners. When offering partner services the partner who will be receiving your information will be clearly identified.

We are not responsible for information gathered by third party web sites. You should review any third party site's Privacy Policy for details regarding their policies concerning information they gather. Any time you are preparing to navigate to a site that is not covered by this Privacy Policy, we will indicate at the bottom of the page that you are leaving our site.

Through our partnership with Republic Bank and Trust Co., you may apply for a bank product. When you apply for a bank product you authorize us to disclose your relevant personal and tax return information to Republic Bank. Your indication within the program that you wish to apply for a bank product serves as your authorization. Your tax information is sent to Republic Bank when your return is e-filed. When you select the option within our program for a bank product, once your return has qualified for electronic filing we share your name, address, social security number, phone number and other tax related information necessary for Republic Bank to provide the requested service. Republic Bank uses the personally identifiable information for the purpose of providing your bank product. You may visit the site at taxpayer.republicrefund.com to view their Privacy Policy.

Through our partnership with Official Payments Corporation®, you may request to pay your balance due via credit or debit card. When you make this request, you authorize us to disclose your relevant credit card and tax return information to Official Payments Corporation. When you select the option within our program to pay your balance due via credit or debit card, and your return has qualified for electronic filing, we then share your name, address, social security number, phone number and other tax related information necessary for Official Payments Corporation to provide the requested service. In addition, you will be asked to disclose your card information to Official Payments. Official Payments uses the personally identifiable information for the purpose of providing the payment of your tax via credit or debit card as requested. You may visit the site at www.officialpayments.com to view their Privacy Policy.

Information entered into the Tax Calculators (through Time Value Software) is used solely to provide you with estimates of various tax situations. The information used in these calculations is not saved. You may visit the site at www.timevalue.com to view their Privacy Policy.

 

Co-Branded Sites

In certain instances we license our content, technology, software applications, hosting services and support services to partners under a co-brand arrangement. Our co-branded sites will display both the CompleteTax logo and our partner's identification. We provide these co-branded licensees full information regarding our Privacy Policy and require that the licensee abide by this policy as a part of our contractual terms.

Your name and e-mail address may be made available to our co-brand partners so that they may send you promotional messages and information about other products and services that may be of interest to you.

 

Retrieving Your Information

Our Service is available for starting, completing and e-filing your return from approximately mid-January through mid-October of each tax year. To view your return information, you may use your User ID and Password to access a free summary report and/or pay a fee to print, view, and electronically file your actual return. Once you have paid, you may continue to access, modify and/or print your tax return as often as needed during this time.

From mid-October through mid-December you can still complete and mail your return to the appropriate filing authorities if you began it prior to mid-October. Simply click on the "Login" selection on the menu from any page of our website.

After paying for your return, the financial information used to make your payment (e.g. credit card number), as well as the record of your payment, will not be retrievable by you.

 

How to Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please submit your questions using our Customer Support link or one of the methods below.

CCH INCORPORATED
Online Tax Group - MS 28
21250 Hawthorne Boulevard
Torrance, CA 90503
Email: info@completetax.com
Web site URL: www.completetax.com


© 2008, CCH. All Rights Reserved.


CompleteTax
Technical Support
  • Check out our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to find the answers to all your CompleteTax questions. FAQs are accessible from the FAQ Search field above, the question categories in the Help menu, or in the Resource Center section of the tax program.

  • E-mail support is also available via our Submit a Question page. Just choose Contact Us from the Help menu.

  • A useful Tax Guide provides tax tips and straightforward answers to your tax questions.




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