Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to www..com/freefile2025, which is owned and operated by TaxHawk, Inc. ("TaxHawk") and describes how TaxHawk collects and uses the personal information you provide on this website. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your personal information and how you can access and update this information. TaxHawk treats your financial and personal information as confidential. We do not sell your personal information for money. Some state privacy laws define "sale" and "sharing" more broadly than that - see the Retargeting and personalized advertising, and the State Privacy Laws sections below for the details and your opt-out rights.

How we use terms in this policy

In this policy, "personal information" means information that identifies, relates to, describes, or could reasonably be linked with you or your household. It is broad and includes more than sensitive tax data - for example, identifiers, internet and device activity, and inferences we may draw. Where the law requires us to describe your rights and our practices, we use "personal information" in this sense. Within that broad category, we use two narrower terms for clarity:

• "Tax return information" means the information you provide to us, or authorize us to obtain, to prepare and file your tax returns (for example, your Social Security number, income, and W-2 and 1099 data). Tax return information is one type of personal information and is also protected under federal law.
• "Browsing activity" - information we collect through "tracking technologies" such as cookies - means device information and online activity and usage information, such as your IP address, device identifiers, and the pages and features you interact with. Browsing activity is also a type of personal information, and it is the information we "share" with advertising partners for cross-context behavioral advertising, which you can opt out of as described below.

Information collection and use

TaxHawk, Inc. manages the information collected on www..com/freefile2025. Information is collected in order to prepare and electronically file your tax returns and to deliver our products and services. Tax return information is disclosed to appropriate government and financial institutions to file tax returns, comply with Internal Revenue Service requirements, and process any associated payments or refunds. The data collected includes everything that is needed to prepare a tax return - such as names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, mailing address, email address, bank account information, and any tax-related information (e.g., W-2s and 1099 forms) (collectively, "tax return information," which is one category of your personal information). If a purchase is made, payment information, such as credit card information, will be collected. Information may also be collected from customers who contact us for support.

In addition, we collect information about your internet connection, IP address and usage details through automatic tracking technologies (your "browsing activity") as discussed below.

We do not use your tax return information, in identifiable form, to develop, improve, or train artificial intelligence models. We may use de-identified and aggregated tax return information to improve our models, as described in the Sharing With Service Providers and AI Vendors section below. We may also use your tax return information to test and ensure the technical capabilities of our software - including confirming that AI-assisted features such as document extraction are working correctly.

For a breakdown of what information is collected and used, please click here.

Data security

TaxHawk maintains physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with applicable law and federal standards. When users submit sensitive information via the website, it is protected both online and offline. TaxHawk uses encryption technology to protect sensitive information. Access to your sensitive information is protected by login credentials of your choosing, in order to maintain security for your account. TaxHawk also uses Multi-Factor Authentication.

Along with using encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also take great care to protect user information offline. All user information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted to only key employees who need the information to perform a specific job function (Example: a customer support representative resolving your inquiry). Furthermore, all employees are kept up to date on company security and privacy best practices. Before every tax season, as well as any time new policies are added, employees of TaxHawk are notified and/or reminded about the importance placed on privacy, and what they can do to ensure the security of user information. TaxHawk takes security of sensitive information as a top priority. If you have any further questions about the security at TaxHawk, you can send an email to webmaster@freetaxusa.com.

Business transitions

In the event TaxHawk evaluates or conducts a business transition whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, the personal information of users will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. If possession of user data is transferred, users will be notified, via email and/or through a prominent notice on the .com/freefile2025 website, as required by law and as feasible to a change of ownership or control of their personal information. If as a result of the business transition, the personal information will be used in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, users will be given notice consistent with our notification of changes section.

Data retention policy

All data collected by us will be retained for a maximum period of eight (8) years calculated from October 31st of the IRS tax filing year in which the return is due, plus a short administrative period for scheduled deletion (the "Deletion Date"). However, your online access to the tax application (the screens where you entered your information) is only available for the current tax year and the prior seven (7) tax years. After a tax year is no longer supported in the application, and until the next October 31st, you may still be able to access and download a PDF copy of your completed return, but you will no longer be able to view or edit the original data entered into the application.

Data will be deleted after October 31st of the 8th year following the IRS tax filing year, regardless of the year the return is actually filed.

For example:

• Data collected for a 2025 tax return (which has an IRS tax filing deadline in 2026) will be retained until October 31, 2034.
• Data collected for a 2017 tax return (which has an IRS tax filing deadline in 2018) will be retained until October 31, 2026. Even if the return was filed in a later year, such as 2025.

However, files uploaded to "My Tax Files" (if Deluxe is not purchased), may only be accessed for a period of two (2) years from the date of the current year account creation, plus a short administrative period for scheduled deletion.

Document import and storage services are provided solely as a convenience to you and are subject to this data retention policy. You remain responsible for maintaining your own copies of any records you wish to preserve permanently.

This retention policy applies to all data collected for a given tax year regardless of whether an account is active or inactive. All data collected by a third-party service provider is subject to the service provider's data retention policy, consistent with our contractual requirements and applicable law.

Usage information

Like most websites, .com/freefile2025 uses log files and analytical software to track website usage. The information collected may include IP addresses, log information, device type, unique device identifiers, browser types, browser configuration, internet service providers (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform types, and number of clicks to analyze trends for use in administering and improving the site.

Tracking technologies / cookies

Technologies such as cookies, pixels, tags, and server-to-server tracking ("tracking technologies") are used by .com/freefile2025 in order to manage the site, see trends, and improve the user experience. If your browser rejects cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some features or areas of our site may be limited. However, you can opt out of advertising tracking technologies as described below, which does not change your experience on our site. The types of tracking technologies we may use are defined below:

Essential tracking technologies are necessary for .com/freefile2025 to function properly.

Performance and functionality tracking technologies are used to enhance the performance and functionality of .com/freefile2025 but are not essential to its use. Examples include A/B testing version control and page load speed.

Analytics tracking technologies are used to help understand how the website is being used. Information gathered by analytics is viewed in aggregate to see broader traffic trends.

Advertising tracking technologies are used to make advertising .com/freefile2025 more relevant to users and to stop ads from reappearing on the advertisers' networks or properties. We use advertising platforms to provide personalized advertising on their properties and ad networks. Some advertising platforms provide tags that run in your browser and collect browsing activity, such as online identifiers, the page you are viewing, and your IP address. For other platforms, we send conversion information directly from our servers and limit it to a small set of online identifiers and the fact that a conversion occurred. In either case, WE DO NOT provide email addresses, names, phone numbers, or any tax return information to advertising platforms. See Retargeting and personalized advertising below for more detail on what our advertising partners receive. To opt out of advertising tracking technologies, turn on a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser or update your settings at .com/freefile2025/privacy-choices.

Retargeting and personalized advertising

We work with third-party advertising partners to show ads for our products and services across the internet. These partners use cookies and/or other tracking technologies to gather information about your browsing activity on our website to deliver personalized ads based on your interests. We do not upload customer lists to our third-party advertisers. This practice, known as "retargeting" or "remarketing," helps us remind you of our products and services and improve the relevance of ads you see.

Under some state privacy laws, providing information about your browsing activity to our advertising partners so they can show you ads on other websites may be considered "sharing" your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, even though no tax return information or personally identifiable financial information is involved and no money changes hands. You can opt out of this sharing as described below and in the State Privacy Laws section.

If you complete certain actions on our website, such as making a purchase, creating an account, or signing in to our services, we may work with our advertising partners to stop showing you retargeting ads. These actions indicate that you have already engaged with our services, and we aim to enhance your experience by reducing irrelevant ads.

We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

Apart from the browsing activity described above, we do not share directly identifying personal information (such as your name or contact details) or tax return information with our advertising partners for retargeting purposes. The data collected is solely used to improve the relevance of our ads.

We do not provide your tax return information to advertising partners for any purpose. Our advertising partners may receive online identifiers such as cookie identifiers, advertising click identifiers, and your IP address. We do not use the contents of your tax return - including income, refund or balance due, filing status, or dependents - to target advertising.

Managing your ad preferences

You have the right to opt out of the sharing of your browsing activity for personalized advertising across other sites and apps ("cross-context behavioral advertising").

You can exercise this right in the following ways:

• Opt-out preference signals (recommended). We process opt-out preference signals, including the Global Privacy Control (GPC), in a frictionless manner. See the Global Privacy Control section below.
• Opt-out request: Please visit .com/freefile2025/privacy-choices to manually update your privacy settings and to opt-out of the sharing of your browsing activity.
• Google Ads: Manage your ad settings at Google Ads Settings.
• Industry-wide opt-out: Opt-out of targeted ads from multiple ad networks through the Digital Advertising Alliance at https://optout.aboutads.info.
• Email subscriptions: Unsubscribe from promotional emails.

Please note that the Google and Digital Advertising Alliance tools control the personalization of ads and may not, by themselves, stop the sale or sharing of your personal information under California law. To exercise your California opt-out right, use an opt-out preference signal or our opt-out request above.

Privacy preference signals

Global Privacy Control (GPC). We process opt-out preference signals, including the Global Privacy Control (GPC), in a frictionless manner. When we receive a GPC signal from your browser or device, we treat it as a valid request to opt out of the sharing of your browsing activity for cross-context behavioral advertising. We apply your opt-out at the browser or device level and to any profile associated with that browser or device, and also to your account when you are signed in or otherwise known to us. Using a GPC signal is free, does not change your experience on our site, and does not require you to create an account or provide any information beyond the signal itself. If you later visit without the signal enabled, we will not treat its absence as permission to resume sharing your browsing activity. When you opt out, we stop sending advertising platforms your browsing activity for that visit. We continue to record that a purchase occurred and its value so we can measure how our advertising performs, and the platform may use that information only on our behalf. Because GPC is set per browser, you will need to turn it on in each browser you use.

How to enable GPC. GPC is available through certain browsers and browser extensions that support it. For instructions, see globalprivacycontrol.org.

Confirmation. We will show you whether your opt-out has been processed - for example, by indicating that your request has been honored when you visit our site with GPC enabled.

Our website does not respond to traditional browser 'Do Not Track' (DNT) signals. Instead, we honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) opt-out preference signal as described in the sections directly above.

Artificial Intelligence and Automated Processing

What We Mean by "AI" and "Automated Processing"

For this Privacy Policy, "AI" means technology that uses machine learning or similar techniques to analyze data and generate outputs such as suggested answers, summaries, or risk scores. "Automated processing" means using software or algorithms - without immediate human involvement - to analyze data, make predictions, classify information, or take actions such as flagging potential fraud.

How We Use AI and Automated Processing

We may use AI and automated processing to:

• Provide and improve our services, including online tax preparation, filing, and related support.
• Offer product guidance and summarize information you provide to help you navigate .com/freefile2025.
• Detect, investigate, and prevent security incidents, abuse, and fraud.
• Personalize certain experiences, such as recommending next steps or relevant resources.
• Provide customer support, including triaging requests and generating draft explanations.
• Support compliance, audit, and reporting obligations.
• Digital Media Import.

Some features generate suggested answers or explanations based on your inputs. You decide whether to use these suggestions.

What Data We Use

We use different types of data to power AI features and automated processing:

• Tax Return Information that you provide us, or authorize us to obtain, to prepare, file, or assist in preparing or filing your tax returns;
• Information you submit through our customer support and self-service help platforms.

We apply data minimization where feasible, such as truncation, masking, redaction, and aggregation.

Human Review and Automated Decisions

You are responsible for verifying accuracy before your tax return is filed. AI does not make changes to your return without your review and approval.

Automated Decisions: Certain security and identity-related decisions may be made initially by automated systems, such as placing a temporary fraud or identity verification hold.

Your Choices

Various AI features are necessary to provide certain services (for example, security and fraud detection) and cannot be turned off.

Access, Deletion, and Other Rights: Depending on your location, you may have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal information. See the Access and individual rights and State Privacy Laws sections of this policy.

Sharing With Service Providers and AI Vendors

We use service providers, including cloud and AI providers, to help operate, secure, and improve our services. These providers are bound by contractual obligations to protect your information and use it only for our business purposes, and may perform programming, maintenance, repair, testing, or procurement of equipment or software used for tax return preparation. We do not sell your personal information.

We may use de-identified and/or aggregated information to improve our models and services. We take steps so that this information cannot reasonably be linked back to you. We do not use your Tax Return Information, in identifiable form, to train AI models, as described in the Information collection and use section above.

We may also share information as required by law, to protect our users and services, or with your direction or consent.

hCaptcha

We use the hCaptcha anti-bot service (hereinafter "hCaptcha") on our website. This service is provided by Intuition Machines, Inc., a Delaware US Corporation ("IMI"). hCaptcha is used to check whether the data entered on our website (such as on a login page or contact form) has been entered by a human or by an automated program. To do this, hCaptcha analyzes the behavior of the website or mobile app visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website or mobile app visitor enters a part of the website or app with hCaptcha enabled. For the analysis, hCaptcha evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, how long the visitor has been on the website or app, or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis will be forwarded to IMI. hCaptcha analysis in the "invisible mode" may take place completely in the background. Website or app visitors are not advised that such an analysis is taking place if the user is not shown a challenge. IMI acts as a "service provider" for the purposes of State Privacy Acts. For more information about hCaptcha and IMI's privacy policy and terms of use, please visit the following links: https://www.hcaptcha.com/privacy and https://www.hcaptcha.com/terms.

Communications from TaxHawk

Your contact information (email address and/or SMS information) may be used to keep you updated on the status of your return, remind you of important dates on the tax calendar, resolve any problems with transmission of your tax return, request customer feedback, provide product and fulfillment information, and confirmation of credit card or direct-debit payments. Please ensure your contact information is up-to-date and correct. If you e-file your tax return, an email and/or SMS text will be sent to you stating whether the IRS has accepted or rejected your e-filed tax return. If problems occur with the transmission of your tax return, a customer support email may be sent out to explain the problem. We'll also send you a confirmation email as a receipt when you pay for any TaxHawk services.

Occasionally, TaxHawk will send out tax information or promotional material dealing with our products. These are considered optional communications and you, as the recipient, can specify whether or not you wish to receive this type of communication. This can be done while creating your account, by using the Edit User Profile portion of the application after signing in, by clicking on the "Unsubscribe" link in the footer of every optional email or by following the instructions found at the following link: https://www..com/freefile2025/unsubscribe.

We may occasionally send strictly service-related announcements - for example, notice of scheduled maintenance.

Customer support

Customer support for TaxHawk is provided through our tax application, email, or phone. When a customer support request is received, we will reply via the customer support portion of the application, email, or phone.

We use artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in customer support inquiries as described in the "How we use AI and Automated Processing" section above. Any information submitted by the customer through the customer support tool will be processed using automated (AI) and/or manual (human) methods.

Subject to our data retention policy, we will retain your information for as long as needed to provide you services. We may retain and use your information outside of that policy only as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Access and individual rights

TaxHawk, Inc. 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 contact us at webmaster@freetaxusa.com.

Or, address your written question to:

TaxHawk - Privacy
1255 S State St
Provo, UT 84606

Legal disclosures

Though every effort is made to preserve user privacy, in certain situations, TaxHawk may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. We may also disclose your personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, to investigate fraud, to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order, respond to a government request, bankruptcy proceedings or similar legal process served on our website.

Information about minors

.com/freefile2025 is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we may have collected any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at webmaster@freetaxusa.com. To learn more about the Children's Online Privacy Act (COPPA), please visit https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/childrens-privacy.

Information sharing

As a tax preparer, we comply with Internal Revenue Code Section 7216 with respect to the disclosure and use of tax return information. As such, we only share your personal information with third parties (we do not sell it for money) in ways that are described in this privacy policy.

Data storage

All information provided to us is maintained by us on servers located in the United States, and by using the Site you consent to the processing of your data in the United States. We protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy policy and applicable law.

To comply with European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) regulatory requirements, we do not provide service or intentionally collect data from EU or EEA residents. By using our services, customers represent that they are not EU or EEA residents.

Service providers

We may provide necessary personal information to companies that provide services, such as shipping your order, SMS authentication, customer support inquiries, fraud detection, credit card processing, extracting and processing documents, cloud hosting, AI providers, sending emails, etc. These companies are only authorized to use this information to provide these services.

Customer reviews and information provided as part of the review are collected, stored, and managed using a service provider. Submitting a review is optional. If you choose to provide a review, you consent to its publication. We may use AI to assist in categorizing and analyzing customer review data. We take steps to exclude sensitive information from this analysis. The review and some details provided by you may be shared with the public for marketing use on our website.

Account verification codes sent through text messaging or voice calls are provided by third-party services. A customer's phone number will be forwarded to the service in order to send the account verification code.

Credit card processing

If during the use of our application you order a product that requires payment, your credit card, mobile payment, or direct-debit payment will be processed by a payment processing company. The payment processing companies that we use are contractually restricted from retaining, sharing, storing, or using personal information for any secondary purposes. No credit card information will be collected unless there is a payment due. Your credit card data is only used to process your payment.

If you choose to pay any federal or state taxes owed by credit card, that transaction will be handled by a third-party service and is subject to the service's terms and conditions.

Links to third party websites

Our website includes links to other websites whose privacy practices may differ from those of TaxHawk. If you submit any 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. TaxHawk does not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used and is not responsible for the content or privacy policies of such third-party sites.

User responsibility for secure browser use

It is your responsibility to use a secure, up-to-date, and trusted browser when accessing .com/freefile2025. Ensuring that your browser is safe to use helps protect your personal and financial information from potential security risks.

If you or an agent under your direction access .com/freefile2025 through an in-app or embedded browser provided by third-party platforms, you acknowledge that your use is also subject to the terms, privacy policies, and data collection practices of those third parties.

Notification of changes

If we make material changes to how we treat our users' personal information, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on the footer of our homepage and sign-in screens. We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you.

State Privacy Laws

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to know what personal information we collect about you, access or correct it, request its deletion, opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (including for targeted advertising), and not be discriminated against for exercising these rights. We use sensitive personal information only to provide the services you request and for purposes permitted without a right to limit. If you have questions about how we handle this information, contact us.

If we deny your request, you may appeal our decision, and if we deny your appeal, you may contact your state Attorney General. California residents: see our CCPA notice at https://www..com/freefile2025/state-privacy.

Other states generally defer to Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for personal financial information. As a tax preparation software provider, we comply with GLBA and state privacy laws where they apply or impose greater restrictions and requirements than GLBA. This privacy policy explains your privacy rights as our customer. Please visit this page for our GLBA notice.

Contact us

If you have additional questions regarding TaxHawk's privacy or security policies, please send your question to webmaster@freetaxusa.com.

Or, address your written question to:

TaxHawk - Privacy
1255 S State St
Provo, UT 84606

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.