PRIVACY

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We collect information about you in a variety of ways depending on how you interact with us and our online services including:

Directly from you when you provide it to us, such as when you sign up to receive communications from us, request information or services from us, post information in publicly accessible blogs or community forums that may be offered on our websites, or contact us by phone, email, or otherwise.
Automatically through the use of various technologies such as cookies, server logs, pixels or other similar technologies when you interact with our websites, online products and services, advertisements, and emails.

The following provides examples of the type of information that we collect and how we may use that information. If you choose not to provide certain information we request, we may be unable to serve you as our services, calculators, and/or other tools may rely upon this information.

Tax Services: We may collect information about you, your spouse, your dependents, other individuals, or your business when you use our tax preparation products and services. This information may include contact information (e.g., name, phone number, and email address), Social Security Number and other government identification numbers (e.g., EIN, Driver’s License Number, and ITIN), date of birth, financial information (e.g., income, revenue, assets, credits, deductions, expenses, and bank account information), payment information (e.g., checking, debit, and credit card account numbers, balances, assets, and payment history), health information (e.g., health insurance status and financial information related to payment for healthcare services), unique device identifiers, biometric information (e.g., faceprint), and Internet Protocol (“IP”) address (a number that is automatically assigned to a computer when the internet is used).We collect this information to deliver the products and services you request, including as part of preparing your tax return, electronically filing your tax return, and applying for or purchasing a product or service. We also collect some of this information because the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or state taxing authorities may require that we collect personal and system information (such as name, Social Security Number, IP address and device identifiers) in connection with preparing or electronically filing your tax return. To improve the security of our services and to protect your information, we may verify your personal information by matching the information you provide against other publicly available information that we obtain from identification verification companies. As permitted by applicable law, we may use information to improve or market our products or services and to otherwise support the maintenance and operations of our business.

Cookies and Similar Tracking Technologies: We use, and allow third parties to use, technologies, such as cookies, pixels, media tags, and similar tracking technologies (collectively, “tracking technologies”). Tracking technologies may collect certain types of information when you interact with our websites, mobile applications, and online products and services. For example, they may collect data about your interactions with our website, device, browser, operating system, and/or it may store or transmit identifiers that are unique to you or your browser. We use tracking technologies for a variety of reasons, including to better manage content on our websites, to help us understand usage patterns, track your preferences and understand your interests, fix issues, improve our products and services, remember you, and personalize your online experience.

We or third parties working on our behalf use tracking technologies to report analytics to us or provide advertising about products and services tailored to your interests. Some of these technologies s might collect information over time and across different websites in order to serve ads on our website or on other websites (“behavioral advertising”). You may opt-out of the use of tracking technologies on our site for the purpose of behavioral advertising by clicking "Customize Settings."

Calculators and Other Tools: When you use our calculators and other tools, we may collect the number of people who use a certain tool. Some calculators and other tools may require registration or ask for your contact information. We may also set cookies or clear GIFs based upon your use. For our calculators and other tools that require registration or ask for your contact information, we may use the contact information you provide to contact you directly with relevant services and offers.

Send a Friend Program: If you choose to use one of our referral services, we may ask for your friend’s/referral’s name and contact information, including email address. Depending on the particular referral service, we may contact your friend/referral and invite them to visit our website or sign up for services.

Email Interconnectivity: If you receive email from us, we use certain tracking technologies, such as cookies, to capture data related to when you open our message or click on any links. We collect this information to understand how you interact with our communications to you, including to gauge the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns.

HOW WE USE INFORMATION

In addition to the other purposes and uses described above, we may use information in the following ways, subject to applicable laws:

To provide you the products and services you request.
To contact you about products and services offered by us.
To provide customer and tax support.
To identify you when you visit our websites or use our mobile applications.
To improve our services and products.
To communicate with you.
To send marketing and promotional materials, including newsletters, publications, or other information relating to our products, services, sales, or promotions.
To market to individuals who are not using but may be interested in our products and services.
To detect and protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, including violation of our policies and terms and conditions, security incidents, and harm to the rights, property, or safety of our company and our users, employees, or others, or to otherwise improve the security of our services.
To debug, identify, and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality of our websites and services.
To comply with our legal or regulatory obligations, to establish or exercise our rights, and to defend against a legal claim.
For internal administrative purposes, as well as to manage our relationships.
For such other purposes as permitted by law or that you consent to.

HOW WE DISCLOSE INFORMATION

In addition to the specific situations discussed elsewhere in this Notice, we may disclose personal information in the following situations as permitted by applicable law:

Steele Financial Tax Services. We may share information with Steele Financial Tax Services companies related by common ownership or control.

Nonaffiliated Third Parties. We disclose information to other nonaffiliated third parties for our everyday business purposes, such as to process transactions, maintain account(s), or respond to court orders or legal process.
IRS and State Taxing Authorities. The IRS and state taxing authorities may require or request that we disclose certain information to them. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, Social Security Number, IP addresses, unique device identifiers, bank account numbers, and tax return preparation user activity metrics (e.g., time to complete the tax return).
Other Disclosures Without Your Consent. We may disclose information, including to nonaffiliated third parties, in response to subpoenas, warrants, or court orders, or in connection with any legal process, or to comply with relevant laws. We may also share your information in order to establish or exercise our rights, to defend against a legal claim, to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding possible illegal activities, suspected fraud, safety of person or property, or a violation of our policies, for our everyday business purposes (such as to process transactions or maintain accounts), or to comply with your request for the provision of products or services by a third-party intermediary.
Public. Some of our websites may provide the opportunity to post comments, or reviews, in a public forum. If you decide to submit information on these pages, that information may be publicly available.
Marketing Arrangements. We may disclose information we collect in connection with providing you with our tax preparation products and services to companies with whom we have a joint marketing arrangement.
Offerings by Our Partners through Our Services. We may offer products or services of our business partners (such as bank partners that offer the Refund Transfer product) through our services. We may disclose information that is related to such transactions with that business partner. This Notice does not apply to products or services offered by our business partners on or through our services.
Service Providers. We may disclose your information with service providers. Among other things, service providers may help us to administer our website, conduct surveys, provide technical support, process payments, supervise contests, analyze, and process data, and send marketing materials to you on our behalf.
Other Disclosures With Your Consent. We may disclose your information to other third parties when we have your consent or direction to do so.

YOUR CHOICES

You may make the following requests regarding your personal information, but please note the choices described in this Notice are not always available. We may limit or deny a request because the law permits or requires us to do so, the laws of the jurisdiction in which you reside do not provide you with one of the choices identified below, or we are unable to adequately verify your identity. We will not discriminate against individuals who exercise their privacy rights under applicable law.

Access to Your Personal Information. You may request access to your personal information or confirmation that we have information about you. In certain circumstances, you may also request access to your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
Changes to Your Personal Information. You may request that we correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete. Note that we may keep historical information in our backup files as permitted by law.
Deletion of Your Personal Information. You may request that we delete your personal information. If required by law, we will grant a request to delete information, but you should note that in many situations we must keep your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or for other business purposes.
Opt-Out of Targeted Advertising. You may opt-out of browser-based targeted advertising (e.g., behavioral advertising cookies) by clicking the “Your Privacy Choices” link on our homepage and following the instructions or by clicking Customize Settings.
Limiting Sharing with Nonaffiliated Third Parties. In certain circumstances, you may request that we limit the sharing of your information with nonaffiliated third parties or other companies by calling the number listed in Contact Us. Our ability to offer you certain products and services may be affected by your choice to limit the sharing of your information.
Promotional Emails. You can stop receiving promotional emails by following the unsubscribe instructions in emails that you receive or by sending an email to sfts@steelefinancialtaxservices.com. If you decide not to receive promotional emails, we may still send you service-related communications.

Submitting Requests

You can submit requests relating to your personal information by contacting us as indicated in the “Contact Us” section. We will request personal information from you, such as your name, address, state of residence, email address, phone number, last four digits of your social security number, and your birth year to verify your identity in order to process your request.

HOW WE PROTECT AND RETAIN INFORMATION

While we use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical efforts to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information. In the event that we are required by law to inform you of a breach to your personal information, we may notify you electronically, in writing, or by telephone, if permitted to do so by law.

We retain your personal information for only as long as necessary to comply with applicable laws or regulatory requirements, serve you, maintain your account, operate our business, improve our offerings, or develop new ones, or otherwise fulfill the purposes outlined in this Notice, including satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the information, the purposes for which we obtained the information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, as well as applicable legal or regulatory requirements.

THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS/WEBSITES

For your convenience, we may provide links to websites and other third-party content or services that we do not own or operate. The websites and third-party content to which we link may have separate privacy notices or policies. Please note that we have no direct control over the privacy practices, websites, or services that we do not own. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party website or application for details about such third party’s privacy practices.