Our Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy


Effective Date: 01/01/2020


Mraz Tax Solutions (“Mraz Tax Solutions,” “we,” “us” or “our”) recognizes the importance of protecting the information provided to us by visitors to  www.mraztax.com (our “Website”). This privacy statement explains what information may be collected from you when you visit our Website, regardless of how you access or use the Website, whether via personal computers, mobile devices, or otherwise, and how that information is used and how it is shared with third parties. It also describes your choices regarding the use, access, and correction of your personal information.


Mraz Tax Solutions offers individual tax preparation services and related products and services. Because we offer in office and online tax preparation services, our privacy policies will vary depending on how you interact with Mraz Tax Solutions. This privacy policy applies solely to our Website, independent of any business relationship you may have with us. This Privacy Policy does not apply to our data collection activities offline or otherwise outside of our Website (unless otherwise stated below).


This privacy policy may change and will be updated on our Website. Changes are made when necessary to maintain the security, effectiveness, and appropriateness of our privacy and data security policies and practices, and to reflect the on-going changes in our industry. You should check this page periodically to ensure that you are in agreement with any changes. If we amend this privacy policy to permit material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you of such amendment by prominently posting notice of such amendment on our Website’s homepages prior to the change becoming effective or by email (sent to the email address associated with your account). However, we will not use your previously collected personal information in a manner materially different than indicated at the time it was collected without your consent.


In addition, please review the  Website's Terms of Use, which governs your use of the Website. By using our Website, you consent to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and our collection, use, and sharing of your information and data, and other activities, as described below.


If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy policy or practices, please contact us by visiting  www.mraztax.com, or by calling 1-949-432-6729. 

  

A. Information Collected by Mraz Tax Solutions

  1. Voluntary Registration

  2.  Log Files

  3.  Tracking Technologies

  4.  Behavioral Targeting / Re-targeting

  5.  Information from Third Parties

  6.  California Do-Not-Track Disclosures

 B. How Mraz Tax Solutions May Use Collected Information
C. How Collected Information May Be Shared with Third Parties

  1. Linked Third Party Websites

  2. Social Media Widgets

  3. User Content

  4. Live Chat

D. Security

  1. Data encryption

  2. Web server authentication

E. CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

F. OTHER DISCLOSURES

  1. International Users

  2. Information for Parents

  3. Your California Privacy Rights

 

A. Information Collected by Mraz Tax Solutions

 

1. Voluntary Registration


We collect personal information (which may include, without limitation, your name, email address, social security number, date of birth, credit card information, mailing address and/or telephone number) from you when you voluntarily register on the Website or when you request information or a service (e.g., tax preparation services) on the Website. In order to create an account on our Website and administer that account, we will also collect a username and password which you will then use to access your account and other information.


2. Passive Collection


As is true of most websites, we and our third-party service providers may use a variety of technologies to gather certain information automatically and store it in log files whenever you visit or interact with the Website. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, the files viewed on our website (e.g., HTML pages, graphics, etc.), operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data to analyze trends in the aggregate and administer the website.

 

4. Tracking Technologies


Mraz Tax Solutions and our partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users' movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole (“Tracking Technologies”). These Tracking Technologies may set, change, alter or modify settings or configurations on your Device. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level but if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or fuctions on our website or service.


A few of the Tracking Technologies include, without limitation, the following (and subsequent technology and methods later developed):

 

Cookies. A cookie is a data file placed on a Device when it is used to visit the Website. A Flash cookie (or locally shared object) is a data file placed on a Device via the Adobe Flash plug-in that may be built-in to or downloaded by you to your Device. HTML5 cookies can be programmed through HTML5 local storage. Unlike Flash cookies, HTML5 cookies do not require a plug-in. Regular cookies may generally be disabled or removed by tools that are available as part of most commercial browsers, and in some but not all instances can be blocked in the future by selecting certain settings. Each browser you use will need to be set separately and different browsers offer different functionality and options in this regard. Also, these tools may not be effective with regard to Flash cookies or HTML5 cookies. For information on disabling Flash cookies, go to Adobe's website www.adobe.com. Please be aware that if you disable or remove cookies, Flash cookies, or HTML5 cookies on your Device, some parts of our Website may not function properly, and that when you revisit our Website your ability to limit cookies is subject to your browser settings and limitations.


Web Beacons. Small graphic images or other web programming code called web beacons (also known as “1x1 GIFs” or “clear GIFs”) may be included in our Website's pages and messages. Web beacons may be invisible to you, but any electronic image or other web programming code inserted into a page or e-mail can act as a web beacon. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the Website, to monitor how users navigate the Website, to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened or to count how many particular articles or links were actually viewed.

 

Embedded Scripts. An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Website, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your Device from our web server or a third party service provider, is active only while you are connected to the Website, and is deactivated or deleted thereafter.

 

Browser Fingerprinting. Collection and analysis of information from your Device, such as, without limitation, your operating system, plug-ins, system fonts and other data, for purposes of identification.

 

ETag, or entity tag. A feature of the cache in browsers. It is an opaque identifier assigned by a web server to a specific version of a resource found at a URL. If the resource content at that URL ever changes, a new and different ETag is assigned. Used in this manner ETags are a form of Device Identifier. ETag tracking may generate unique tracking values even where the consumer blocks HTTP, Flash and/or HTML5 cookies.


Recognition Technologies. Technologies, including application of statistical probability to data sets, which attempt to recognize or make assumptions about users and devices (e.g., that a user of multiple devices is the same user).


There may be other Tracking Technologies now and later devised and used by us in connection with the Website. Further, third parties may use Tracking Technologies in connection with our Website, which may include the collection of information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services. We may not control those Tracking Technologies and we are not responsible for them. However, you consent to potentially encountering third-party Tracking Technologies in connection with use of our Website and accept that our statements under this Privacy Policy do not apply to the Tracking Technologies or practices of such third parties.


5. Behavioral Targeting / Re-targeting

 

We partner with a third party to display advertising on our Website and manage our advertising on other websites. Our third-party partner may use technologies such as cookies to gather information about your activities on this website and other websites in order to provide you advertising based upon your browsing activities and interests. Please note this does not opt you out of being served ads. You will continue to receive generic ads.


6. Information from Third Parties


We may receive information about you from other individuals that use the Website. [Additionally, we may, from time to time, supplement the information we collect directly from you on our Website with outside records from third parties for various purposes, including to enhance our ability to serve you, to tailor our content to you and to offer you opportunities that may be of interest to you.] To the extent we combine information we receive from those sources with your Personal Information we collect on the Website, it will be treated as Personal Information and we will apply this Privacy Policy to such combined information, unless we have disclosed otherwise. In no other circumstances do our statements under this Privacy Policy apply to information we receive about you from third parties.

 

Examples of the types of personal information that may be obtained from public sources or purchased from third parties and combined with information we already have about you, may include:

 

  •  Address information about you from third party sources, such as the U.S. Postal Service, for verification and fraud-prevention purposes.

    

  • Purchased marketing data about our customers from third parties that is combined with information we already have about you, to create more tailored advertising and products.

 

You may opt-out of these practices by emailing office@mraztax.com or by calling 1-949-432-6729.  We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.


7. California Do-Not-Track Disclosures


Various third parties are developing or have developed signals or other mechanisms for the expression of consumer choice regarding the collection of information about an individual consumer's online activities over time and across third-party websites or online services (e.g., browser do-not-track signals). Currently, we do not monitor or take any action with respect to these signals or other mechanisms.

 

8. Collection and Use of Third Party Personal Information


We may also collect, from you, the following personal information about your contacts:


Name


Email address.


When you provide us with personal information about your contacts we will only use this information for the specific reason for which it is provided.


If you believe that one of your contacts has provided us with your personal information and you would like to request that it be removed from our database, please email us at office@mraztax.com or call 1-949-432-6729.  We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.


B. How Mraz Tax Solutions May Use Collected Information


Mraz Tax Solutions does not sell or market your personal information to any third parties. We will share your personal information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this Privacy Policy. We use information collected on the Websites for the following:

 

  • To provide the products and services you request and communicate with you regarding those requests

  • Internal market analysis

  • To improve our products and services

  • To provide you with information on new products or special offers

  • To tailor the Websites according to your interests

  • For marketing or promotional purposes

  • For purposes disclosed at the time you provide your information or as otherwise set forth in this Privacy Policy


Mraz Tax Solutions will not disclose to unaffiliated third parties any information collected in a manner that connects you with your personal information, except when we have your permission, to provide to service providers to provide services on our behalf as described below, or under special circumstances, such as when we have a good faith belief that the law requires it.


We also may use your information to inform you about other products or services available from Mraz Tax Solutions and our affiliates. You may be offered the opportunity to receive materials or special offers from affiliated third parties. If you opt to receive information from these third parties, we will share your name and e-mail address with such third parties.


Mraz Tax Solutions may keep track of what portions of the Website visitors are viewing and other visitor statistics such as geographic location, and aggregate this information to help us create a better experience for future Website visits. This is all done without knowing your name or other personal information in order to describe our viewers and services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.  If you do not wish to provide geographic location information, please email us at office@mraztax.com or call 1-949-432-6729.  We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.


Our use or disclosure of your information whether collected by us, uploaded by you, or otherwise provided to us, may be limited by §7216 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Gramm Leach Bliley Act of 1999, and certain other laws, as well as our policies. Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code requires that we obtain your consent (Opt in) to the disclosure and use of information you provide us in connection with your tax return information. We will not disclose or use your tax return information for any purpose other than preparing, assisting in preparing, or obtaining or providing services in connection with the preparation of your tax return unless you authorize us to do so, except when expressly required or authorized by law, necessary to the preparation of the tax return, or pursuant to court order. See Consent to Disclosure of Tax Return Information Consent form and Consent to Use of Tax Return Information Consent form. We may use or disclose your personally identifiable information as described below or where you have provided consent under §7216, or as otherwise permitted by applicable laws.

 

  • At the time of tax preparation, we will further explain how we handle your tax return information. We may use or disclose personally identifiable information about you to the following types of third parties: Financial service providers; non-financial companies, such as retailers and direct marketers; and others.

  • If you apply for a product or service, we will ask you to authorize us to disclose your tax return information to the financial institution providing such product or service. We will provide you with a Consent to Disclosure of Tax Return Information within the tax interview. You should review the agreements and the privacy policies of the financial institution to understand how it may use and disclose your personal information.

  • We may disclose personally identifiable information in response to legal process, for example, in response to a court order, subpoena, legal process, process, or other judicial, administrative, or investigative proceeding, or where we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is required by law. We also may disclose such information in the vent of the sale or dissolution (bankruptcy) of assets, in whole or in part, of our business or any of its affiliates. We also may disclose such information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our terms of use, or for other purposes permitted or required by law. In addition, we may transfer information about you if we are acquired by or merged with another company. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.


C. How Collected Information May Be Shared with Third Parties


Mraz Tax Solutions may disclose the personal information you provide to us to our service providers, business partners, sponsors or affiliates so they can assist us in providing the services you request. By requesting information from our business partners, sponsors, and affiliates through the Websites, you give us permission to transfer your personal information to them so they can fulfill your request. We may also share aggregated user statistics with third parties.


We may also disclose collected information in certain cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference (either intentionally or unintentionally) with any of our rights or property, visitors, or anyone else. We may disclose or access account information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it and for administrative and other purposes that we deem necessary to maintain, service, and improve our products and services.


The IRS requires a Device ID as part of the electronic filing record to aid in their defense against fraudulent return filing. Device ID identifies the device (e.g., computer, tablet, phone or other device) used to create the tax return. Our software system is recording this ID during the preparation of your tax return and will provide it to the IRS (and states) when your tax return is filed electronically.


1. Linked Third Party Websites


The Websites may contain links to other affiliated websites or websites of interest that are not under our direction or control (“Linked Third Parties”). Such links are included as a convenience. Linked Third Parties may include social networking websites and websites of advertisers, sponsors and partners that may contain our or our affiliates’ logo as part of a co-branding agreement. These other websites may send their own cookies to visitors, collect data, or solicit information. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you may provide while visiting Linked Third Parties. This privacy policy does not apply to Linked Third Parties and only applies to our Websites. You should exercise caution and review the privacy policy of any Linked Third Parties you are visiting.


We are not responsible for, and cannot control, the information practices of Linked Third Party websites. By using the our Website, you acknowledge and agree to indemnify Mraz Tax Solutions and its affiliates, and hold us harmless from and against any liability, claim, cause of action, demand, loss, damage, injury, and/or litigation (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs), or any kind whatsoever, whether brought by an individual or other entity, or imposed by a court of law or administrative action of any jurisdiction, arising from or related to, either directly or indirectly, the use of your information by and Linked Third Party or the privacy policy of any such Linked Third Party.


2. Social Media Widgets


Our Website includes Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button, and Widgets, such as the Share this button or interactive mini-programs that may run on our Website. These Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our Website, and may set a cookie to enable the Feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Website. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it.

 

3. User Content


We may allow users with accounts to transmit information through the Website for the purpose of participating in message boards or similar features. Any information that is transmitted or posted for this purpose becomes public information and may be viewable to other users and visitors to the Website. In addition, any personally identifying information that you choose to submit in connection with this information, such as your name, will also be publicly displayed along with any transmitted or posted information. Mraz Tax Solutions is not responsible for the privacy of any such information, and we cannot prevent such information from being used by others in a manner that could violate this Policy, the law, or your personal privacy.


4. Live Chat


We use live chat to assist you with answers to your questions concerning our product and its offerings. As an unregistered user you can ask questions anonymously to help you decide which product package would be best for you. For registered users, we collect email address and account information to create a customer contact record to assist our Support Center in handling questions. Our hours of Chat operations are published within the chat feature. Outside of the chat hours of operation you have the option to email us your question. We ask for your email address so we can follow up on your question.


D. Security


The security of all information associated with our Website visitors is important to us. We exercise considerable care in providing secure transmission of your information from your computer to our servers or those of our business partners.


When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number,) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).


We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Website, you can contact us at  office@mraztax.com.

 

1. 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. Your information is kept on your local computer or device as you enter information into our Website’s data collection fields. When you click the “submit” button or similar feature, that information is transmitted across the Internet, via SSL, to our secured web servers.


2. 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.


E. CONTROLLING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION


You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information you submit to us, such as your contact information provided as part of registration. You may choose to restrict Mraz Tax Solutions use of your personal information. Upon request, Mraz Tax Solutions will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. If you have provided your personal information to Mraz Tax Solutions and subsequently decide to restrict the use of this information or if you believe that any personal information we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us at  office@mraztax.com or by calling 1-949-432-6729 to correct, update, amend, delete/remove your personal information. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe. We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Please note that it is not always possible to completely remove or delete all of your information from our databases and that residual data may remain on backup media or for other reasons.


Newsletter Preferences


Out of respect for your privacy, you may choose to stop receiving our newsletter or marketing emails by following the unsubscribe instructions included in these emails, accessing the email preferences in your account settings page or you can contact us at  office@mraztax.com. This will not affect subsequent subscriptions and if your opt-out is limited to certain types of emails the opt-out will be so limited. Subsequent or different subscriptions will be unaffected. Please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your account or use of our Website, such as administrative and Website announcements and these transactional account messages may be unaffected if you choose to opt-out from receiving our marketing communications.


Please feel free to contact Mraz Tax Solutions at  office@mraztax.com or by calling 1-949-432-6729 if you have any questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy or Mraz Tax Solutions collection and use of your personal information.


OTHER DISCLOSURES


1. International Users


Our Website is operated in the United States and intended for users located in the United States. If you are accessing our Website from a location outside the United States, please be aware that information we collect, including personal information, will be transferred to, and processed, stored, and used in the United States. The data protection laws in the United States may differ from those of the country in which you are located, and your personal information may be subject to access requests from governments, courts, or law enforcement in the United States according to the laws of the United States. By using this Website or providing us with any information, you consent to the transfer to, and processing, usage, sharing, and storage of your information, including personal information, in the United States as set forth in this Privacy Policy. By using this Website, you also consent that all United States laws apply in connection with this Website.


2. Information for Parents


The Website is a general audience website and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from children younger than the age of thirteen (13) as required by United States law. We will delete any personal information collected that we later determine to be from a user younger than the age of thirteen (13). If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of thirteen (13) and believe he or she has disclosed personal information to us, please contact Mraz Tax Solutions at office@mraztax.com.


3. Your California Privacy Rights


We may elect to share information about you with third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits Mraz Tax Solutions customers who are California residents who have supplied personal information (as defined in the law) to us, under certain circumstances, to request and obtain certain information regarding our disclosure, if any, of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. If this law applies to you, you may obtain the categories of personal information shared by us and the names and addresses of all third parties that received personal information for their direct marketing purposes from us during the immediately prior calendar year (e.g., requests made in 2023 will receive information about 2022 sharing activities). To make such a request, please provide sufficient information for us to determine if this law applies to you, attest to the fact that you are a California resident, and provide a current California address for our response. Please send us an email at office@mraztax.com or by calling 1-949-432-6729. You must include your full name, email address, and postal address in your request.


In addition, we will not disclose your personal or financial information with any non-affiliated third party unless you have provided your consent to do so.


ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS


You understand that any information you provide through our Websites will be governed by this privacy policy.


IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE WEBSITES.


Your continued use of the Websites following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept such changes. If we amend this privacy policy to permit material changes in the way we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will notify you of such amendment by prominently posting notice of such amendment on the Websites’ home pages prior to the change becoming effective.
To the extent any provision of this Privacy Policy is found by a competent tribunal to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be severed to the extent necessary for the remainder to be valid and enforceable.