Introduction and overview

Intuit leverages technology responsibly to power prosperity around the world, and we believe that everyone has a right to privacy. We also believe in providing transparency on how we collect, process and share personal information.

 

Scope of this Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement (“Privacy Statement”) describes our privacy practices for individuals when we process personal information through the IRS Free File Program Delivered by TurboTax service (“Service” or “Services”).  

Please note that the Service allows you to share your information with various tax agencies for the purposes of helping you file your taxes. Information shared with tax agencies will be subject to such agency’s privacy policies and practices, which may differ from Intuit’s. For details on how tax agencies may process your personal information, please see their privacy notices.

 

Free File Information

We understand that your personal information processed for the purposes of preparing a tax return or in connection with the preparation of a tax return as part of the IRS Free File Program (collectively, “Free File Information”) is special.  Except as necessary to provide you with tax preparation services or as authorized by law, we will not use or disclose your Free File Information.

 

Information we collect 

 

Information you give us 

The personal information that we receive about you depends on the context of your interactions with the Service. Personal information that you provide may also depend upon what services or experiences you use, your location and applicable law. 

• Creating an account. We collect information when you create an account, including, for example, your contact information (such as your name, address, phone number, and email), usernames and credentials. 

• Identification information. We collect information to verify your identity and help you file your tax return, including, for example, your name, social security number, driver’s license numbers, government-issued identification details.

• Customer support, product research, training, and feedback. We may collect personal information when you reach out to us for support, give us feedback,  participate in optional surveys, product research or trainings.

• Information about others. Please see the section titled, “Information provided by others” below.

 

Information we get when you use the products and services

We may collect certain information about you when you access or use the Service. This may include:

• Device information. We may collect information about your device such as Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, log information, error messages, device type, and unique device identifiers. For example, we may  collect IP addresses from you as part of our sign in and security features. 
• Content. We receive information about you that you input into the Service, such as details about your finances; expenses; invoices; financial statements; financial transactions; salary, income and wage information; and/or investment information.
• Third-party service content. We receive information about you when you sign in to a third-party service with your instance of the Service. To sync your financial account information, we must access your financial account information. 
• Usage information. We may collect usage information such as the pages you viewed, the features you use, your browser type and details about any links with which you interact. 
• Information from cookies and other technologies. Intuit and our service providers may use commonly used tools such as cookies, web beacons, pixels, local shared objects and similar technologies (collectively "cookies") to collect information about you (“Cookie Information”) so we can provide the experiences you request, recognize your visit, track your interactions, and improve your experience. The Service is not currently configured to respond to browsers’ “Do Not Track” signals because at this time no formal “Do Not Track” standard has been adopted.

 

Biometric Information

Certain parts of the Service make use of biometric personal information (“Biometric Information“), Biometric Information can be subject to additional laws and regulations. 

We collect Biometric Information from you automatically as part of our anti-fraud protection and customer support activities. These identifiers may include, voiceprints and key-stroke information, as well as mathematical representations of your biometric identifier, such as the template maintained for comparison.  We use Biometric Information to identify and authenticate you, and for security and anti-fraud purposes.  We share Biometric Information with third-party service providers who assist with our IT, security and fraud programs, our professional advisors, and as required by law or regulation.  Intuit does not sell your Biometric Information.

When we collect Biometric Information, you may receive a specific notice and consent request at the time of that collection. In some instances, you are not required to consent to the collection of Biometric Information in order to use our services, although some functionality may not be available if you decline, and for optional features, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

Intuit will retain Biometric Information until the purposes for which it was collected have been satisfied or three years from your or your organizational account manager’s last interaction with Intuit, whichever comes first. 

 

Information provided by others 

The Service is designed to help you file your taxes, including for your family or your household. As a result, others may be able to input information about you. For example, your spouse may input information about your salary and work activity in order to process your family’s taxes.  You may also be able to input or process information about others.  If you input information about others into our platform, you must only do so if you have first received the appropriate rights and permissions to do so, including by getting advanced written consent, if required by applicable law. 

At Intuit, we believe that you have rights to information that pertains to you, your household and/or your business. If another person has input information in the Service on behalf of you, your family or your business, you may ask to receive a copy of your information, even if you do not have an account with us. To help protect the privacy and security of your information, you may be asked to provide additional information to verify your identity and/or ownership rights prior to receiving a copy of the information. For specific instructions on how to request a copy of your information, please see the section “Your information rights and choices” below. 

We also obtain information from outside parties or services to run our business. We protect and process information obtained from those parties as described in this Statement, consistent with any additional restrictions imposed by the source of the information. Our sources may vary over time and depend upon how you use the Service. For a list of the categories of sources from whom we obtain information, please see the section “Other information sources” below). 

 

Other information sources

We may also get information about you from others where permitted by applicable law. For example, we receive information from:

• Your service providers. If you choose to sync your instance of the Service with one of your non-Intuit accounts, for example, with one of your we will receive information from that account/service according to your settings with that account/service. For example, if you connect a point of sale application to your Intuit Account, we may receive details of your business’s sales records.  
• Supplemental information and identity verification providers. Service providers who help us verify your identity and/or supplement the information you have provided and  ensure the accuracy of your information. For example, we use third party service providers to validate your mailing address, phone number or provide additional details about your business. These providers may include, for example, your financial institution, telecommunications provider or email provider. 
• Support providers. Service providers, who provide us with information your interaction with the Service. For example, we may obtain service and support information or technical issues you have raised with the IRS or a tax agency.
• Other users. As described in sections “Information provided by others”, above, we may get information about you from other users, such as your family members, bookkeeper, tax preparer, your spouse or your head of household.
• Risk management, cybersecurity & anti-fraud providers. We may receive information from service providers who help us assess risks associated with our offerings, including to help combat fraud, illegal activity and to help protect your personal information. 
• Government agencies. We receive information from government agencies,  including from various tax agencies. 

 

How we use personal information

We collect and process personal information from you only where: 

• We have your consent to do so;
• We need the personal information to provide the Service to you; 
• Operate our business; and/or 
• To comply with legal requirements, including applicable laws and regulations.

Personal information is used to operate our business, including but not limited to:

• Provide you with the Service
• Improve the Service
• Communicate with you about the Service
• Provide you with support and resolve disputes
• Conduct research, including by partnering with academic institutions
• Comply with our legal and regulatory requirements
• Protect the rights, property, safety or security of Intuit, our tax agency partners, the Service, our customers, employees or others and prevent fraudulent or illegal activity
• To enforce, remedy or apply our Terms of Service or other agreements

To provide you with Service, we may process your personal information using automated and manual (human) methods. Our automated methods include artificial intelligence (AI) and a range of technologies that help our services learn and reason and enhance your experience in the Service.  

We may also use your personal information for purposes that are compatible with the disclosed purposes if and where this is permitted by applicable law and the IRS Free File Program. 

 

How we share your information

From time to time, we may need to share your information in the following circumstances: 

To file your taxes. We will share your information with tax agencies in order to help you file your taxes. 

With your consent. We share your information with third-parties when you have requested us to do so, for example, if you request that we share a copy of your information with your family members or with your authorized agent.

For research. With appropriate controls,  we may share information with third-parties for research purposes or to publish academic or policy-related materials. We only share information in a way that would not allow any individual to be identified.

With service providers. We share personal information with our service providers who provide services on our behalf for the purposes described in this Statement.  Service providers are required to implement reasonable privacy and information protection controls to maintain the privacy and security of information provided to them consistent with the privacy practices outlined in this Statement.

For mergers and acquisitions. If we are involved with a merger, asset sale, financing, liquidation, bankruptcy, or the acquisition of all or part of our business to another company (collectively, a “Transaction”), we may share your information with that company and its advisors before and after the Transaction date. 

Sales of personal information to third parties. We do not and will not sell personal information to third parties. We do share personal information with third-parties for the business purposes described in this Statement.

 

For legal reasons

We may share your information with third-parties for legal reasons, including:

• When we reasonably believe disclosure is required in order to comply with a subpoena, court order, or other applicable law, regulation or legal process
• To protect the rights, property, or safety of Intuit, the Service, our customers or others
• To protect or defend against attacks 
• To enforce, remedy, or apply our Terms of Service or other agreements 
• To prevent fraud, cybersecurity attacks or illegal activity
• With regulatory agencies, including government tax agencies,as necessary to help detect and combat fraud and/or protect our customers and users.

 

Your information rights and choices

 

Your rights

Regardless of your location, we believe that all persons should have privacy and information protection rights and choices. 

Depending on where you live, you may have certain state-specific legal rights with respect to your personal information that we collect and process. 

If you are an individual in the United States, you can file a request or take action on one of your rights through your account settings or by contacting us at the contact details provided under the section “How to contact us.” 

If you are a California resident, you may have the following rights:

Verification. In order to protect your personal information from unauthorized access or deletion, we may require you to verify your identity before you can submit a rights request. If you do not have an account with us, or if we suspect that your account has suffered fraudulent or malicious activity, we may ask you to provide additional personal information for verification. If we are subsequently unable to confirm your identity, we may refuse your rights request.

Authorized agents. You may use an authorized agent to submit a rights request. If you do so, the agent must present signed written authorization to act on your behalf, and you may also be required to independently verify your identity or your legal authority or ownership of the personal information with us.

Access. You may have the right to access the categories of personal information we have collected about you, the sources from which that information was collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting your personal information, the categories of third parties with whom we share your personal information, the specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the categories of personal information we sold about you, the categories of third parties to whom we sold personal information about you, and the categories of personal information we disclosed for a business purpose. Please note that Intuit does not sell personal data. 

Deletion. You may have the right, under certain circumstances, to request that we delete the personal information you have provided to us.

Non-discrimination. You have the right to be free from discrimination related to your  exercise of any of your California privacy rights.

Please note that we may claim legal exemptions for certain types of personal information from all or certain parts of the CCPA pursuant to various CCPA exemptions.

 

What you can do to manage your privacy

You have choices when it comes to managing the privacy of your personal information. 

Update your privacy settings. You may update your privacy settings by visiting your account settings.

Download a copy of your personal information. You may request a copy of your personal information through your account settings.

Correct your personal information. You can edit and correct your personal information at any time by changing it directly in the Services. Please note that if you have filed your taxes with a tax authority, you may need to contact the tax authority directly to make changes to your filing. 

Delete your personal information. You may request for us to delete your personal information through your account settings.

 

Information retention 

Unless you specifically ask us to delete your personal information as explained in section  “Your information rights and choices,” above, we retain your personal information as long as it is necessary to comply with our data retention policies and obligations. For example, we may maintain your personal information for our legal or regulatory compliance needs (e.g. maintaining records of electronic filings you have made with us), to exercise, establish or defend legal claims and to protect against fraudulent or abusive activity on our service.

There may be occasions where we are unable to fully delete or de-identify your information due to technical or other operational reasons.  Where this is the case, we will take reasonable measures to securely isolate your personal information from any further processing until such time as we are able to delete or de-identify it. 

 

Security of your personal information

We use physical, technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information. However, despite these controls, we cannot completely ensure or warrant the security of your information.

 

How to contact us

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Statement or our practices, please send us an email at: privacy@intuit.com

Direct Mail:  Intuit Inc., Attention: Privacy, 2800 E Commerce Center Place, Tucson, AZ 85706

If you have an unresolved privacy or information use concern that we have not addressed satisfactorily, please contact our U.S.-based third party dispute resolution provider (free of charge) at  TRUSTe Feedback and Resolution System.

 

Changes to our Privacy Statements

From time to time we may change or update our Privacy Statement. We reserve the right to make changes or updates at any time. If we make material changes to the way we process your personal information, we will notify you by posting a notice or on a community post, by sending you a notification or by other means consistent with applicable law.     

You can see when this Privacy Statement was last updated by checking the “last updated” date displayed at the top of this Privacy Statement. Please review this Privacy Statement periodically to stay informed about how Intuit protects your privacy.  

 

Collection and use of children’s personal information

Our Services are not intended for or directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from users under the age of 13. If you believe we may have information from a child under the age of 13, please contact us. 

CCPA Notice of Personal Information, Learn more