The Holtz Group treats your financial and personal information as confidential and will not sell or rent any information.
Information Collection and Use
The Holtz Group is the sole owner of the information collected on TheHoltzGroup.com. Information is collected in order for taxpayers to prepare and electronically file their tax returns. Tax return information is only disclosed to appropriate government and financial institutions in order to file tax returns and comply with Internal Revenue Service requirements. The data collected includes everything that is needed to prepare a tax return, such as names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, mailing address, e-mail address, and any tax-related information such as Form W-2s and Form 1099s. If a purchase is made, credit card information for a credit card payment or bank account information for an e-check payment will be gathered.
All personally identifiable information gathered during account creation and during the use of the application to prepare taxes is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL).
At times, we may offer a referral service so that you can tell a friend about our products. We may ask you for your friend’s name and e-mail address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site. The Holtz Group stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer tied to information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on the The Holtz Group website. A session ID cookie is used as an additional layer of security to maintain your session while you are signed in to your account. Once a clicks the Sign Out link, the cookie simply terminates. Cookies are also used to track affiliate referrals and when collecting analytical data about usage on our site or the effectiveness of our emails. Third party cookies, or web beacons, are used to anonymously track the effectiveness of advertising and to display our ads through ad networks. This information is used in aggregate and does not contain personally identifiable information.
We may use clear-gifs/web beacons in our HTML-based e-mails to monitor the effectiveness of our communication efforts. Links within email may contain campaign tracking codes to measure traffic in aggregate. The data collected will be anonymous and will not be used to collect any personally identifiable information.
Third-Party Advertising
No third-party advertising appears on the The Holtz Group web site.
Usage Information
Like most websites, The Holtz Group uses log files and analytical software to track website usage. The information collected may include IP addresses, browser types, internet service providers (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform types, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, track user movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for use in improving our website.
Communications from The Holtz Group
Your contact information (e-mail address) 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, and provide a confirmation of credit card or direct-debit payments. If you e-file your tax return, an e-mail may 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 e-mail may be sent out to explain the problem. The Holtz Group may send a confirmation e-mail to serve as a receipt when a taxpayer uses a credit card or checking/savings account to pay for the tax return preparation fee.
The Holtz Group will not use your information to market any third party product or service. Occasionally, The Holtz Group may 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 by clicking on the Safe Unsubscribe link in the footer of every optional email.
Legal Disclosures
Though every effort is made to preserve user privacy, The Holtz Group may need to disclose personal information when required by law wherein we have a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a current judicial proceeding, a court order or legal process served on our website.
Credit Card Processing
If during the use of our web tax preparation application you order a product that requires payment, your credit card or direct-debit payment will be processed by a payment processing company. The payment processing companies that we use do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes. No credit card information will be collected unless there is a payment due. The Holtz Group does not store any credit card information. Your credit card data is only used to process your payment.
Security
The Holtz Group 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. The Holtz Group uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to protect all sensitive information. Access to your personal information is protected by a password, of your choosing, in order to maintain security for your account. Only you, or someone with whom you share your password, can access your account to make changes to your return or account information.