Privacy Policy

This policy describes how this website handles information. Tax and ITIN engagements involve sensitive identity data, so we recommend having your own counsel review this text against your firm’s actual practices and any state or IRS obligations before relying on it.

ITIN INTERNATIONAL TAX SERVICES (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the website at itin.tax. We take the confidentiality of client information seriously, and this policy explains what we collect through this website, why, and what we do with it.

Information we collect

We collect only what you choose to give us:

• Contact form submissions. Your name, email address and, if you provide them, your telephone number, country, the service you selected and the content of your message.
• Online ITIN application submissions. If you complete our application at itin.tax/apply, the information IRS Form W-7 requires: your name and any name at birth, date and place of birth, citizenship, addresses, contact details, visa and entry details where applicable, identification document details, any previous ITIN, and the reason you are applying. This is submitted over an encrypted connection and stored in our own database, not in email.
• Identification documents you upload. Images or scans of the documents you attach to that application — typically a passport, national identification card, birth certificate or visa. These are held in encrypted storage separate from the application record, and are accessible only to our office.
• Draft answers held on your own device. So that a part-finished application is not lost, your answers are saved in your browser’s local storage on your own device until you submit or clear them. That copy never leaves your device except when you submit the form, and consent tick-boxes are deliberately never restored from it. Clearing your browser’s site data removes it.
• Payment records. If you pay a fee online, we record the amount, the currency, what it was for, your reference number where you gave one, the email address and name you entered at checkout, the identifiers Stripe gives the transaction, and the date it was paid. We never see or store your card number, expiry date or security code — those are entered on Stripe’s own payment page and never pass through this website or our database.
• Correspondence. Emails, telephone calls and portal messages exchanged with our office.
• Client engagement records. If you become a client, the documents and information required to perform the service you engaged us for. These are collected through our secure client portal, not through this website.
• Technical data. Standard server and content-delivery logs kept by our hosting provider, such as IP address, browser type and pages requested, used for security and to keep the site running.

Which channel to use for sensitive information

This website has two very different forms on it, and the distinction matters.

• The contact form is for general enquiries only. Please do not put passport numbers, Social Security numbers, ITINs, dates of birth or images of identification into it. Tell us what you need and we will point you at the right channel.
• The online ITIN application is the right place for that information. It exists precisely because Form W-7 cannot be completed without it. It is submitted over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), stored in our own access-controlled database, and uploaded documents are held in encrypted storage. Even so, please upload only the documents the application asks for.
• Anything else sensitive goes through our encrypted client portal rather than ordinary email, and we will invite you to it when it is needed.

We never ask for a password, a card number or a bank account number by email, and no page on this website ever asks you to type a card number into it. Online fee payments are taken on a page hosted by Stripe, our payment processor — see Paying online below.

How we use information

We use the information above to:

• respond to your enquiry and determine which service you need;
• prepare, review and file your Form W-7 ITIN application, and verify and certify your identification documents in our capacity as an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent;
• let you check the progress of your own application, using the reference number we issue you together with the email address you applied with;
• deliver the services you engage us to perform, including preparing and filing returns, Form W-7 ITIN applications, Apostille requests and notarial acts;
• meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations, including those applying to IRS Certifying Acceptance Agents and Florida notaries public;
• maintain the security and integrity of our systems; and
• keep records of the work we have performed for you.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

Confidentiality of tax information

Information you provide in connection with tax preparation is treated as confidential taxpayer information. We do not disclose or use it for any purpose other than the engagement without your consent, except where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

Third-party services we rely on

Running this site and our practice means a small number of carefully chosen providers process data on our behalf:

• Netlify — website hosting, processing of contact form submissions, and the managed database and encrypted file storage in which online ITIN application records and uploaded identification documents are held.
• Stripe — our payment processor, used to take card payments for our fees. Stripe collects and processes your card details directly under its own privacy policy and is certified to the PCI DSS card-industry standard; we receive only the outcome, the amount and the identifiers described above.
• Karbon — our client portal, used for secure document exchange, requests and messaging.
• Google — the embedded map showing our office location, and our Google Business Profile from which reviews and ratings are displayed. Loading a page containing the map means Google may receive your IP address and set cookies under its own privacy policy.
• Government agencies — the IRS, the Florida Department of State and equivalent authorities, where the service you engaged us for requires a filing.

These providers are permitted to use your information only to provide their service to us.

Paying online

Our fees can be paid by card at itin.tax/pay. When you start a payment, you leave this website for a secure page hosted by Stripe, where your card details are entered. Those details go to Stripe, not to us: they never reach our servers, our database or our email, and we have no way to retrieve them afterwards.

What we receive back from Stripe is the confirmation that the payment succeeded, the amount, the currency, the transaction identifiers, a link to your receipt, and the name and email address you gave at checkout. We store that against your file so we can show you what has been paid and account for it properly. Stripe emails you its own card receipt, and we email you ours.

We do not require you to pay online. If you would rather pay by another method, call the office on (941) 422-5188 and we will arrange it.

Cookies and tracking

This website does not set advertising or analytics cookies of its own. Embedded third-party content — specifically the Google Maps frame — may set its own cookies when it loads. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the site remains fully usable if you do.

How long we keep information

Online ITIN application records and the documents uploaded with them are retained for the period required of an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, and are then securely destroyed. If you submit an application and decide not to proceed, tell us and we will delete the record and any uploaded documents, other than anything we are legally required to keep.

Payment records are retained for the periods required by tax and accounting record-keeping rules. Because they contain no card details, there is nothing sensitive in them to delete.

Contact form submissions are retained for as long as needed to respond to and follow up on your enquiry. Client engagement records are retained for the periods required by tax, notarial and professional record-keeping rules, and are then securely destroyed. Florida notaries are required to retain records of electronic and remote notarial acts for a period fixed by state law, and we comply with that requirement.

Security

We use encrypted transport (HTTPS) across this website. Online ITIN applications and uploaded documents travel over that encrypted connection into an access-controlled database and encrypted file storage, and are never sent to us by email. Access to client information is limited to those who need it to perform the work.

The status page is protected by design: it requires both your reference number and the email address you applied with, it returns no identity data at all — only where your file has got to — and a wrong reference and a wrong email produce exactly the same answer, so nobody can use it to discover whether a given person has applied.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, so we ask you to help: use the application form or the client portal rather than email for anything sensitive, and tell us promptly if you think a reference number of yours has been seen by somebody it should not have been.

Your choices and rights

You may:

• ask what personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate;
• ask us to delete information we are not required to retain; and
• withdraw consent to future non-essential contact at any time.

Write to hello@itin.tax and we will respond promptly. Depending on where you live you may have additional rights under state or national privacy law; we honour those where they apply to us.

Children

This website is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from a child directly. An ITIN application for a dependent child necessarily includes that child’s details, and may include a birth certificate or school or medical record. Where our online application is used for a minor, it must be completed and signed by a parent, guardian or other person entitled to act for the child, and we treat the child’s information under the same confidentiality and retention rules as any other taxpayer information.

International visitors

We serve clients worldwide, and our systems and providers are located in the United States. If you contact us from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the “last updated” date above. Material changes will be highlighted on this page.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or about how we handle your information:

ITIN INTERNATIONAL TAX SERVICES
719 S. Oak Avenue, Sanford, FL 32771-2530, United States
Email: hello@itin.tax
Telephone: (941) 422-5188