Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

None. OpenTax does not collect, store, transmit, or process any personal data on any server. The application is a static website that runs entirely in your web browser.

Specifically, we do not collect:

• — Names, addresses, Social Security numbers, or taxpayer identification numbers
• — W-2s, 1099s, or any tax documents you upload
• — Income, deduction, or credit amounts
• — Computed tax return results
• — Email addresses, account credentials, or contact information
• — IP addresses or device fingerprints

2. How the application works

OpenTax is a client-side web application. When you visit the site, your browser downloads the application code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript). From that point forward, all processing happens locally on your device:

• — Document OCR runs via Tesseract.js (WebAssembly) inside your browser
• — Tax computation runs via the TypeScript rules engine in your browser
• — PDF generation runs via pdf-lib in your browser
• — Data persistence uses your browser's IndexedDB (local storage)

You can verify this by monitoring your browser's network tab in developer tools — no tax data is ever sent to any server.

3. Cookies and tracking

OpenTax does not use cookies. We do not use any third-party analytics, advertising trackers, or behavioral monitoring tools. The GitHub Pages static hosting may log standard HTTP access logs (IP address, user agent, requested URL) as part of GitHub's infrastructure; see GitHub's privacy statement for details on their hosting practices.

4. Third-party services

The static marketing site (the page you're reading now) loads the following external resources:

• — Google Fonts (fonts.googleapis.com) — to load the Inter typeface
• — Tailwind CSS CDN (cdn.tailwindcss.com) — for styling

These services may set their own cookies or collect request metadata per their respective privacy policies. The standalone OpenTax application (when run locally via npm run dev) does not load any external resources.

5. Data retention

Your tax data is stored only in your browser's local storage (IndexedDB). It persists until you clear your browser data, switch browsers, or explicitly delete it within the application. We have no access to this data and no ability to recover it. We recommend exporting your completed return (as a PDF) before clearing your browser data.

6. Open source

OpenTax is open-source software licensed under the MIT License. You can review the complete source code, including all data handling logic, at github.com/opentax-org/opentax. We encourage security researchers and privacy-conscious users to audit the codebase.

7. IRS disclaimer

OpenTax is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or any state tax authority. The OpenTax name and project are independent open-source initiatives. You are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of any tax return you file.

8. Changes to this policy

Any changes to this privacy policy will be committed to the public GitHub repository with a clear commit message. You can review the complete history of this file in the repository.