Trust center

Where TaxGhost is today

The calculators on this site run entirely in your browser. The figures you enter — amounts, dates, filing status — are processed by the same tax engine that ships with the page; they are not transmitted to our servers, not stored, and not tied to an account, because there is no account system and no backend database today. Closing the tab clears them. We do not ask for your Social Security number, full tax return, or brokerage credentials to use any calculator.

The page itself is served over HTTPS (TLS 1.2 or higher), which is the only data in motion involved in a calculation: your browser downloading the static page and its assets. No input you type leaves your device.

What ships with the Monitor

The TaxGhost Monitor — an always-on view that connects to a brokerage to watch income events as they happen — is in development for early users and is not live today. When account connection is introduced, the safeguards below are the architecture we are building toward. Until then, nothing here describes a system that is running.

When the Monitor ships we will hold the minimum figures required to compute a liability and surface it: amounts, dates, and filing status. We will not require your Social Security number or full tax return. Brokerage access will be read-only and obtained through a connection provider, never stored as a password.

Encryption (planned, Monitor)

When the Monitor introduces a datastore, data in transit will be encrypted with TLS 1.2 or higher and data at rest with AES-256, with backups inheriting the same envelope encryption. Decryption keys will be held in a managed secrets service with access logging; no long-lived key material will live in application configuration or source control. This describes the target posture, not a system in production today.

Access control (planned, Monitor)

When persistent data is introduced, production data access will be role-scoped and logged. Engineers will not have standing read access to customer records; access will be granted just-in-time, time-boxed, and reviewed. Every read of a customer tax record will be recorded against an operator identity. None of this exists today because no persistent customer data is stored.

The regulatory frameworks we model on

We are honest about what we are and are not. TaxGhost is not a bank, an accountant, or an enrolled agent. The following describe the posture we hold, not certifications we have been awarded:

FTC Safeguards Rule (16 CFR §314)

We model our data-protection program on the Rule's requirements — an access control plan, encryption in transit and at rest, multi-factor authentication on administrative access, and a designated individual responsible for the program. We do not claim to be a Rule-certified institution; the Safeguards Rule applies to financial institutions, and we apply its discipline voluntarily.

IRC §7216 / §6713

These sections restrict the unauthorized disclosure or use of tax-return information by preparers. We treat the figures you enter under the same discipline: we do not sell, share, or use your inputs to advertise, and we do not disclose them to third parties except as required by law or as you direct.

SOC 2

Our infrastructure controls are designed against the SOC 2 Trust Services Criteria. A Type II report is our target as we scale; until then this page describes the controls in force today, not an auditor's attestation.

Retention and deletion

Today there is nothing to retain or delete: the calculators hold your inputs only in your browser session, and closing the tab discards them. We do not store results, there is no account to close, and no record of your inputs exists on our side to remove. When the Monitor introduces persistent data, this section will describe how long that data is held and how you delete it — and it will describe a system that then exists, not one planned.

Sub-processors

The site today is served as static pages over a standard content-delivery network; no component of it receives, stores, or processes the figures you enter into a calculator, so no sub-processor handles tax-return content. When the Monitor connects to financial institutions and stores data, this section will list every sub-processor with access and its role. That list will reflect services then in use, not names chosen in advance.

Reporting a vulnerability

If you believe you have found a security issue, please contact security@taxghost.com before publishing it. We acknowledge reports within two business days and aim to remediate verified issues within ninety days, faster for anything affecting customer data.