Franchise Tax Board

FTB Privacy Policy

Overview

We take the privacy of your personal information very seriously.

To demonstrate our commitment to protecting your personal tax information, we adopted the Information Privacy Principles for Individuals. More information about California law that governs your privacy is available at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html (search for Civil Code Section 1798).

Your secure session

Whenever you visit a Website, a small piece of information called a cookie can be sent to your computer. The main purpose of a cookie is to identify and customize Web pages for you. There are two kinds of cookies:

  • A non-persistent cookie is a small, temporary data file placed on your computer. Once you leave the Website and close your browser the temporary file is discarded.
  • A persistent cookie is a permanent file saved to your computer until you delete it.

We use only non-persistent cookies. We never reuse a cookie. When you return to our Website, we will give you a new cookie.

Information we collect

Each time you visit our Website, we automatically record the following information:

Information Definition
Date Date of visit
Time Time of visit
Client IP Address Your Internet Protocol address – Your computer’s address
Server IP Address Internet Protocol address of our Web server – Our server’s address
Referrer Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the Web page that sent the requested file
HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol – Software that runs the Web
HTTP Status Codes that indicate the condition of the request, report errors, and other necessary information (e.g., "404 Requested Page Not Found.")
HTTP Request URL The address of the Web page or file you requested
Bytes Sent Amount of data you downloaded during your visit
Bytes Received Amount of data you uploaded during your visit
User Agent Name and version of your Web browser or other software that requested information from us
Protocol Version Version of HTTP used by your Web browser
You have the option of having this information discarded without reuse or distribution by contacting the Disclosure Officer. Your request must include the date and time you visited the FTB website, and the Client IP address (not your e-mail address) used at the time of the visit.

Information we collect for specific requests

We need the information listed below to respond to your request:

Request Type and Purpose of Information Collected
Registration for Events and Workshops We use your name, address, and email address to contact you about services on our Website.
Conference Material Orders We use your name, address, and email address to process your order or contact you if we have a problem processing your order.
Subscriptions (e.g., Tax News and e-file News) We use your email address to send your subscription materials. If you provide us your ZIP Code, we can send you information specific to your area. You may subscribe or unsubscribe at any time.
Email (e.g., Webmaster, Non-confidential tax questions) We use your name, email address, and phone number to respond to your request.
e-Services To use our interactive online services, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you may need to provide one or more of the following for authentication purposes:
  • Your customer service number.
  • Your social security number.
  • A declaration control number, which you receive when you e-file your return.
  • Your California Adjusted Gross Income from your last year's California income tax return, as you originally filed it.
  • Last name and partial address information.

What do we do with the information collected?

We use the information gathered to help us improve our Website and to process your requests. We do not sell your information or distribute it to anyone outside of the Franchise Tax Board, unless required by law or necessary to process your online transaction. We may be required to comply with subpoenas and government orders, and provide information to the extent permissible by law.

Protect your privacy

We use security technologies to protect all of your information from unauthorized viewing or corruption, by either internal or external sources. To help you conduct business with us safely and privately, we require that you use a browser that supports Secure Socket Layers (SSL) version 3.0, or higher. We label any “non-secure” forms and explain that you should not use them to send confidential information.

There are things you can do to protect your privacy. Be sure to update your browser and operating system regularly. For more information on how you can protect your privacy, visit OnGuard Online.

Any information we acquire, including information collected on our Website, may be released if requested as stated in the Information Practices Act of 1977 (see Civil Code section 1798).

Electronically collected personal information is exempt from disclosure when requested under the California Public Records Act (see Government Code section 6250).

Links to other Websites

Our Website includes links to other Websites. We provide these links as a convenience. Additionally, we receive tax returns filed online through third parties and we use a third party to process credit card payments. Please read the privacy policy of any Website that collects your personal information. These Websites and their privacy policies are not under our control.

Notification of changes

We may revise our privacy policy. We will prominently post any revision on our Website 30 days before implementation.

If you have any questions or concerns about this policy…

Contact our Disclosure Officer by writing to:

Franchise Tax Board
Disclosure Office, MS A-181
PO Box 1468
Sacramento CA 95812-1468

or call: (916) 845-3226.