Illinois Department of Revenue Privacy Policy
The Illinois Department of Revenue ("the Department")
is committed to protecting the privacy rights of Illinois taxpayers. These
rights are ensured through the various Revenue Acts, the Illinois
Administrative Code, and the Department's policies and practices.
Privacy Statement
No information you provide to us on any tax return or schedule
or pursuant to any tax related investigation will be disclosed except in
accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the tax for which your return
or schedule is filed. Disclosure of confidential tax information by the
Department is strictly prohibited except as provided by the tax laws of this
State.
Information you provide us in response to surveys or as email
may become public records and therefore subject to disclosure under the
Illinois Freedom of Information Act. It is therefore the policy of the
Department that no personal information you provide to us in response to
surveys or as email, including your name, address, telephone number, drivers
license number, Social Security number, and email address will be sold, or
rented to any entity or individual.
We will not collect personal information about
you just because you visit this web site.
In order to improve the usefulness of
this site for our visitors, we automatically collect and maintain statistical
information from our site's data logs that concern network flow and volume.
This information consists of the following:
·
the name of the domain from which the visitor accesses the
internet (e.g. "a company.com"; "a school.edu"; or "an
agency.gov");
·
the internet protocol address and port numbers; and
·
the date and time the IDOR web site is visited.
We routinely analyze our web site
logs to continually improve the value of the materials available on our site.
Our web site logs are not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to
link them with the individuals that browse these web pages. So that these web
pages remain available to you and other visitors, we monitor network traffic to
identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise
cause damage to the web service. Use of this system constitutes consent to such
monitoring and auditing.
Unauthorized attempts to upload
information and/or change information on this web site are strictly prohibited
and subject to prosecution under the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and
Title 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001 and 1003.
We do make limited use of cookies (a
cookie is a file placed on a visitor's hard drive that allows the web site to
monitor the individual's use of the site.) The cookie is ONLY used to maintain
the application state during TAX FILING and is discarded at the end of the
application session. If the session remains inactive for too long, the session
and the cookie are disabled.
We use these web pages as a public
service to provide information pertaining to the Department, its policies,
educational materials, tax forms that can be downloaded, and programs. You may
use these web pages to obtain information, to correspond with us, and to file
your tax returns.
These web pages offer you the
opportunity to electronically file your tax returns. If you use these web pages
to file a tax return, you should be aware that information received by the
Department of Revenue from returns filed under the Illinois Income Tax Act and
the Retailer's Occupation Tax Act (as well as most other Revenue Acts) is confidential. Accordingly,
we will not disclose your tax return and investigation information except
pursuant to specific statutory provisions and only for official purposes. If
you wish to get a copy of a form you have submitted through this web site, you
must complete and submit Form IL-4506.
We protect the confidentiality of tax
return information you provide us electronically just as much or more than we
protect similar information you provide in paper format. (Please note however
that the Department accepts no responsibility for loss of privacy during
transmission "across the Internet.")
These web pages may also offer you an
opportunity to ask questions, request information, or provide comment. Use of
this option is voluntary and may require an email address. If during your visit
to these web pages you participate in a survey or send an email, the following
additional information will be collected: 1) Email correspondence: The email
address and contents of the email; 2) Surveys: Any information you volunteered
in response to a survey. (The information collected is not limited to text
characters and may include audio, video, and graphic information formats that
you have provided.) We use your email to respond appropriately. This may be to
respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our web
site, or to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action. Survey
information is used for the purpose designated.
The Department has links to other web
sites including links to web sites operated by other government agencies,
nonprofit organizations and private businesses. When you link to another site,
you are no longer on a site covered by this Privacy Notice and you are subject
to the privacy policy of that new site.
Legal Notices
Access to the Illinois Department of
Revenue ("the Department") web pages is provided subject to the
following terms and conditions. Please read these terms carefully as use of
these pages constitutes acceptance of all of the following terms and
conditions:
Persons Under 13 Years of Age
The Department is committed to
complying fully with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Accordingly,
if you are under the age of 13, you are not authorized to provide the
Department with personally identifying information, and we will not use any such
information in our database or other data collection activities. We appreciate
your cooperation with this federally mandated requirement.
Personal Information and Choice
Information received by the
Department from tax returns or from tax related investigations is not
considered personal information and is discussed separately in the "IDOR Web
Privacy Policy". "Personal
information" is information about you that readily identifies you.
Personal information includes personal identifiers such as your name, address,
phone number, driver's license number and social security number. A domain name
or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information.
We collect no personal information
about you unless you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for
information (e.g., sending an email or participating in a survey). If you
choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way
affect your ability to use any other feature of these web pages or any other
State of Illinois web site. If personal information is requested on this web
site or volunteered by the user, state law and the federal Privacy Act of 1974
may protect it. However, this information is a public record once you provide
it, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not protected by
federal or state law. Users are cautioned that the collection of personal
information requested from or volunteered by children on-line or by email will
be treated the same as information given by an adult and may be subject to
public access. Again, information received by the Department from tax returns
or from tax related investigations is not personal information and is accorded
far greater privacy than personal information. For additional information
please see "IDOR Web Privacy Policy".
Disclaimer of Liability
Neither the State of Illinois, nor
any of its agencies nor any of its employees or agents shall be held liable for
any improper or incorrect use of the information described and/or contained
herein. The State of Illinois, its Agencies, employees and agents assume no
responsibility for anyone's use of the information. In no event shall the State
of Illinois, the Department, the Department's web site or any employees or
agents of the same be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special,
exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement
or substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business
interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in
contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising
in any way out of the use of this system, even if advised of the possibility of
such damage. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury,
including but not limited to those caused by any failure of performance, error,
omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer
virus, communication line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access
to, alteration of, or use of record, whether for breach of contract, tortious
behavior, negligence or under any other cause of action.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Accuracy
of Data
Although the data found using the
Department's access systems have been produced and processed from sources
believed to be reliable, no warranty, express or implied, is made regarding
accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any
information. This disclaimer applies to both isolated and aggregate uses of the
information. The Department provides this information on an "as is"
basis. All warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not
limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, freedom from contamination by computer viruses and non-infringement of
proprietary rights are disclaimed. Changes may be periodically made to the
information herein; these changes may or may not be incorporated in any new
version of the publication. If you have obtained information from any of the
Department's web pages from a source other than the Department's pages, be
aware that electronic data can be altered subsequent to original distribution.
Data can also quickly become out of date. It is recommended that careful
attention be paid to the contents of any data associated with a file, and that
the originator of the data or information be contacted with any questions
regarding appropriate use. If you find any errors or omissions, we encourage
you to report them to the Department's Webmaster.
Disclaimer of Endorsement
The Department is a distributor of
content sometimes supplied by third parties and users. Any opinions, advice,
statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made
available by third parties, including information providers, users, or others,
are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and do not necessarily
state or reflect those of the Department and shall not be used for advertising
or product endorsement purposes. Reference herein to any specific commercial
products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise,
does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by
the Department or the State of Illinois.
Disclaimer for External Links
The Department is not responsible for
the contents of any off-site pages referenced. The user specifically
acknowledges that the State of Illinois is not liable for the defamatory,
offensive or illegal conduct of other users, links, or third parties and that
the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with the user. Links from
the Department's web pages on the World Wide Web to other sites do not
constitute an endorsement. These links are provided as an information service
only. It is the responsibility of the web surfer to evaluate the content and
usefulness of information obtained from other sites. The Department's web site
contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites and resources.
Since neither the Department nor the State of Illinois is responsible for the
availability of these outside resources or their contents, you should direct
any concerns regarding any external link to its site administrator or
webmaster.
Disclaimer of Duty to Continue
Provision of Data
Due to the dynamic nature of the
Internet, resources that are free and publicly available one day may require a
fee or restricted access the next, and the location of items may change as
menus, homepages, and files are reorganized. The user expressly agrees that use
of the Department's web site is at the user's sole risk. The Department does
not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error free. The documents
and related graphics published on this server could contain technical
inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the
information herein. The State and/or its respective agencies and programs may
make improvements and/or changes in the information and/or programs described
herein at any time.
Choice of Law
Construction of the disclaimers above
and resolution of disputes thereof are governed by the laws of the State of
Illinois. The laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., shall apply to all uses of
this data and this system. By use of this system and any data contained
therein, the user agrees that use shall conform to all applicable laws and
regulations and user shall not violate the rights of any third parties. Use of
this site constitutes user's assent to the terms herein set forth