H&R Block Online Privacy Practices and Principles

H&R Block offers a wide range of tax and financial services, including tax preparation, tax planning, banking, and business services through various affiliates and franchisees. Because we offer a variety of services both online (via the Internet) and throughout H&R Block's nationwide network of offices, H&R Block's privacy practices will vary depending on how you interact with H&R Block. The following guidelines set forth general privacy principles that apply to information collected on the www.hrblock.com web site, independent of any particular business relationship you enter into with H&R Block. If you enter into a business relationship with H&R Block as our customer (such as when you are utilizing our tax preparation or other software or online tax preparation tools), we will make you aware of the privacy practices that apply to that particular business or relationship.



These practices do not apply to our physical offices you may visit for services, and these practices do not apply to specific website based relationships you may have with H&R Block Bank, H&R Block Digital LLC (provider of software and online tax preparation tools), or other affiliates of H&R Block. Those H&R Block affiliates will provide you with their privacy notices when you enter into a business relationship with them. If you are a user of H&R Block's software or online tax preparation services, you may view the ""Privacy Notice for H&R Block At Home™ Web-based Tax Services and Software".

Information We Collect

When you visit www.hrblock.com, we may collect information about you from the following categories and sources:

• Information we receive when you request services, or information from us or companies with whom we have business relationships, enter contests or sweepstakes, or complete surveys or polls, such as your name, address, e-mail address and payment or billing information.
  
  
• Information to prepare your tax return or for other financial products and services. The collection of this information is governed by the specific privacy policy for the H&R Block business providing these services to you.
  
  
• Information you provide when you apply for employment with H&R Block or any of its affiliates.
  
  
• Web technologies. We may collect information through the following Web technologies: We utilize a software technology called "cookies". Internet cookies allow us to customize our Website for you by placing small files on your computer as you visit various components of hrblock.com. Through the use of cookies, we can display only those items that may be of interest to you on a particular site, or make it easier for you to access your account information. In most cases, however, information we collect through Internet cookies does not identify you personally.
  
  We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over) during your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services likely to be of greater interest to you. These companies typically use a cookie or third party web beacon to collect this information. To opt-out of this type of advertising, please complete the form at http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp
  
  We also employ a software technology called clear gifs (also known as web beacons), that help us better manage content on our site by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. Clear gifs and cookies are not tied to user's personally identifiable information.
  
  Like most standard Web site servers, H&R Block uses log files. Information collected in log files may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks. We utilize this information to analyze trends, administer the site, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. This information is not personally identifiable. When you use certain online tax services, IP addresses are tied to personally identifiable information to enable users to file or transmit tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service. For more information on these technologies - specific to your use of this web site - please click Privacy Technology Definitions for a discussion of these terms.

The third party service provider we currently use to manage these technologies is Omniture. For more information about the practices of this company or to decline cookies from this third-party ad server you may visit their Web site directly at http://www.omniture.com/privacy/product. In addition, that site also provides information about their privacy policy and opt-out procedure. We may engage different providers to provide similar services from time to time.

• When you use calculators and other tools on our Web sites that do not require registration, H&R Block may collect non-identifiable data from such tools, such as the number of people that use a certain tool. H&R Block may also set cookies or clear gifs based upon your use of tools and calculators to help us customize offers and tools to your particular interests. H&R Block will not record or track any data you enter into standalone tools and calculators in any way that identifies you personally, unless we specifically inform you that we are doing so at the time you provide such data.
  
  
• When you use our office locator service, we may collect data such as address or zip code information you provide so that we can better assess the level of interest in our services in a particular area, and the effectiveness of the locator tool at helping clients actually use our services.

How We May Disclose Your Information

Tax return information that H&R Block collects from you is controlled by Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Gramm Leach Bliley Act of 1999, certain other laws, and H&R Block policies. Any information that is collected from you as part of your customer relationship(s) with H&R Block, either online or through a retail office will be governed by the privacy notice that will be provided to you when you become a customer of the specific H&R Block business. For example, H&R Block's use and disclosure of tax return information we collect when you use our online and software tax preparation tools is addressed in our "Privacy Notice for H&R Block At Home™ Web-based Tax Services and Software".

For information collected on www.hrblock.com (as described above), H&R Block may use and disclose such information to the following categories of persons:

• Uses and Disclosures by H&R Block. Where permitted by law, H&R Block may use the information collected on this website to make you aware of products and services offered by H&R Block and its affiliated companies.
  
  
• Third Parties. We do not share your personal information with non-affiliated third parties for marketing purposes except as permitted by applicable law or with your consent. We do not sell or rent your personal information to third party direct marketers.
  
  
• Affiliates. H&R Block may provide information it collects to its affiliates as permitted by law. For example, we disclose information to our affiliates in order to respond to your requests for information or services, or to help limit your receipt of marketing materials you have requested not to receive.
  
  
• Service Providers. Where permitted by applicable law, we may disclose your personal information to service providers who perform business functions on our behalf. We require H&R Block service providers to have written contracts that specify appropriate use of your personal information, require them to safeguard your personal information, and prohibit them from making unauthorized or unlawful use of your personal information.
  
  
• Joint Marketing Arrangements. Where permitted by law, H&R Block may provide information it collects to joint marketers with whom H&R Block has a marketing arrangement. For example, H&R Block may enter into agreements with airlines or credit card companies to provide you with "miles" or "points" for visiting the H&R Block Web site or purchasing certain products or services from H&R Block. In such case, H&R Block would provide identifying information about you to the company in order to credit your account with such "miles" or "points". We require all joint marketers to have written contracts with us that specify appropriate use of your personal information, require them to safeguard your personal information, and prohibit them from making unauthorized or unlawful use of your personal information. If a state law (or other law) requires us to give you the right to opt-out prior to any disclosure of your personal information for joint marketing, we will not disclose your personal information for such purposes without providing such opt-out or obtaining your consent to such disclosure.
  
  
• Franchisees. If H&R Block sells or transfers any of its business or assets, certain information about our clients may be a part of that sale or transfer. In the event of such a sale or transfer, H&R Block will notify you. The notification procedure will be the same as the procedure we use to notify you of a change in our privacy statement as described below.
  
  
• Persons Who Acquire Our Assets or Business. If H&R Block sells or transfers any of its business or assets, certain information about our clients may be a part of that sale or transfer. In the event of such a sale or transfer, H&R Block will notify you. The notification procedure will be the same as the procedure we use to notify you of a change in our privacy statement as described below.
  
  
• Persons Who Request Information for Legal Purposes. We may disclose your information to affiliates or non-affiliated third parties when we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is required by law. This may occur in connection with a court order, legal process, or other judicial, administrative or investigative proceeding that produces a request for information from H&R Block.

We may disclose aggregate information compiled using your personal information that does not identify you individually or personally. This may include, for example, the total number of visitors to our Web site from a particular state, or the average age of a user of our Web sites.

Links to Other Web sites and Offers for Third Party Products

H&R Block's Web site may contain links to third party Web sites or offers for services from third parties. For any such third party products or services, you should carefully read the privacy policies of the third parties providing such products or services and any terms and conditions applicable to such products or services.

H&R Block may also have business relationships with third parties that provide products or services on the H&R Block site. These companies are clearly indicated on our Web sites. This privacy policy does not apply to products or services offered by a third party. When you request products or services from such companies, you give H&R Block permission to provide these third parties with personal information about you necessary to fulfill or process your request.

As an example, we may have special offers for dial-up or broadband internet service on our Web site through a third party provider. If you click on a link promoting such services you may be linked directly to the third party site or H&R Block may collect and provide information about you to such third party to fulfill your request for such internet services.

Children Under Age 13

Because of the financial nature of the services we provide, we do not market our Web site to children under the age of 13, nor do we knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13.

Changes to Our Privacy Statement

If we make a material change to the "H&R Block Online Privacy Practices and Principles", including a material change in the way we use any personal information collected on www.hrblock.com, we will notify you by using one of the following methods at least thirty (30) days prior to the effective date of such change: (1) we will post a notice on our Web site describing the change; or (2) we will send you electronic mail notifying you of the change.

Updating your Information: Much of the information we collect as described in this privacy notice either does not identify you personally or is not stored in an online accessible format. If you use our tax preparation software or obtain online tax preparation services from H&R Block and wish to update your information or limit your receipt of promotional materials from H&R Block, please see the "How You May Opt-Out of Information Sharing or Otherwise Control Use of Your Information" section of our "Privacy Notice for H&R Block Web-based Tax Services and Software". Other affiliates of H&R Block may also have their own procedures for limiting communications from them. You will need to directly contact the affiliate that they are working with in order to update their information or modify their communication preferences.

Contacting Us With Questions

If you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy, contact H&R Block by clicking here. If you do not receive acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed within fifteen (15) business days, you may then contact TRUSTe at http://watchdog.truste.com/pvr.php?page=complaint&url. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with the Web site to resolve your concerns.

H&R Block is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program. TRUSTe is an independent organization whose mission is to build user's trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices. Because this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. The TRUSTe program covers only information that is collected through the H&R Block Web site and does not cover information you provide in connection with transactions H&R Block affiliates or information that may be collected through your use of our software or online tax preparation tools.

Updated: 12/01/2010
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