Privacy Information

Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the West Virginia Tax Division’s website. Because visitors to our website are important to us, we do not capture personal information about them without their permission. We endeavor to collect only the minimum amount of information necessary to meet the purposes for which we created the website. We designed this website to make it easier and more efficient for all users to interact with the Tax Division. This privacy statement addresses the collection, security, and disclosure of information obtained through usage of our website.

Collection of Information

If you visit a website maintained by the Tax Division to read or download information, we may collect the following information:

  • The name of your domain; for example “companyname.com”;
  • The IP address of the client accessing the web site;
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access our sites;
  • The Internet address of the website from which you linked directly to our sites, if applicable;
  • The pages you visit within the West Virginia Tax Division website(s); and
  • The links made to other websites through our sites.

Cookies

The West Virginia Tax Division may use “cookies” and other internet technologies to manage our website.

Cookies are small text files that a web server may ask your web browser to store and to send back to the web server when needed.

  • We may use cookies to:
  • store a transaction identifier or other information a user may provide.
  • automatically identify a particular user to the system so we may provide a customized service.

We do not use cookies to collect or store your personal information.

Uses of Information

The West Virginia Tax Division uses the personal information you provide in a manner correlating to the reason you provided the information. We may also use the information for other reasonably anticipated purposes, based on the circumstances.

We collect information to determine your level of interest in particular information and to improve the content and performance of the site. This information is not collected for commercial marketing purposes.

Voluntarily provided personally identifiable information may be collected while you visit our website. Personally identifiable information is information about a person that is identifiable to that specific individual. It may include an individual’s name, street address or phone number. Examples of personally identifiable information we might collect include, but are not limited to:

  • An e-mail address, if you are communicating with us through e-mail;
  • Information you voluntarily submit to the West Virginia Tax Division for the purposes of completing or submitting an application or form online; and
  • Other volunteered information, such as vendor profile/contact information, survey information or content of e-mail.

The agency retains information in accordance with existing laws, rules, regulations, and other policies. We do not collect personally identifiable information unless a person voluntarily sends an e-mail message, fills out and submits an online form, or enters personal information onto and submits a survey. Electing not to participate in these activities will not impair your ability to access certain information or obtain services from the State (though it may prevent you from completing the transaction or obtaining the service online).

Unless specifically protected under state law, any information you provide may be inspected by the public (see “Public Disclosure” below) or disclosed in a legal proceeding. Information collected may be combined with information obtained from other Executive Branch Departments’ and Department of Revenue agency websites and services. In general, please note that information collected, whether or not personally identifiable, is not limited to text characters and may include audio, video and other graphic formats you send us.

Link Disclaimer

The Tax Division website may contain links to other websites, including those owned or maintained by other government, private or not‐for‐profit entities. We offer these links for convenience and informational purposes only. A link does not constitute an endorsement of content, viewpoint, policies, products or services of that website. Such site owners may post privacy statements on their respective sites, which supersede this policy. Visitors should read the privacy policies of the individual sites and exercise caution when providing personally identifiable information without a clear understanding of how the information will be used.

Public Disclosure

As a general rule, the Tax Division does not disclose any personally identifiable information collected online or otherwise except where permission has been granted, or where the information is public information under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act, W.V. Code § 29B‐1‐1 et seq., or other applicable laws.

The Tax Division may have to provide information to law enforcement, the federal government, or in response to a court order or subpoena if no other law protects your information.

The Tax Division may share your information with other state and federal agencies as well as others employed to assist us. We share information for purposes that correlate to the reason you provided the information, or as required by law. We may share non‐personal information to improve our business practices.

Online visitors must understand the information collected by our website may be subject to inspection, if such information is a public record or not otherwise protected from disclosure.

Email Our Privacy Officer

Security

During online transactions, the Tax Division uses the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to safeguard your sensitive personal information, including your credit card number, and social security number. The industry widely accepts SSL protocol as the form of encryption providing the highest level of protection possible for Internet communications.

SSL encryption secures a transaction between a personal computer and the state’s computer processing requests. All computers are located behind a secure firewall to protect the systems and information.

The agency must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Trademarks, Service Marks, and Copyrights

All trademarks, service marks or copyrights appearing on this website and other linked websites are trademarks, service marks, or copyrights of their respective owners. Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Sec. 512(c)(2), please direct notice of claims of copyright infringement to the TaxITHelpDesk@WV.Gov.

Information Disclaimer

Information provided on websites maintained by the State of West Virginia and the West Virginia Tax Division is intended to provide the public with convenient access to public information. While all attempts are made to provide accurate, current and reliable information, we cannot guarantee all information is error‐free. Therefore, the State of West Virginia and its respective employees, officers and agencies expressly deny any guarantee of accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published through our websites and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Any person relying on information obtained from these websites does so at his or her own risk.

The contents of this website are for informational purposes only and subject to change without notice.

Contact

If you have questions about the privacy policy of the West Virginia Tax Division, please contact:

West Virginia State Privacy Office

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