The privacy of your data — and it is your data, not ours! — is a big deal to us. In this policy, we lay out: what data we collect and why; how your data is handled; and your rights to your data. We promise we never sell your data: never have, never will.
This policy applies to all products built and maintained by SIVA Tech LLC (dba getW9) including getW9 (all versions) & getW9.tax (all versions).
What we collect and whyOur guiding principle is to collect only what we need. Here’s what that means in practice:
Identity & accessWhen you sign up for a getW9 product, we typically ask for identifying information such as your name, email address, zip code, phone number and maybe a company name. That’s just so you can personalize your new account, and we can send you invoices, updates, or other essential information. We sometimes also give you the option to add a profile picture that displays in our products, but we do not normally look at or access that picture. We’ll never sell your personal info to third parties, and we won’t use your name or company in marketing statements without your permission either.
Billing informationWhen you pay for a getW9 product, we ask for your credit card and billing address. That’s so we can charge you for service, calculate taxes due, and send you invoices. Your credit card is passed directly to our payment processor Stripe, and doesn’t ever go through our servers. We store a record of the payment transaction, including the last 4 digits of the credit card number and as-of billing address, for account history, invoicing, and billing support. We store your billing address to calculate any sales tax due in the United States or VAT in the EU, to detect fraudulent credit card transactions, and to print on your invoices. To read Stripe’s privacy policy, please visit the Stripe Privacy Policy.
Geolocation dataWe log all access to all accounts by full IP address so that we can always verify no unauthorized access has happened. We keep this login data for as long as your product account is active. We also log full IP addresses used to sign up a product account. We keep this record forever for all our apps, because they are used to mitigate spammy signups. Web analytics data — described further in the Website Interactions section — are also tied temporarily to IP addresses to assist with troubleshooting cases. We blind all web analytics data after 30 days.
Website interactionsWhen you browse our marketing pages or applications, your browser automatically shares certain information such as which operating system and browser version you are using. We track that information, along with the pages you are visiting, page load timing, and which website referred you for statistical purposes like conversion rates and to test new designs. We sometimes track specific link clicks to help inform some design decisions. These web analytics data are tied to your IP address and user account if applicable and you are signed into our Services. We blind all of these individual identifiers after 30 days. We use Google Analytics, a third-party web analytics software. To read Google’s privacy policies, please click here.
Anti-bot assessmentsWe use CAPTCHA services across our applications to mitigate brute force logins and as a means of spam protection. We have a legitimate interest in protecting our apps and the broader Internet community from credential stuffing attacks and spam. When you log into your accounts and fill specific forms, the CAPTCHA service evaluates various information (e.g IP address, how long the visitor has been on the app, mouse movements) to check whether the data is possibly filled out by an automated program instead of a human. We retain these data via our sub-processor forever because they are used for anti-spam mitigation. To lean more about CAPTCHA, please click here.
Cookies and Do Not TrackWe do use persistent first-party cookies to store certain preferences, make it easier for you to use our applications, and support some in-house analytics. A cookie is a piece of text stored by your browser to help it remember your login information, site preferences, and more. You can adjust cookie retention settings in your own browser. To learn more about cookies, including how to view which cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please click here. At this time, our sites and applications do not respond to Do Not Track beacons sent by browser plugins.
Voluntary correspondenceWhen you write getW9 with a question or to ask for help, we keep that correspondence, including the email address, so that we have a history of past correspondences to reference if you reach out in the future.
We also store any information you volunteer like surveys. Sometimes when we do customer interviews, we may ask for your permission to record the conversation for future reference or use. We only do so if you give your express consent.
Information we do not collectWe don’t collect any characteristics of protected classifications including age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or physical and mental abilities or disabilities. You may provide these data voluntarily, such as if you include a pronoun preference in your email signature when writing into our Support team.
We also do not collect any biometric data. You are given the option to add a picture to your user profile, which could be a real picture of you or a picture of something else that represents you best. We do not extract any information from profile pictures: they are for your use alone.
How we approach mobile app permissions
We currently don’t offer mobile apps for getW9, however we may
in the future. We will follow our philosophy of minimal
information, by asking you for the bare minimum of permissions
from you to give you a great app experience with maximum
privacy. By default, we may have access to the network to ensure
the app can connect to and communicate with the Internet. In
most cases, we will ask for permission just-in-time so that you
can decide if you want to grant access to things like contacts,
camera, and calendar.
A few exceptions:
* For our iOS apps, we'll ask for permission to use push notifications upon first sign-in.
* Android apps do not currently require permission to send push notifications.
It’s impossible for our apps to try to use a sensitive OS feature without requesting access explicitly from you, so you’ll always know exactly when and what we’re requesting. You will never be required to grant any permission (although a given feature may not work or work well without it).
When we access or share your informationOur default practice is to not access your information. The only times we’ll ever access or share your info are:
To provide products or services you’ve requested.We do use some third-party services to run our applications and only to the extent necessary process some or all of your personal information via these third parties. To view the list of third-party services we use, click here. Having sub-processors means we are using technology to access your data. No getW9 human looks at your data for these purposes unless an error occurs that stops an automated process from working and requires manual intervention to fix. These are rare cases and when they happen, we look for root cause solutions as much as possible to avoid them from reoccurring. We also use some other processors for other business functions, which you can view by clicking here.
To help you troubleshoot or squash a software bug, with your permission.If at any point we need to access your account to help you with a Support case, we will ask for your consent before proceeding.
To investigate, prevent, or take action regarding restricted uses, click here to view the use restrictions policy.Accessing a customer’s account when investigating potential abuse is a measure of last resort. We have an obligation to protect the privacy and safety of both our customers and the people reporting issues to us. We do our best to balance those responsibilities throughout the process. If we do discover you are using our products for a restricted purpose, we will report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
When required under applicable law.SIVA Tech, LLC is a US company and all data infrastructure(s) are located in the US.
*If US law enforcement authorities have the necessary warrant, criminal subpoena, or court order requiring we share data, we have to comply. Otherwise, we flat-out reject requests from local and federal law enforcement when they seek data. And unless we’re legally prevented from doing so, we’ll always inform you when such requests are made. In the event a government authority outside the US approaches getW9 with a request, our default stance is to refuse unless the US government compels us to comply through procedures outlined in a mutual legal assistance treaty or agreement.
*Similarly, if getW9 receives a request to preserve data, we refuse unless compelled by either the US Federal Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 2703(f) or a properly served US subpoena for civil matters. In both of these situations, we have to comply. In these situations, we notify affected customers as soon as possible unless we are legally prohibited from doing so. We do not share preserved data unless absolutely required under the Stored Communications Act or compelled by a court order that we choose not to appeal. Furthermore, unless we receive a proper warrant, court order, or subpoena before the required preservation period expires, we destroy any preserved copies we made of customer data once the preservation period lapses.
*If we get an informal request from any person, organization, or entity, we do not assist. If you are an account owner who wants to export data from their accounts, you can do so directly by following the instructions on our help page.
*If we are audited by a tax authority, we may be required to share billing-related information. If that happens, we only share the bare minimum needed such as billing addresses and tax exemption information.
Finally, if SIVA Tech, LLC is acquired by or merged with another company — we don’t plan on that, but if it happens — we’ll notify you well before any info about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Your rights with respect to your informationAt getW9, we apply the same data rights to all customers, regardless of their location. Currently some of the most privacy-forward regulations in place are the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) in the US. getW9 recognizes all of the rights granted in these regulations, except as limited by applicable law. These rights include:
Right to Know.You have the right to know what personal information is collected, used, shared or sold. We outline both the categories and specific bits of data we collect, as well as how they are used, in this privacy policy.
Right of Access.This includes your right to access the personal information we gather about you, and your right to obtain information about the sharing, storage, security and processing of that information.
Right to Correction.You have the right to request correction of your personal information.
Right to Erasure - “To be Forgotten”.This is your right to request, subject to certain limitations under applicable law, that your personal information be erased from our possession and, by extension, all of our service providers. Fulfillment of some data deletion requests may prevent you from using getW9 services because our applications may then no longer work. In such cases, a data deletion request may result in closing your account.
Right to Complain.You have the right to make a complaint regarding our handling of your personal information with the appropriate supervisory authority. To identify your specific authority or find out more about this right, EU individuals click here.
Right to Restrict Processing.This is your right to request restriction of how and why your personal information is used or processed, including opting out of sale of personal information. (Again: we never have and never will sell your personal data.)
Right to Object.You have the right, in certain situations, to object to how or why your personal information is processed.
Right to Portability.You have the right to receive the personal information we have about you and the right to transmit it to another party.
Right to not be subject to Automated Decision-Making.You have the right to object and prevent any decision that could have a legal, or similarly significant, effect on you from being made solely based on automated processes. This right is limited, however, if the decision is necessary for performance of any contract between you and us, is allowed by applicable law, or is based on your explicit consent.
Right to Non-Discrimination.This right stems from the CCPA. We do not and will not charge you a different amount to use our products, offer you different discounts, or give you a lower level of customer service because you have exercised your data privacy rights. However, the exercise of certain rights (such as the right “to be forgotten”) may, by virtue of your exercising those rights, prevent you from using our Services.
Many of these rights can be exercised by signing in and directly updating your account information.
If you have questions about exercising these rights or need assistance, please contact us at privacy@getw9.tax or at SIVA Tech, LLC, 5206 Highway 5 N, Suite 100, Bryant, AR 72022 USA. For requests to delete personal information or know what personal information has been collected, we will first verify your identity using a combination of at least two pieces of information already collected including your user email address. If an authorized agent is corresponding on your behalf, we will first need written consent with a signature from the account holder before proceeding.
If you are in the EU, you can identify your specific authority to file a complaint or find out more about GDPR, click here.
How we secure your dataAll data is encrypted via [SSL/TLS] when transmitted from our servers to your browser. The database backups are also encrypted.
We’ve gone even further by encrypting the database at-work. Every field containing personal data is encrypted with its own key. The disks storing the data keys are encrypted as well. Our servers decrypt the data to send it to you when you need it. To learn more about our approach towards security click here to view the security policy.
What happens when you delete data in your product accountsIn getW9, we give you the option to delete data. Anything delete on your product accounts while they are active will be kept in an accessible trash can for up to 45 days. After that, the deleted data are no longer accessible via the application and are deleted from our active servers within the next 45 days. We also have some backups of our application databases, which are kept for up to another 45 days. In total, when you delete things in our applications, they are purged within 90 days from all of our systems and logs. Retrieving data for a single account from a backup is cost-prohibitive and unduly burdensome so if you change your mind you’ll need to do so before your data are deleted from our active servers.
We also delete your data after an account is cancelled. In this case, there is no period of data being kept in an accessible trash can so your data are purged within 60 days. This applies both for cases when an account owner directly cancels and for auto-cancelled accounts. Please refer to our cancellation policy for more details.
Location of site and dataOur products and other web properties are operated in the United States. If you are located in the European Union or elsewhere outside of the United States, **please be aware that any information you provide to us will be transferred to and stored in the United States**. By using our Site, participating in any of our services and/or providing us with your information, you consent to this transfer.
When transferring personal data from the EUThe GDPR requires that any data transferred out of the EU must be treated with the same level of protection that the EU privacy laws grant. The privacy laws of the United States generally do not meet that requirement. That is why since GDPR went into effect, getW9 has offered a data processing addendum and voluntarily participated in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as well as the Swiss-US Privacy Shield Framework.
We have incorporated a Data Processing Addendum to our Terms of Service that is in effect when the GDPR applies to your use of getW9 Services to process Customer Data as defined in the DPA. You can find the DPA linked within clause 7 of the Uptime, Security and Privacy section. The DPA includes the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (both controller-processor and controller-controller) to extend GDPR privacy principles, rights, and obligations everywhere personal data is processed. The DPA is extensive so to aid our customers, we have provided both a summary of what they mean and how SIVA Tech, LLC upholds our responsibilities in our privacy regulations. We protect and secure your data to the high standards set out in the addendum.
There are also a few ad-hoc cases where EU personal data may be transferred to the US related to getW9 or SIVA Tech, LLC operations. For instance, if someone in the US comments on our company blog or a customer participates in one of our infrequent surveys or someone applies to one of our open positions or buys swag on our company shop. Such transfers are only occasional and transferred under the Article 49(1)(b) derogation under GDPR.
Changes & questionsWe may update this policy as needed to comply with relevant regulations and reflect any new practices. Whenever we make a significant change to our policies, we will also send an email to all of our subscribers. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this privacy policy, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change this Policy at any time, and any amended Policy is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to You via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy.
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
From everyone at SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9, thank you for using our products! We build them to help you do your best work. There are thousands of people using getW9 every day. Because we don't know every one of our customers personally, we have to put in place some Terms of Service to help keep the ship afloat.
When we say “Company”, “we”, “our”, or “us” in this document, we are referring to SIVA Tech, LLC dba getW9 or as getW9.tax.
When we say “Services”, we mean any product created and maintained by SIVA Tech, LLC. That includes getW9 (all versions), getW9.tax (all versions), whether delivered within a web browser, desktop application, mobile application, or another format.When we say “You” or “your”, we are referring to the people or organizations that own an account or subscription with one or more of our Services; the end users that use our system to submit data to our subscribers; or the third party users that are added to our subscribers accounts.
We may update these Terms of Service in the future. Whenever we make a significant change to our policies, we will also send an email to all of our subscribers.
When you use our Services, now or in the future, you are agreeing to the latest Terms of Service. That's true for any of our existing and future products and all features that we add to our Services over time. There may be times where we do not exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service; in doing so, we are not waiving that right or provision. These terms do contain a limitation of our liability.
If you violate any of the terms, we may terminate your account. That's a broad statement and it means you need to place a lot of trust in us. We do our best to deserve that trust by being open about who we are, and keeping an open door to your feedback, which you may send at any time to team@getw9.tax.
Account Terms
Payment, Refunds, and Plan Changes
Cancellation and Termination
Modifications to the Service and Prices
Uptime, Security, and Privacy
Copyright and Content Ownership
Features and Bugs
We design our Services with care, based on our own experience and the experiences of customers who share their time and feedback. However, there is no such thing as a service that pleases everybody. We make no guarantees that our Services will meet your specific requirements or expectations.
We also test all of our features extensively before publishing them. As with any software, our Services inevitably have some bugs. We track the bugs reported to us and work through priority ones, especially any related to security or privacy. Not all reported bugs will get fixed and we don't guarantee completely error-free Services.
Services Adaptations and API Terms
We offer Application Program Interfaces ("API"s) for some of our Services. Any use of the API, including through a third-party product that accesses the Services, is bound by the terms of this agreement plus the following specific terms:
Some third-party providers may have created integrations between our Services and theirs. We are not liable or accountable for any of these third-party integrations.
Liability
We mention liability throughout these Terms but to put it all in one section:
You expressly understand and agree that the Company shall not be liable, in law or in equity, to you or to any third party for any direct, indirect, incidental, lost profits, special, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profits, goodwill, use, data or other intangible losses (even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages), resulting from: (i) the use or the inability to use the Services; (ii) the cost of procurement of substitute goods and services resulting from any goods, data, information or services purchased or obtained or messages received or transactions entered into through or from the Services; (iii) unauthorized access to or alteration of your transmissions or data; (iv) statements or conduct of any third party on the service; (v) or any other matter relating to this Terms of Service or the Services, whether as a breach of contract, tort (including negligence whether active or passive), or any other theory of liability.
In other words: choosing to use our Services does mean you are making a bet on us. If the bet does not work out, that's on you, not us. We do our darndest to be as safe a bet as possible through careful management of the business; investments in security, infrastructure, and talent; and in general giving a damn. If you choose to use our Services, thank you for betting on us.
If you have a question about any of the Terms of Service, please contact our Support Team at team@getw9.tax.
Changes & questionsWe may update this policy as needed to comply with relevant regulations and reflect any new practices. Whenever we make a significant change to our policies, we will also send an email to all of our subscribers. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about this privacy policy, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change this Policy at any time, and any amended Policy is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to You via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy.
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
We want satisfied customers, not hostages. That’s why we make it easy for you to cancel your account directly — no phone calls required, no questions asked.
Account owners can follow these instructions to cancel online:
Our legal responsibility is to account owners, which means we cannot cancel an account at the request of anyone else. If for whatever reason you no longer know who the account owner is, contact us at billing@getw9.tax. We will gladly reach out to any current account owners at the email addresses we have on file.
What happens when you cancel?
In the case of unpaid getW9 accounts, you won’t be able to access your account once you cancel, so make sure you download everything you want to keep beforehand. If you have a paid getW9 account, you can cancel your subscription and keep using your account until your paid period expires. Then the account will be automatically cancelled and will become inaccessible.
We’ll permanently delete your account data 45 days after cancellation from our servers and logs, and within 60 days from our backups. Retrieving data for a single account from a backup isn’t possible, so if you change your mind you’ll need to do it within the first 45 days after cancellation. Data can’t be recovered once it has been permanently deleted.
We won’t bill you again once you cancel. We don’t automatically prorate any unused time you may have left, but if you haven’t used your account in months or just started a new billing cycle, contat us at billing@getw9.tax for a fair refund, and we’ll look at things on a case by case basis. We’ll treat you right.
getW9-initiated cancellations
We may cancel accounts if they have been inactive for an extended period:
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
A fair refund policy
With getW9, we sell subscriptions on an annual basis only. If you pay for a year of getW9 and then cancel before the year is up, we make sure you aren’t charged in the future, however to prevent abuse and misuse of our system there will be no refunds for the current paid up period. Your account will be accessible until your paid period ends. After that, your account will become inaccessible but your data will stay safe with us for 60 days. That gives you time to export your data. After 60 days, we’ll permanently delete all data from the account except for your credentials, backup email address, and 2FA info if any. We keep this in case you’d like to reopen your account in the future. For more details, please read our Cancellation Policy.
Here are examples of refunds for getW9 for you we’d grant:
We’ll also consider giving credits for future cycles if something goes wrong on our side. For example, if we had extended downtime (multiple hours in a day, or multiple days in a month) or you emailed customer service and it took multiple days to get back to you, we’ll issue a partial credit to your account.
Get in touch
At the end of the day, nearly everything on the edges comes down to a case-by-case basis. Send us a note, tell us what’s up, and we’ll work with you to make sure you’re happy.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
Hundreds of thousands of teams use getW9 products. We are proud to give them a better way to work. We also recognize that however good the maker’s intentions, technology can amplify the ability to cause great harm. That’s why we’ve established this policy. We feel an ethical obligation to counter such harm: both in terms of dealing with instances where getW9 is used (and abused) to further such harm, and to state unequivocally that the products we make at getW9 are not safe havens for people who wish to commit such harm. If you have an account with any of our products, you can’t use them for any of the restricted purposes listed below. If we find out you are, we will take action.
Restricted purposes
While our use restrictions are comprehensive, they can’t be exhaustive — it’s possible an offense could defy categorization, present for the first time, or illuminate a moral quandary we hadn’t yet considered. That said, we hope the overarching spirit is clear: getW9 is not to be harnessed for harm, whether mental, physical, personal or civic. Different points of view — philosophical, religious, and political — are welcome, but ideologies like white nationalism, or hate-fueled movements anchored by oppression, violence, abuse, extermination, or domination of one group over another, will not be accepted here.
How to report abuse
For cases of suspected malware, spyware, phishing, spamming, and cybersquatting, please alert us at team@getw9.tax.
For all other cases, please let us know by emailing team@getw9.tax. If you’re not 100% sure if something rises to the level of our use restrictions policy, report it anyway.
Please share as much as you are comfortable with about the account, the content or behavior you are reporting, and how you found it. Sending us a URL or screenshots is super helpful. If you need a secure file transfer, let us know and we will send you a link. We will not disclose your identity to anyone associated with the reported account. For copyright cases, we've outlined extra instructions on how to notify us about infringement claims.
Someone on our team will respond within one business day to let you know we’ve begun investigating. We have published details on how we investigate use restriction reports. We will also let you know the outcome of our investigation (unless you ask us not to, or we are not allowed to under law).
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
We protect your data.
All data are written to multiple disks instantly, backed up daily, and stored in multiple locations. Files that our customers upload are stored on servers that use modern techniques to remove bottlenecks and points of failure.
Your data are sent using HTTPS.
Whenever your data are in transit between you and us, everything is encrypted, and sent using HTTPS. Within our firewalled private networks, data may be transferred unencrypted. Any files which you upload to us are stored and are encrypted at rest. Our application databases are generally not encrypted at rest — the information you add to the applications is active in our databases and subject to the same protection and monitoring as the rest of our systems. Our database backups are encrypted using AES-256-CBC encyption.
Full redundancy for all major systems.
Our servers — from power supplies to the internet connection to the air purifying systems — operate at full redundancy. Our systems are engineered to stay up even if multiple servers fail.
Sophisticated physical security.
Our state-of-the-art servers are protected by biometric locks and round-the-clock interior and exterior surveillance monitoring. Only authorized personnel have access to the data center. 24/7/365 onsite staff provides additional protection against unauthorized entry and security breaches.
Regularly-updated infrastructure.
Our software infrastructure is updated regularly with the latest security patches. Our products run on a dedicated network which is locked down with firewalls and carefully monitored. While perfect security is a moving target, we work with security researchers to keep up with the state-of-the-art in web security.
We protect your billing information.
All credit card transactions are processed using secure encryption—the same level of encryption used by leading banks. Card information is transmitted, stored, and processed securely on a PCI-Compliant network.
Constant monitoring
We have a team dedicated to maintaining your account’s security on our systems and monitoring tools we’ve set up to alert us to any nefarious activity against our domains. To date, we’ve never had a data breach.
We also audit internal data access. If a Basecamp employee wrongly accesses customer data, they will face penalties ranging from termination to prosecution. Again, to our knowledge, this hasn’t happened. We have processes and defenses in place to be alert of any data breaches going. But in the unfortunate circumstances someone malicious does successfully mount an attack, we will immediately notify all affected customers.We are serious about Security
Security isn’t just about technology, it’s about trust. We worked hard to earn the trust of over hundreds of thousands of companies. We’ll continue to work hard every day to maintain that trust. Longevity and stability is core to our mission at getW9.
Have a concern? Need to report an incident?
Have you noticed abuse, misuse, an exploit, or experienced an incident with your account? Please visit oursecurity response page for details on how to securely submit a report.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
We appreciate your concern
Keeping customer data safe and secure is a huge responsibility and a top priority. We work hard to protect our customers from the latest threats. Your input and feedback on our security is always appreciated.
Reporting security problems
If you are a getW9 customer and your account is under an attack such as hacking or mailbombing , send us an email at vic@getw9.tax. We will respond within two hours and work with you to counter the attack.
Report security vulnerabilities to us security@getw9.tax . We’ll review your report and get back to you as soon as we can, usually within 72 hours.
Tracking and disclosing security issues
We work with security researchers to keep up with the state-of-the-art in web security. Have you discovered a web security flaw that might impact our products? Please let us know. If you submit a report, here’s what will happen:
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
The data privacy regulatory landscape is undergoing a lot of change. You probably have heard about the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect on May 25, 2018. There are also other regulations in effect or in the works around the world. We’ve written up this reference document to put helpful information regarding our products and privacy regulations in one place. Please also view our full Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about our Privacy Policy, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please email us at team@getw9.tax .European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 or getW9.tax is an American company and our data infrastructure is currently based in the US. That means if you are in another country in the world and you use our products, your data are transferred to the US. The EU has stronger privacy laws than the US and a core tenet of the GDPR is that if you transfer any personal data of EU residents out of the EU, you must protect it to the same level as guaranteed under EU law. There are two factors to this:
Practices we have at getW9
We are serious about treating our customers fairly. Our various terms & conditions provide information on how we give you control of your data, your right to privacy, and the security measures we put in place to protect your data. These rights apply to all of our customers, regardless of where you are in the world.
We’re able to offer these protections & policies because of the choices we make as a business. Please do read our Privacy Policy and our Security Overview in full. Some highlights:
We do work with sub-processors. With each vendor, we assess their commitment to privacy.
Last but not least, we know privacy regulations are constantly evolving. We root for stronger consumer privacy laws! Several getW9 subscribers are members of the International Agency of Privacy Professionals and use IAPP resources alongside legal counsel to stay aware of relevant changes in the regulatory landscape.
Relevant US laws
The US does not have a national consumer privacy law akin to GDPR. We’d love to see one put in place and until then, shout out to California for leading with the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA" — more information following this GDPR section) and our the state of Illinois for its Biometric Information Privacy Act.
There are national US security laws that are relevant to GDPR. Chief amongst them are: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Executive Order 12-333. FISA establishes ways for US law enforcement and intelligence agencies to gather information within the US about non-US entities suspected of espionage or terrorism.
Executive Order 12-333 sets out how US intelligence agencies can gather information, including outside the borders of the US.
Virtually every American software service is subject to FISA. That includes all the American big tech companies you can think of as well as any European service that uses cloud infrastructure from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Computing. It also includes small tech American companies like us, SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9.
Even so, these laws are relevant for why extra mechanisms need to be in place to allow the legal transfer of personal data from the EU to the US. Since GDPR went into effect in 2018, getW9 has offered a data processing addendum.
Data processing addendum
As of November, 2021, we have incorporated a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) to our Terms of Service. As of November 1, 2021, said DPA incorporates the new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) (2021/914) published by the European Commission on 4th of June 2021. You can find the DPA linked within clause 7 of the Uptime, Security and Privacy section. This addendum is in effect when the General Data Protection Regulation applies to your use of getW9 Services to process Customer Data as defined in the DPA. The DPA includes the most up-to-date European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (both controller-processor and controller-controller) to extend GDPR privacy principles, rights, and obligations everywhere personal data is processed. If you would like to have a signed copy of the DPA for your records, you may sign a copy online by contacting us at team@getw9.tax. We provide the same privacy rights and protection to all customers, regardless of whether they choose to execute a DPA.
On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made a ruling, colloquially called “Schrems II”. The CJEU ruled that when you use the Standard Contractual Clauses as the basis for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the US (and a few other countries) on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses, extra scrutiny and safeguards must be in place. This ruling has opened up a lot of questions, including what qualifies as those extra safeguards. This crowdsourced webpage lists statements made by different Data Protection Authorities to date. Following the Schrems II ruling, we went back over our data flows and our obligations under the Standard Contractual Clauses. We wanted to make sure we can live up to those obligations, and we can. We also researched the means of recourse we could take in the theoretical event we are served a FISA warrant (which again, has not happened to date).
If you are a Data Controller under GDPR (i.e a business working with personal data of EU residents), we encourage you to take stock of your personal data flows and vendors too. The European Data Protection Board issued a draft set of guidelines on November 11, 2020 with specific recommendations for EU-based businesses transferring personal data out of the EU.
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
In the CCPA, there is an important distinction between what are referred to as “service providers”, “businesses”, and “third parties”. You can see how the regulation defines these words by visiting the California Attorney General’s website.
Under the CCPA, getW9 is a “service provider.” That means when we process data you provide, we do so solely for the purpose you signed up for. Our business model is simple: we charge a recurring subscription fee to our customers. We do not sell personal information or use your data for any other commercial purposes unless with your explicit permission.
The CCPA also grants residents of California with additional rights related to their information. We grant those rights to all of our customers and detail them in our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy also explains the information we collect in order to provide our services and clearly lists the only times we access or share your data.
US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Our products are currently not HIPAA-compliant, and we do not have immediate plans to become so.
Sub-processors
getW9 uses third party sub-processors, such as cloud computing providers and customer support software, to provide our services.
You can see which sub-processors we use by application.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
Internet software and services disappear all the time because of whimsy (“changing priorities”), acquisition, financial failure, or worse. It’s become a risky venture to place your trust and data in services that could disappear at any moment, for any reason, and with no guarantee that your data will be safe, preserved, or even portable.
We want more for our customers.
When we launched, getW9 was our finest work. It was the result of countless hours laboring to build software that is simple, clear, easy-to-use, and honest. It reminds us where we’ve been, how we got here, and points to where we’re going. We’re proud of our product and honored by all the customers who have supported us over the years, who made our tools partners in their success, and who continue to rely on them every day.
It’s a promise to our customers
We’re dedicated to supporting our products forever (or until the last customer turns off the lights). We stand against the tide of ephemeral software and services that are frustratingly common on the Internet. getW9 is built to last. Supporting our legacy products and customers who love them isn’t free or easy but it’s the right thing to do. We’ll be here until the end of the Internet.
Here’s what that means:
Changes & questions
getW9 may update this policy once in a blue moon. We will notify customers about significant changes by emailing the account owner or by placing a prominent notice on our site.
Questions about this policy? Get in touch with us at customer support, and we’ll be happy to answer them!
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
Taxes are an important part of a functional society. Where our products are taxable, we collect and remit consumption/sales tax to governments at the local, state, and/or federal levels. If your billing address is in one of the following jurisdictions, you’ll see an additional line item on your invoice for sales tax or VAT. The subscription prices on our product websites are all exclusive of sales tax and VAT.
The tax rate and rules are determined by each jurisdiction and sometimes vary by whether you are using our products for business/commercial or personal purposes. As regulations change, we will update this list.
Jurisdictions we collect and remit taxes for
Within the US
We will collect sales tax from customers that have a billing address that is located in a state or jurisdiction where we are required to collect sales tax on cloud hosted software as a service (SaaS) products.
Updating your billing address
If you need to change your billing information because you don’t actually reside in a taxable jurisdiction, you can easily handle that within your accounts. You may need to re-enter your credit card information as part of the billing address update. In your dashboard, navigate to “Addons,” and then “Payment Settings.”
We’re here to help
Please contact our Support team if you have trouble or if:
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
First, we are so sorry. Managing administrative aspects is often the last thing you may want to do under these circumstances. We’ve tried to set up a process that makes managing your loved one’s getW9 for You account as smooth as possible while also honoring the privacy and security obligations we have to our customers.
If you just want to stop the account from being billed and do not need access to any data, the fastest way to do this is by cancelling the associated credit card directly via the credit card company.
If you have the login credentials of the account, you can manage billing, export data, and cancel an account through the Manage Subscriptions page. You can access the Manage Subscriptions page via the Addons menu.
If we are able to successfully verify the information you have shared, we will email the account in question with a notification and option to dispute the request.
After 72 hours, if we do not receive a dispute response, we’ll be able to help with the following:
We delete all information shared with us for verification purposes immediately after we finish the verification process.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
getW9 accounts are owned by the organization detailed during signup, if this is a legal entity. If the organization is unincorporated, the account is owned by the individual who signed up for the account.
Regardless of ownership, the management of the account is done by Subscriber Users. The person who originally signed up for the account is default designated the primary Subscriber User, but the role can be reassigned.
What can Subscriber Users do?
Subscriber Users can:
Can getW9 help us change the Subscriber User?
If the account is owned by a legal entity, we at getW9 can reassign account management if provided with enough proof that the request is coming from a top-level organizational leader. To start a request to change the Subscriber User, an owner or chief executive of the organization must email our support team at team@getw9.tax .
From there, we’ll ask for more verification of identity and relationship to the organization as well as ensure that there are no pending disputes of ownership. This process will likely take several days, as we need to make absolutely sure the request is legitimate.
If we’re unable to verify the legitimacy of the request, or if it’s being disputed by the current Subscriber User, we may require a properly served court order for SIVA Tech LLC to proceed.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
Making original work is hard! As described in our Use Restrictions policy, you can’t use getW9 products* to make or disseminate work that uses the intellectual property of others beyond the bounds of fair use. Are you a copyright owner? Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512), you have the right to notify us (SIVA Tech, LLC) if you believe that an account user of any product we built and maintain has infringed on your work(s) as copyright owner. To be effective, the notification of claimed infringement must be written. Please include the following information:
On the flip-side, if you believe your material has been removed in error, you can file a written counter-notification. Please include the following information:
You can notify us of either copyright infringement claims or DCMA counter-notifications through either of the following channels:
By email: team@getw9.tax
By mail: SIVA Tech LLC, 5206 Highway 5 N, Suite 100, ATTN: Copyright Claim, Bryant, AR 72022 USA.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
*This policy and process applies to any product created and owned by SIVA Tech, LLC. That includes getW9 (any version).
We build our products* to give teams a better way to work. We are proud of that purpose and trust that our customers use our products for appropriate endeavors.
Sometimes, though, we discover potential abusive usage as detailed in our Use Restrictions policy. When that happens, we investigate using the following guiding principles and process.
Guiding Principles
Human oversight
Who’s “we”, you ask? It’s us: folks from the SIVA Tech LLC team. Our internal abuse oversight committee includes our executive, Vic, and representatives from multiple departments across the company. On rare occasions for particularly sensitive situations or if legally required, we may also seek counsel from external experts.
Balanced responsibilities
We have an obligation to protect the privacy and safety of both our customers and the people reporting issues to us. We do our best to balance those responsibilities throughout the process.
Focus on evidence
We base our decisions on the evidence available to us: what we see and hear account users say and do. We document what we observe and ask whether that observable evidence points to a restricted use.
Process
Every case goes through the same general process:
How do we discover potential abuse?
From our experience, we learn about potential abuse because:
This list is not exhaustive; there are always edge cases. We will update the list if we find regular new avenues.
How do we investigate?
We focus on the evidence:
While some violations are flatly obvious, others are subjective, nuanced, and difficult to adjudicate. We give each case adequate time and attention, commensurate with the violation, criticality, and severity of the charge.
What happens if someone really broke the rules?
We will terminate an account without advance notice if there is evidence it is being used for a restricted purpose that has, is, or will cause severe harm. If applicable, we will also report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
For other cases, we’ll take a case-by-case approach to clear things up.
Further, as a small, privately owned independent business that puts our values and conscience ahead of growth at all costs, we reserve the right to deny service to anyone we ultimately feel uncomfortable doing business with.
Can you appeal a decision?
If we terminate an account without notice, the decision is final.
For other cases, we will consider good faith appeals sent to team@getw9.tax by the account owner within 14 calendar days.
*This process applies to any product created and owned by SIVA Tech, LLC. That includes getW9 (any version).
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about any of our policies, terms, your data, or your rights with respect to your information, please get in touch by emailing us at privacy@getw9.tax and we’ll be happy to answer them!
SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 reserves the right to change our policies and terms at any time, and any amended Policy(ies) or Term(s) is effective upon posting to this Website. SIVA Tech LLC dba getW9 will make every effort to communicate any significant changes to you via email or notification via the Service. Your continued use of the Service will be deemed acceptance of any amended Policy(ies) or Terms(s).
SIVA Tech LLC policies are open source, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Adopted from the Basecamp open-source policies / CC BY 4.0.
