1Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how Annual Corporate Filings LLC (“Annual Corporate Filings,” “ACF,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, retains, and protects personal information when you visit annualcorporatefilings.com, submit an inquiry or filing form, purchase or use our services, communicate with us, or otherwise interact with our websites, portals, emails, text messages, telephone services, and related offerings (collectively, the “Services”).
This Policy applies to information about individuals. It does not apply to information that cannot reasonably be linked to an individual, or to information handled solely by a government agency or third party under that party’s own privacy practices.
2Personal Information We Collect
Depending on the Service and how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal information:
- Contact and identity information, such as name, title, email address, telephone number, mailing address, residential address, date of birth, and electronic signature.
- Business and filing information, such as legal entity name, trade names, entity type, state of formation, filing number, formation date, registered-agent details, business address, managers, members, officers, directors, organizers, incorporators, ownership percentages, and filing history.
- Sensitive identification and tax information, such as Social Security number, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, Employer Identification Number, tax identification number, driver’s-license or government-ID number, passport information, issuing jurisdiction, and copies or images of identification documents.
- Beneficial ownership and control information, including information about owners, applicants, managers, and other persons associated with an entity.
- Payment and transaction information, such as billing address, payment status, purchase history, refunds, disputes, and limited payment-card details made available by our payment processor. We generally do not store complete payment-card numbers.
- Communications and customer-support information, including emails, text messages, call details, form submissions, notes, documents, and recordings where permitted by law and disclosed at the time of recording.
- Device and internet information, such as IP address, browser type, device identifiers, operating system, referring pages, pages viewed, links clicked, timestamps, approximate location derived from IP address, cookie identifiers, and website activity.
- Public-record and third-party information, including information from secretary-of-state databases, corporate registries, licensing databases, government records, registered agents, referral sources, service providers, and publicly available sources.
- Fraud, security, and compliance information, such as authentication records, risk signals, suspected misuse, identity-verification results, and records needed to comply with law or protect our Services.
Please do not provide personal information that we have not requested or that is not necessary for the Service.
3How We Collect Information
We collect information:
- Directly from you when you visit the website, complete a form, upload a document, place an order, sign electronically, contact us, or provide instructions.
- From a business, owner, officer, employee, agent, attorney, accountant, partner, or other person who is authorized or appears authorized to provide information for an entity or individual.
- Automatically through cookies, pixels, logs, analytics tools, security tools, and similar technologies.
- From public records, government databases, corporate registries, registered agents, payment processors, identity-verification services, communications providers, marketing partners, and other service providers.
4How We Use Personal Information
We may use personal information to:
- Provide, prepare, review, submit, track, confirm, correct, and support filing, formation, EIN, registered-agent, compliance, and related Services.
- Verify identity, authority, ownership, eligibility, signatures, and instructions.
- Communicate about inquiries, orders, payments, deadlines, filings, account security, support, and service updates.
- Process payments, refunds, billing disputes, and accounting records.
- Create and maintain client records, filing histories, audit trails, and proof of authorization.
- Coordinate with government agencies, registered agents, payment processors, professional advisers, and other service providers needed to complete the Service.
- Detect, investigate, prevent, and respond to fraud, identity theft, security incidents, misuse, unlawful activity, and violations of our Terms.
- Comply with legal obligations, government requests, subpoenas, court orders, tax and accounting requirements, recordkeeping duties, and enforcement needs.
- Operate, secure, troubleshoot, analyze, and improve the website and Services.
- Send marketing communications where permitted by law and measure their effectiveness.
- Establish, exercise, or defend legal claims and protect the rights, safety, property, and integrity of ACF, our clients, and others.
We may also use information for another purpose that we disclose when collecting it, with your consent, or as otherwise permitted by law.
5How We Disclose Personal Information
We may disclose personal information to the following categories of recipients for the purposes described in this Policy:
- Government agencies and public registries, including secretaries of state, tax authorities, FinCEN when legally applicable, the IRS when authorized, courts, and other agencies involved in a requested filing.
- Service providers and contractors that support payments, identity verification, hosting, cloud storage, cybersecurity, e-signatures, document processing, analytics, customer support, email, telephone, text messaging, mailing, printing, registered-agent services, and professional services.
- Affiliates and business partners involved in providing the requested Service, subject to appropriate restrictions.
- Professional advisers, auditors, insurers, banks, accountants, and attorneys as reasonably necessary for business, compliance, insurance, or legal purposes.
- Law enforcement, regulators, courts, government authorities, and other parties when we believe disclosure is required or permitted by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, property, users, or the public.
- Parties to a corporate transaction, such as a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, bankruptcy, sale of assets, or transfer of business, subject to applicable law.
- Other parties at your direction, with your consent, or as disclosed when the information is collected.
Government filings may become public records. Information submitted to a government registry may be searchable, copied, republished, or disclosed under public-record laws. We do not control how a government agency or downstream recipient handles information after lawful submission.
6Sale, Sharing, Targeted Advertising, and Sensitive Information
We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. As of the Last Updated date, we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising and do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about individuals.
We use and disclose sensitive personal information only as reasonably necessary to provide requested Services, verify identity and authorization, process transactions, prevent fraud, secure systems, comply with law, and for other purposes permitted without a right to limit under applicable law.
If our practices change in a way that creates a legal right to opt out, we will update this Policy and provide an appropriate opt-out method before using information for the new purpose.
7Cookies and Similar Technologies
We and our service providers may use cookies, pixels, local storage, logs, and similar technologies to keep the website functioning, remember preferences, protect forms and accounts, understand website use, diagnose problems, and measure communications or campaigns.
You can control many cookies through browser settings and any cookie-preference tool we provide. Blocking cookies may affect website functionality. Where required by law, we will recognize applicable browser-based opt-out preference signals, such as Global Privacy Control, for the browser or device sending the signal.
Our website does not currently respond to older “Do Not Track” signals that lack a uniform legal or technical standard.
8Payment Processing
Payments are processed by third-party payment processors. They collect and process payment-card and banking information under their own privacy policies and security obligations. We generally receive transaction identifiers, payment status, billing information, and limited card details such as brand and last four digits, rather than complete card numbers.
9Data Retention
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including to complete Services, maintain filing and transaction records, provide future or multi-year services, comply with legal and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, prevent fraud, and protect systems.
Retention periods vary based on the type and sensitivity of information, the Service, client instructions, legal requirements, limitation periods, and whether a filing or dispute remains active. We seek to delete, redact, aggregate, or de-identify sensitive identification documents when they are no longer reasonably necessary, subject to legal, security, backup, and dispute-preservation requirements.
Information contained in government filings or public records may remain available indefinitely under government retention and public-record practices.
10Security
We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information in light of its nature and sensitivity. Measures may include access controls, authentication, encryption in transit, vendor controls, logging, backups, employee or contractor confidentiality obligations, and incident-response procedures, as appropriate to our systems.
No method of transmission, storage, or security is completely secure. We cannot guarantee that information will never be lost, accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed without authorization. You are responsible for protecting your email account, devices, passwords, and access links and for notifying us promptly of suspected unauthorized activity.
11Data Incidents
If we discover a security incident involving personal information, we will investigate, take reasonable steps to contain and remediate it, and provide notices to affected individuals, regulators, or others when required by applicable law.
12Your Privacy Rights
Depending on where you live and subject to legal exceptions, you may have rights to:
- Confirm whether we process your personal information and access or obtain a copy of it.
- Correct inaccurate personal information.
- Delete personal information.
- Obtain certain information in a portable format.
- Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, targeted advertising, or certain profiling.
- Limit certain uses or disclosures of sensitive personal information.
- Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
- Appeal our denial of a privacy request.
- Receive equal service and pricing without unlawful discrimination for exercising privacy rights.
To submit a request, email info@annualcorporatefilings.com with the subject “Privacy Request,” call (770) 821-7779, or write to the address in Section 19. Describe the right you wish to exercise and the information or account involved.
We will verify requests using information reasonably related to the request and the sensitivity of the data. We may request additional information or a signed declaration. An authorized agent may submit a request where permitted by law, but we may require proof of the agent’s authority and verification of the individual’s identity.
We may deny or limit a request where permitted by law, including when information is needed to complete a requested transaction, comply with law, maintain security, prevent fraud, exercise legal rights, or preserve records. If applicable law provides an appeal right, you may appeal by replying to our decision with “Privacy Appeal” in the subject line.
13Additional California Disclosures
This section applies to the extent California law applies to our processing. In the preceding 12 months, we may have collected the categories described in Section 2, including identifiers; customer records; protected-classification information included in identification documents or voluntarily provided; commercial information; internet or network activity; approximate geolocation; audio, electronic, or visual information; professional or employment-related information; and sensitive personal information.
We collect these categories from the sources in Section 3, use them for the purposes in Section 4, and disclose them to the recipients in Section 5. We do not knowingly sell personal information for monetary consideration. We do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that require a right to limit under California law.
California residents may request to know, access, correct, or delete covered personal information and may exercise applicable opt-out or limitation rights. We will not unlawfully discriminate against a person for exercising these rights. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information unless separately disclosed.
14Communications Choices
You may unsubscribe from marketing email using the link in the message or by contacting us. You may opt out of marketing texts by replying STOP. Marketing opt-outs do not stop transactional, security, filing, billing, or legally required messages.
You may request that we update your contact preferences, but some communications are necessary to perform the Services or maintain required records.
15Children’s Privacy
The Services are intended for adults and businesses and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information without appropriate authorization, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.
16Third-Party Links and Services
Our website may link to government portals, payment processors, registered agents, social networks, and other third-party websites or services. This Policy does not govern those third parties. Review their privacy notices before providing information.
17United States Processing
We are based in the United States, and personal information may be processed and stored in the United States or other locations where our service providers operate. If you provide information from outside the United States, you understand that privacy laws in those locations may differ from the laws where you live.
18Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Policy to reflect changes in law, technology, Services, or practices. We will post the updated Policy with a new “Last Updated” date and provide additional notice when required. Material changes apply prospectively unless law permits otherwise.