Terms of Service

About these terms

"Ledger Desk", "we" and "us" mean legal entity name, a tax preparation firm based in California. "You" means the person who creates the account, or the business that person represents. If you use the portal for a business, you confirm that you are allowed to act for it.

These terms work together with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle your information. If we agree with you in writing on a specific engagement, such as a separate engagement letter, that agreement wins where it differs from these terms.

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a contract to use the service.

What we do

We prepare and e-file federal and state income tax returns for individuals and businesses in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For each return, our service includes:

• a list of the documents your return needs, based on your answers;
• preparation of your federal return and the state returns you need;
• your accountant's answers to your questions about your return;
• a copy of the return for you to review before you sign;
• e-filing, and paper filing when a return can't be e-filed;
• status updates until the tax agency accepts the return.

Each return is a separate engagement. It starts when your accountant confirms that we can take it on. We may decline a return, for example if it needs expertise we don't offer. If we do, we will tell you as soon as we know.

What's not included

Unless we agree in writing, the service does not include:

• bookkeeping, payroll or sales tax filings;
• tax planning beyond the return we are preparing;
• representing you in an audit, an appeal or a collection case, except as included in the launch offer;
• amending a return that someone else prepared, except as included in the launch offer;
• checking that documents from third parties, such as your employer or bank, are correct;
• legal, investment or financial advice.

If your situation needs any of these, your accountant will tell you before doing any work, and explain whether we can help and at what price.

Fees and the launch offer

Ledger Desk is a paid tax preparation service. During our launch offer, we do not charge for the portal or for returns started during the offer. A return counts as started when you send us your answers in your account. A return started during the offer stays free, even if we file it after the offer ends. There are no hidden fees, we don't ask for a card, and we never take a fee from your refund.

For a return started during the offer, the following are free:

• preparing and filing the federal return and every state return it needs;
• personal and business returns, for the current year or any of the last six tax years;
• an amended return instead of a new one, including for a return someone else prepared;
• an extension for that return;
• help with letters from the IRS or a state agency about that return, and representing you in an audit of it. Representation needs a power of attorney (IRS Form 2848) that you sign.

Each person or business gets one free return per tax year during the offer. A married couple filing jointly counts as one person for this limit. If you need more than one return for the same year, your accountant will tell you the price first.

We will announce the end date of the launch offer on our website at least 30 days in advance. After the offer ends, we will show you the price before you start a new return, and we will not charge you without your agreement. If your return turns out to need more work than the price covers, we will tell you the new price and wait for your agreement before going on.

Our fees don't depend on the size of your refund. Taxes, penalties and interest that you owe to a tax agency are yours to pay and are not part of our fees.

We never ask for payment by phone, gift card, cryptocurrency or wire transfer. If anyone does in the name of Ledger Desk, do not pay and contact us.

Your accountant

Your return is prepared by an accountant on our team. Every accountant who prepares returns for us has a current IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) and meets the requirements of California law for paid tax preparers. Many are CPAs, enrolled agents or attorneys.

Your accountant decides which documents are needed, may ask you questions, and prepares your return based on what you provide. Your accountant signs the return as its paid preparer. If your return needs expertise outside your accountant's practice, we will assign it to another accountant on our team or tell you if we cannot take it on.

Your accountant follows the professional rules that apply to paid preparers, including IRS Circular 230 where it applies. We won't file a position on your return that we believe the law doesn't support, even if you ask us to.

The portal is not tax advice

The portal itself does not give tax advice and does not calculate your tax. Lists, questions and reminders in the portal only help you collect documents. Questions about your taxes are answered by your accountant, about your own return.

General information on our website, such as explanations of what documents are, is not advice for your situation.

Your responsibilities

• Give true, complete information and documents, including all your income.
• Answer your accountant's questions and send requested documents promptly.
• Review your return carefully before you sign. You are responsible for the return filed in your name, even though we prepared it.
• Tell your accountant about anything that changes, such as a corrected form, before and after filing.
• Keep the records that support your return. The IRS generally recommends keeping them for at least three years after filing, and longer in some cases.
• Pay any tax you owe to the tax agency on time.

Deadlines and extensions

To give us time to prepare your return before a filing deadline, send all your answers and documents at least 14 days before that deadline. Your account shows the dates that apply to your return.

If we don't have what we need in time, we will tell you. With your agreement, we can file an extension. An extension gives more time to file, not more time to pay: any tax you owe is still due by the original deadline.

We are not responsible for penalties or interest caused by documents or answers we received late, or by a late signature.

Signing and e-filing

When your return is ready, we show it to you in your account. If anything is wrong or unclear, tell your accountant before signing.

Before you sign, we confirm your identity to protect you from tax fraud. You then sign the IRS e-file authorization (Form 8879) and any state authorization electronically. By signing, you confirm that you reviewed the return and that it is true, correct and complete to the best of your knowledge, and you authorize us to file it.

We file your return after you sign and tell you when the tax agency accepts it. If a return is rejected, we fix what we can and file again, or tell you what we need from you.

Refunds and tax payments

Refunds go directly from the tax agency to you, by direct deposit to the account you choose or by check. Tax payments go directly from you to the tax agency. Ledger Desk never receives, holds or forwards your refund or your tax payment.

We don't control when a tax agency issues a refund or how much it pays. A tax agency may change your refund or ask for more information. We don't offer refund advances or loans.

If we make a mistake

If a return we prepared has an error caused by our preparation, we will correct it at no charge, including preparing an amended return.

We are not responsible for errors caused by information or documents that were wrong, incomplete or late, or by changes in the law after we filed. In those cases we can still prepare an amended return, at our usual price after the launch offer.

Any tax you owe is yours in every case, because you would have owed it if the return had been right the first time.

Notices from tax agencies

If you get a letter from the IRS or a state agency about a return we prepared, upload it to your account. Your accountant will explain what it is about and what you need to do, at no charge.

If the notice comes from our error, we will prepare the response for you at no charge. Representing you before a tax agency, for example in an audit, requires a power of attorney (IRS Form 2848). For returns started during the launch offer, representation in an audit of that return is free. Otherwise it needs a separate written agreement.

Your account

• Give accurate details when you sign up and keep them up to date.
• Keep your password private, and turn on two-step sign-in.
• One account is for one person or one business. A married couple filing jointly can use one account.
• Tell us right away if you think someone else used your account.

You are responsible for what happens in your account, unless it happened because of our failure to protect it.

Electronic documents and messages

By creating an account, you agree to receive documents, notices and signature requests electronically, in your account and by email, under the federal ESIGN Act. Electronic signatures and records have the same effect as paper ones.

• You need a device with a current web browser, an email address and a way to view and save PDF files.
• You can download or print anything in your account. You can also ask us for a paper copy at no charge.
• You can withdraw this consent by contacting us. We may then not be able to provide the service online.

Texts and WhatsApp messages are optional. If you turn them on, you agree that we may send them to the number you gave us about your account and your return. They are not a condition of the service. Reply STOP to stop texts at any time, or HELP for help. Message and data rates may apply.

Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• give false information or ask us to file a return you know is false;
• use the service for someone else without their permission;
• try to access accounts or information that aren't yours;
• upload malware, or try to disrupt, copy or reverse engineer the portal;
• use automated tools to collect information from the portal;
• harass, threaten or abuse our team.

Your documents and our portal

Your documents and information stay yours. You give us permission to use them to prepare and file your return, run the service and keep the records the law requires. We protect them as described in our Privacy Policy and as federal law requires for tax return information.

The portal, the website, the Ledger Desk name and logo belong to us. You may use the portal for your own returns. You may keep and share your own returns and documents however you like.

Some parts of the service, such as identity checks, electronic signatures and messaging, are provided by other companies on our behalf. We choose them carefully, but we don't control their systems.

Ending the service

You can stop working with us or close your account at any time. If we have already filed a return, it stays filed. You can ask for a copy of your returns and documents before you close your account.

We may stop working on a return or close an account if:

• the account is used for fraud or to file returns for someone without their permission;
• you ask us to file information we believe is false;
• you don't send the information we need after repeated requests;
• you abuse our team.

If we stop working on your return, we will tell you, and give you a copy of your documents so you can file another way. After the launch offer, you will not be charged for work we didn't finish.

Disclaimers and limits of liability

We prepare your return with professional care. Apart from the promises in these terms, we provide the website and the portal as is. We don't promise that they will always be available or free of errors, or that a tax agency will accept every position on a return or pay a particular refund.

To the extent the law allows:

• we are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential losses, such as lost profits or lost opportunities;
• our total liability for any claim about a return is limited to the fee you paid for that return, or $100 if you paid nothing.

These limits don't apply to losses caused by our gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have under the law of your state that cannot be waived.

You agree to cover our reasonable losses from claims caused by false information you knowingly gave us or by your breach of these terms.

Disputes and governing law

If you have a problem with our service, please contact us first. Most problems can be solved quickly. If we can't solve it within 30 days, either of us may take the dispute to court. You may also bring a claim in small claims court where you live, if it qualifies.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Other than small claims cases, disputes will be heard in the state or federal courts in county County, California.

If you are a California resident, you can also contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by phone at (800) 952-5210.

General terms

• If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.
• You may not transfer your account or these terms to someone else. We may transfer them to a firm that takes over our business, which must keep the same commitments.
• We are not responsible for delays caused by events outside our control, such as outages at a tax agency, natural disasters or internet failures.
• These terms, the Privacy Policy and any written engagement agreement are the whole agreement between you and us about the service.

Changes to these terms

If we change these terms, we will update the date at the top. If the change is important, we will also email you at least 30 days before it takes effect. Changes don't affect a return we have already agreed to prepare, unless you agree.

Contact us

• Email: support email
• Phone: toll-free number
• Mail: legal entity name and mailing address