INTRODUCTION

We take user privacy seriously and want you to be informed. This Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into our Terms and Conditions, outlines the privacy practices of Pinnacle Minds, Inc. DBA Smart ERC (“Company,” “us,” “we,” or “our”) in connection with your (“you” or “your”) access to or use of our Website SmartERC.com, and related services provided to our clients pursuant to written “Consulting Fee Agreements” with each (collectively with the Website, the “Service”). By accessing or using our Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by our terms, including this Privacy Policy.

WHO ARE WE?

We are a business consulting firm that specializes in assisting small businesses, including by helping them prepare for and file claims for credit from the United States Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).  

Generally, we collect information related to our Service, such as through your submission of a form on our Website and any feedback, including reviews or social media comments, you provide about the Service. This means we generally collect personal identifying information when you knowingly provide it to us, such as by filling out an online form so we can contact you, or providing us with documentation about your business for us to review in conjunction with the Services we will provide to you.

Like most websites, we also collect routine device and other data through the Website, and we use data to deliver advertisements that may be of interest to you.

WHAT DOES THIS PRIVACY POLICY COVER?

This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and disclose information of users, both online and offline. Please also see our separate Terms and Conditions—or, if you are a client, your separate Consulting Fee Agreement with Company—both of which incorporate by reference this Privacy Policy and include definitions applicable to this Privacy Policy.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, this Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party practices, websites, or services, whether or not referenced in our Service. Each third party will have its own privacy practices and policies, which you should review before using them.

HOW DO WE COLLECT AND USE INFORMATION?

Generally, we collect personal information about you, such as your name and address, and details about your business, employees, and profit and losses, when you voluntarily provide them to us. Initially, we collect your contact information when you submit it to us on the Website or through one of our social media channels. A member of our team will then contact you by phone, email, text, or other electronic means of communication, and we may collect additional personal information from you as part of those exchanges.

Like many companies, we also collect internet and device information, such as from cookies and other automated technologies, when you browse our website or interact with our advertisements on other sites or social media platforms.

We collect all of this information for our business purposes, namely, to provide and improve our Service. Part of this includes compliance with applicable laws, such as responding to legal requests, enforcing this Privacy Policy and our rights, and protecting others and our Service. We may also use information for short-term, transient use for an interaction with you and to personalize your experience and communications. We use information for security purposes and to protect against harmful activity. Further, we may use information for debugging for functionality, auditing interactions, and internal research. Moreover, we may use information as otherwise instructed by you and with your consent.

In addition, we collect information for commercial purposes, meaning to market our goods and services. For example, we collect device and other data to better target advertisements and other content in an effort to create a more personally relevant experience.

We use information for the same reasons that we collect it. For example, we use information for business purposes, such as running our website and sending you communications about your ERC application, as well as commercial purposes, such as advertising to you after you leave our website. We also use information for the reasons that we disclose it, as outlined below.

More specifically, we collect the following information for the referenced purposes.

Category	Examples of Data Collected	Collection Point	Purpose for Collection and Use
Identifiers	Contact Information, such as name, address, and email address.	We collect this information when you provide it, such as when you complete a form on the Website.   We may also collect data from third parties, such as lead generation companies who have provided your information to us as a small business that may be interested in our Services.	We collect and use data for all business purposes, such as providing and improving our Services, submitting forms to the IRS, responding to communications, and for security and auditing purposes.   We may also collect and use your contact information to market our offerings to you, such as through emails.
Commercial Data	Financial, such as name, financial records, tax information, credit or debit card number, CVV, and expiration date, bank account information, and so forth.   Inferences, such as creating a profile relating to consumer preferences and trends.	We collect this information when you provide it, such as when you are entering into a Consulting Fee Agreement or when you are making payment arrangements with us.   We may also collect information from third parties to help with responding to your requests, processing transactions, and improving offerings.	We collect and use data for all business purposes, such as providing and improving our services, submitting forms to the IRS, responding to communications, and for security and auditing purposes.   We may also use inference information to market offerings of interest to you.
Personal Background	Protected Class, such as sex or age.	We collect this information when you provide it, such as when we are working together to prepare your ERC application.	We collect and use data for all business purposes, such as to prepare and submit your ERC application, respond to communications, and for security and auditing purposes.
Device Data	Internet and Network Data, such as browsing history, search history, and information regarding a consumer’s interaction with an internet website, application, or advertisement. See below for more information about cookies and other tracking technologies.   Geolocation, such as general location from an IP address.	We collect this data through cookies and other automated technologies. For example, like many companies, we automatically gather information about your device, such as your IP address, browser type, and operating system. For more information on these practices, see below.	We collect and use data for all business purposes, such as providing and improving our services and for security and auditing purposes.   We may also use device data to market offerings of interest to you.
Sensitive Data	In addition to categories described above, we may collect the following:   Identification Information, such as your Social Security Number, business EIN, driver’s license information, date of birth, other tax information, employee information, and financial information necessary to assess, prepare, and submit your Tax Credit Benefit application.	We collect sensitive information only when you expressly provide it to us.  For more information on these practices, see below.	We only collect and use sensitive data for the business purposes outlined, such as to prepare and submit your Tax Credit Benefit application.
Other Personalized Data	Employment, such as employee data necessary to prepare and submit your Tax Credit Benefit application.   Other Information, such as communications to us.	We may collect this information if you provide it, such as if you send us a message or documents.	We collect and use data for business purposes, such as reviewing and preparing forms and providing and improving the Service.
Other Non-Personalized Data	Public information   Aggregate information   De-identified data   Pseudonymized data	We may collect this information at any time, from public, third party, and other sources.   For example, we may share a public review that you posted about us or use aggregate data for our analytics.	We may collect and use this data for any business or commercial purposes. The information will either be public data or not identify individual users.

WHEN DO WE DISCLOSE INFORMATION?

As part of our business, we disclose information as follows and for the outlined purposes, which include business purposes to provide and improve the Service and comply with legal and contractual obligations, as well as commercial purposes, such as to market our business.

• The IRS and Other Agencies. If you enter into a Consulting Fee Agreement with Company, we may share your personal information with the IRS or another government agency, but only when you have expressly requested that we do so as part of the Services purchased by you. 
• Merchant Processors, Banks, and Related Third Parties. Some of the Services we may offer including connecting you with merchant processing providers, banks, or other third-party service providers for your business.  We may share your personal information with such third parties, but only when you have expressly requested that we do so as part of the Services purchased by you.
• Affiliated Entities; Merger or Sale. We may share information with affiliated companies that are related to us under a common ownership where they comply with this Privacy Policy. Such disclosure is for our business purposes, including to provide and improve our offers. Further, we may share information as part of a sale, merger, acquisition, or other change in control or entity status, either in whole or in part. We reserve the right to transfer or assign your information as part of any such transaction or investigation.
• Service Providers and Contractors. We share information with our own service providers as needed to provide and improve the Service. Service providers only use your information for a contracted-business purpose. Such disclosure is for our business purposes, in particular to provide you with the Service. We may likewise share information with “contractors” that are not service providers but to whom we disclose information for a business purpose. Such disclosure is for the business purpose of providing you with information or services that you have requested or considered.

For example, if you utilize any “live chat” feature on our website, your chat transcripts may be shared with our third-party service providers, such as our customer service agents and customer management software. 

• Cookies/Device Data. For more information about our use of cookies and other technologies, see below. Such disclosure is for our business purposes, in particular to provide you with the Service, as well as commercial purposes, such as to market to consumers that may be interested in our Service or related offers. Company may also contract with third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf. These companies may use cookies or other measures to collect non-identifier information.
• Legal Process and Protection. We may disclose information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, such as to respond to government requests, law enforcement inquiries, legal processes, subpoenas, and court orders. We may disclose information when we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or respond to illegal, fraudulent, or injurious actions or security incidents that may cause harm to us, the Service, or others. We may also disclose information in good faith where necessary to investigate or enforce a violation of this Privacy Policy, our terms, or any legal rights.
• Consent. We may disclose information as requested or consented to by you. Such disclosure may be for any business or commercial purpose as described to you.

HOW DO WE USE COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES?

As with many companies, we may use cookies, pixels, gifs, web beacons, log files, and/or similar technologies to automatically collect certain information when you use the Service or interact with our digital media content, such as when you visit our website. This allows us to track individual users, determine when content is accessed, and customize user experiences. For example, unless you have opted out of cookies or changed your cookie settings in your internet browser, your browser automatically sends us certain device, browser, internet connection, and general geolocation information and certain internet activity information. For instance, we may collect your mobile device identifier or MAC address, ISP carrier information, date and time you access the Service, the pages you visit, and whether you click on ads. You can change your cookie settings in your internet browser and use settings on your device to manage your privacy controls. For more information and ways to opt out, see https://www.allaboutcookies.org/, and learn how to disable these tools by opting-out of third-party cookies and mobile device ID practices. 

As part of our practices, we may use third-party advertising companies to display ads tailored to your individual interests based on your online activity and to provide ad-related services such as analytics and market research. Third parties, in turn, may use a cookie, web beacon, or other similar technology to collect information. To opt-out of cross-device linking, visit www.aboutads.info/choices or perform a global opt-out on each browser and device.

In particular, we may use Google cookies and tools, such as Google Analytics and in certain cases Google Maps, for analytics and advertising and to improve the user experience, and your information may be shared with Google; for more information, visit the Google Cookie Policy, Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On, or Ads Settings. We may also use Meta and other cookies for the purposes stated above, and your information from cookies may be shared with Meta; for more information visit the Meta/Facebook Cookie Policy.

Please note that there are different types of cookies and related technologies, including session (temporary cookies that last for a browser session) and persistent (cookies that remain on a user’s device for a specified period of time) cookies, which may be placed by us or third parties, including the following:

• Essential Cookies (sometimes called Strictly Necessary Cookies): these are automatically placed on your computer or device when you access our website.  They are necessary to facilitate the operation of the Website and delivery of its content to your device. We use Essential Cookies to identify you as a unique use of the Website and to authenticate your login credentials.

• Functional/Preference Cookies: these are used to remember your preferences and various settings for viewing the Website and improve overall functionality. Certain aspects of the Website may not work properly or at all absent these functional cookies.

• Analytics/Performance Cookies: These cookies allow us to measure how you and other users are interacting with the website. We view the resulting performance statistics (or “analytics”) and may make changes to the Services based on them.

• Targeting/Advertising Cookies: These cookies track your activity on and off the Website and are used to identify visitors between different websites on the internet. Personal information collected through targeting cookies may be used to build a profile of user interests and deliver personalized advertising to such user.

DO WE SELL OR SHARE INFORMATION?

We only sell or share data as outlined in this Privacy Policy. Company participates in targeted ads, also called interest-based or online behavioral advertising, which may include cross-context behavioral advertising. Under some privacy legislation, this may constitute “selling” or “sharing” of personal information, such as for business purposes (e.g., providing our Service) and commercial purposes (e.g., other marketing). To opt out of these practices, contact us as outlined below.

HOW DO WE PROTECT AND TRANSFER INFORMATION?

Consistent with others in our industry, we take efforts to employ technical, administrative, and physical security measures for personal information, taking into account reasonable security procedures and accessible technology. However, no system can be completely secure; and we cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information will always remain secure. Your provision of personal information is at your own risk. The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Take steps to safeguard your passwords and other data and notify us as soon as possible if you believe your account security has been breached.

If you are visiting the Service from a location outside of the United States, your connection will be through and to servers located in the United States, and all information you provide will be processed and securely maintained in our web servers and internal systems located within the United States. By using the Service, you authorize and specifically consent to the transfer of personal data to the United States and its storage and use as specified in this Privacy Policy.

HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN INFORMATION?

We retain personal information for the length of time necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a different retention period is requested by you or required or permitted by law. For example, we will retain your personal information for as long as it is needed to provide you with the Service or fulfill a legal or contractual obligation. We may also aggregate, deidentify, or anonymize personal information as applicable for use in analytics, such as to analyze trends over periods of time without specifically identifying you.

We use the following criteria to determine how long we retain personal information: (a) our relationship with you, such as if there is an open contract or account or a pending transaction or request; (b) legal obligations to retain personal information for certain purposes, such as to maintain transaction records; and (c) other obligations or considerations relating to the retention of data, such as contract requirements, litigation holds, investigations, or statutes of limitation. 

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

We value consumer privacy rights and strive to provide flexibility with how your personal data is used and shared. If you want to make a privacy request or have any questions, please contact us through our Contact Form or email info@smarterc.com  with your name and email address or other identifier used in connection with our Service so that we can verify your request. If an authorized agent is making a request on your behalf, the agent should provide its name and contact information, such as an email address, in addition to your information. There may be situations where we cannot grant your request; for example, if you make a request and we cannot verify your identity, or if you request deletion of data that we have a legal obligation to keep. Where we deny your request in whole or in part, we will take steps to inform you of the denial and provide an explanation of our actions and the reasons for the denial.

Applicable privacy laws have different requirements and depend on various factors, such as where you live and how much revenue or data is at issue. Generally, we adhere to the following set of privacy rights to the extent applicable and subject to any limitations authorized by law.

• Access. You can access and obtain your data and ask us for certain information, including: the categories of personal information collected and used; the categories of the sources of data; the business or commercial purposes for collecting, selling, or sharing data; the categories of third parties to whom data is disclosed; and the specific pieces of personal information collected. You also have a similar right to data portability (the ability to export, back up, and transfer data).

• Amend. You can amend, correct, or rectify your data if it is inaccurate.

• Delete. You can have your data deleted subject to certain legal limitations.

• Limit. You can limit the processing of your data, in particular the use of automated decision making, such as profiling. We will also respond to recognized global opt-out preference signals where we can verify the request. For more information, see below.

• Opt-Out. You have the right to opt-out of certain data practices. For example, you can unsubscribe from marketing communications by following the opt-out instructions in each message or by contacting us as outlined in this Privacy Policy (please note that we may still send non-marketing messages, and that consent to receiving marketing communications is not mandatory to use the Service). You may also opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” or your personal information to the extent applicable. You may opt out of the use of automated decision-making technology if applicable. We will also respond to recognized global opt-out preference signals where we can verify the request. For more information, see below.

• Complaints. You have the right to make certain complaints, including for privacy concerns. We value your feedback and seek the opportunity to work with you on any issues. You have the right to no discrimination for asserting your privacy rights.

• Specific State Laws. Several states have enacted privacy laws that may apply to you, depending on the circumstances. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), updated by the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), governs certain California-related conduct. Under California’s “Shine the Light” law, California residents may also request certain information regarding Company sharing personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Further, if you are a California resident under the age of 18, California Business & Professions Code Section 22581 permits you to request and obtain removal of content you have publicly posted. Please note that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of public content.

• European Laws. Generally, residents of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) have the right to access your own information that we hold; to ask that your information be corrected, updated, or erased; and the right to object to, or request that we restrict, certain processing of your information. Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal data is your consent, the fulfillment of our obligations pursuant to the contract created between you and Company, or where the collection and use is in our legitimate interests and does not violate your data protection interests or fundamental rights. You may withdraw your consent to our collection and use of your personal data. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your information used in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

• Other Laws. If certain other privacy laws apply to you that provide you with additional rights, please contact us to make a request, as we strive to comply with all privacy rights.

DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN?

No, we do not knowingly collect any personal information about children under the age of 13. If we obtain actual knowledge that we have collected such information, we will delete it from our database. We have no such information to use or to disclose to third parties or to otherwise report, including under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). We do not have actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of consumers under the age of 16.

HOW DO WE USE OR DISCLOSE SENSITIVE INFORMATION?

We do not generally use or disclose “sensitive” personal information, nor do we use sensitive information for purposes other than those specified in the CPRA, which provides for the following uses without additional disclosures where the information is reasonably necessary and proportionate to the use: (a) to perform certain services, such as verifying information or for analytics; (b) to verify or maintain the quality or safety of our Service; (c) to perform services or provide goods reasonably expected; (d) for short-term use where there is no disclosure or profiling; and (e) to resist malicious, fraudulent, or illegal actions or to ensure physical safety.

DO WE OFFER FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR YOUR DATA?

No, we do not currently offer any financial incentives for your data.

DO WE RESPOND TO DNT SIGNALS OR GPC?

No, our Service does not currently respond to DNT, short for Do Not Track, requests. DNT is a feature that, when enabled, sends a signal to websites to request that your browsing not be tracked.

“GPC” is short for Global Privacy Control settings in your browser or extension. We recognize GPC signals. This means that if your browser has GPC enabled, our website will automatically recognize your GPC signal and opt you out of the sale of your personal information, if any. For more information about GPC, please click here: https://globalprivacycontrol.org/.

HOW DO WE UPDATE THIS PRIVACY POLICY?

We will update this Privacy Policy when our privacy practices change or as otherwise required or permitted by law. Each time you use the Service, the current version of this Privacy Policy will apply. Unless we receive your express consent, any revised Privacy Policy will apply only to information collected after the effective date of the revised Privacy Policy.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US?

Please contact us with any questions or concerns! We can be reached at:

Pinnacle Minds, Inc.

350 N Lantana St. Suite #229

Camarillo, CA 93010

Hotjar Addendum

We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices. This includes a device’s IP address (processed during your session and stored in a de-identified form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), and the preferred language used to display our website. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in a pseudonymized user profile. Hotjar is contractually forbidden to sell any of the data collected on our behalf.

For further details, please see the ‘about Hotjar’ section of Hotjar’s support site.”

Last Updated: April 8, 2024