Privacy Policy

01What we collect

What you give us in your order:

• Company details: name, backup name, designator, purpose, management type or shares, and the state and package you chose.
• Owners: each owner's name, ownership percentage and home address. For an owner that is a company, the name and title of the person signing for it.
• Managers of a manager-run LLC: each manager's name and address.
• The company's principal address, its mailing address if different, and your registered agent's name and address. Where a state's form asks, the agent's email, the agent's signature, and in Colorado an individual agent's driver's license or ID number or state passcode, which we encrypt.
• If your order includes an EIN, the answers the IRS asks for on Form SS-4: the responsible party's name and Social Security number or ITIN, why you're applying, the start date, the closing month of your accounting year, expected employees and what the business does.
• Contact: your name, email and phone number.
• Your signature: the name you typed, when you signed, and the version of the authorization you signed.
• Anything you send us by email or through our contact form.
• What you type into the box on our homepage or our chat assistant.

What we collect automatically:

• Your IP address and browser (user agent) when you sign, saved with your signature as a record of it.
• The same details when you send the contact form or ask our chat to reach our team, saved with your message to help us stop abuse.
• Your approximate US state, from your IP address, to pre-select the state field. We don't store it.
• Standard server logs kept by our hosting provider (IP address, pages requested, time).

From others:

• Documents and file numbers from the state, and your EIN letter from the IRS if you ordered one.
• Payment status from Stripe. We see the amount and the last digits of your card, never the full card number.

02Why we use it

We use your information to:

• check your name with the state and prepare and file your formation documents (this is the service you asked for);
• apply for your EIN and prepare your agreement, if ordered;
• take payment and send receipts, order updates and compliance alerts;
• keep a record that you signed and authorized the filing;
• prevent fraud and misuse, and meet legal obligations.

We don't send marketing email without your permission, and every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.

03What becomes public

Formation filings are public records. Depending on the state, the company name, principal address, registered agent and the names and addresses of organizers, owners, managers or directors appear in the state's public business search once filed. Neither we nor you can remove them later.

04Who we share it with

We share your information only as needed to provide the service:

• State filing offices receive what the filing requires, and it becomes public record as described above.
• The Colorado Secretary of State receives an individual registered agent's license, ID number or passcode when its form requires one. Our staff type it in themselves; the AI assistant never sees it.
• State agencies and licensing boards receive what a registration or license you order requires.
• The IRS receives what the EIN application requires, if you ordered one, including the responsible party's SSN or ITIN. We give that number to no one else, and our staff type it into the IRS site themselves; the AI assistant never sees it.
• Vercel hosts our website.
• Google (Firestore) stores your order and your documents privately, in its US data storage.
• Google (Firebase Authentication) runs sign-in, so it stores your email address, a scrambled form of your password and, if you use Sign in with Google, your Google account ID.
• Stripe processes payments. It receives your card details directly, under its own privacy policy.
• Our email provider sends order emails, so it receives your email address and the message content.
• Anthropic provides the AI assistant our staff use while filing and building websites you order (see below).
• OpenAI runs the homepage box and our chat assistant, writes the one-line summary on documents in your account, and helps make logos you order (see below).
• Authorities or others, when the law requires it, to protect rights and safety, or as part of a sale or merger of our business, under this policy.

Our service providers may use your information only to provide their services to us.

Some add-ons send you to another company, such as a tax preparer, accounting software, insurance broker, payroll provider, bank, lender or freelance marketplace. We give them nothing about you. What you enter on their sites is under their own privacy policies.

05AI assistant during filing

Our staff file orders with the help of an AI browser assistant (Claude in Chrome, by Anthropic). The assistant reads your order details and the state's web pages so it can type your information into the state's forms. It sees what you'd expect to appear on the filing: company details, addresses and names.

A person signs in to state portals and reviews every filing. Once they approve it, the assistant signs it on your authorization, pays the state fee with a card already saved on file and submits it. The assistant never handles passwords or card numbers. Anthropic processes this information to run the assistant under its commercial terms.

06Homepage box and chat

The box on our homepage and our chat assistant run on a model from OpenAI. What you type there goes to OpenAI to get a reply. If you ask about your order, the order details needed to answer go too. We don't save these conversations, and they stay in your browser tab; if you ask the chat to reach our team, we save that message.

Don't type a Social Security number or other sensitive details into either one. OpenAI processes this information under its API terms.

When we add a document to your account, such as your EIN letter or state approval, or scan mail for you, the file goes to OpenAI so it can write the one-line summary you see on it. The summary leaves out tax IDs and account numbers.

If you order a website or logo, our staff give these AI tools your company name and what you tell us about the business, so they can draft it.

07Cookies and browser storage

• We don't use advertising or analytics cookies. We use cookies only to keep you signed in to your account and dashboard, for up to 180 days.
• While you fill in the order form, your answers are saved in your own browser (local storage) so you don't lose them. They are cleared when you send the order.
• Your order link contains a private key. Anyone with the link can view and update your order, so don't share it.

08How long we keep it

• Orders, signatures and filing records: for as long as your company uses our services, then 7 years, so we can show what you authorized and answer tax or legal questions.
• Orders that were never filed: 2 years, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
• Messages to us: 2 years, unless they belong to an order, which we keep as above.
• Server logs: kept by our hosting provider for a short period, typically days to weeks.

Public records held by the state are outside our control and stay on file there.

09Security

Orders are stored as private files that can only be read by our servers. Your order page requires the secret key in your link. Staff tools are behind a password. Connections to our site are encrypted (HTTPS). A Social Security number or ITIN is encrypted again on its own (AES-256) before we store it; your order page and our emails show only its last 4 digits, and only staff preparing your EIN application can view it. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects your information, we will tell you as the law requires.

10Your choices and rights

You can ask us to:

• tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
• correct information that is wrong;
• delete your information, except what we must keep to show what was filed and authorized, or to meet legal duties;
• stop sending you marketing email.

California residents and residents of other states with privacy laws have these rights by law. We don't sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we don't use sensitive information to infer things about you. We won't treat you differently for using your rights.

To make a request, email support@joinopenfile.com from the address on your order. We may ask for your order number to confirm it's you, and we answer within 45 days. An authorized agent can make a request for you with your written permission.

11Children

Our service is for adults. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you think a child gave us information, email us and we'll delete it.

12Changes

The version and effective date are at the top of this page. If we make a material change, we'll email customers with an active service before it takes effect. See also our Terms of Service.

13Contact

Email support@joinopenfile.com.