Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how stevenrugg.dev LLC dba Withholden (A California LLC, B20250338292)(“Withholden,” “we,” “us”) collects, uses, shares, and protects information about you when you use the Withholdenapplication and related services (the “Service”). By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here.

1. Who we are

Withholden is a tax-savings tool for gig and self-employed workers. It helps you set aside a portion of your 1099 income into a dedicated tax vault and, when you choose, make estimated-tax payments. The Service is operated by a licensed and bonded tax preparer.

2. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account details — your name and email, managed through our authentication provider (Clerk).
• Tax-planning inputs — your expected annual income, chosen withholding percentage, and which deposits you tag as 1099 income.

Information collected to verify you and move money

• Identity verification — government ID, a selfie, and related data, collected and verified by Stripe Identity. We receive only the verification result and limited metadata, not your ID images.
• Banking & transactions — when you link a bank account through Stripe Financial Connections, we receive account metadata (such as institution name and the last four digits) and transaction records used to identify your gig income.
• Payments & vault data— your connected account/“vault” identifiers, sweep and payout records, and subscription/billing status, processed by Stripe.

Information collected automatically

• Basic technical and usage data (device, log, and approximate location via IP) used for security, fraud prevention, and to operate the Service.

What we deliberately do not store: we do not retain your full Social Security number, full bank account or routing numbers, card numbers, or identity-document images. That highly sensitive data is held by Stripe; we keep only opaque reference tokens. Sensitive fields we do store (such as your email and bank metadata) are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM.

3. How we use your information

• To open and operate your tax vault and verify your identity.
• To identify 1099 income and calculate and execute the withholding sweeps and tax payments you authorize.
• To manage your $8/month subscription and free trial.
• To provide support, send service notices, and prevent fraud.
• To comply with legal, tax, and regulatory obligations.

4. How we share information

We share information only as needed to run the Service:

• Service providers / subprocessors — including Stripe (payments, Connect, Identity, Financial Connections, billing), Clerk (authentication), and our hosting and database providers.
• Legal & safety — when required by law, subpoena, or to protect rights, safety, and the integrity of the Service.
• Business transfers — in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

5. Data retention

We keep your information for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Service. Tax-related and transaction records may be retained longer to meet legal, accounting, and tax-recordkeeping requirements. When no longer needed, data is deleted or anonymized.

6. Security

We use encryption in transit and at rest, tokenization of sensitive data through Stripe, access controls, and authentication safeguards. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and to notify you of material incidents as required by law.

7. Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or port your personal information, and to object to or restrict certain processing. You can update many details in the app or by contacting us. To exercise your rights, email support@withholden.com. You may also manage banking connections and your subscription directly, and request account deletion.

8. Children's privacy

The Service is intended for users 18 and older and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.

9. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with a new effective date, and where appropriate we will notify you in the app or by email.

10. Contact us

Questions about this Policy or your data? Email support@withholden.com.