Terms of use

BackYears is an independent referral service. We are not a CPA firm, tax preparer, or law firm, and we are not affiliated with the IRS or any government agency. Tax services are provided by independent licensed professionals.

1. Who we are and these terms

BackYears is run by Quixta Ventures LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in India ("BackYears", "we", "us"). You can reach us at support@backyears.com. Our postal address is in the contact section.

These terms apply when you use backyears.com, answer our questions, read our guides or get emails from us. By using BackYears, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the site. Our privacy policy, cookie policy and disclaimer are part of these terms.

2. What BackYears is

BackYears is an independent referral service. We ask you a few questions, give you general information about catching up on unfiled tax returns, and, only if you ask us to, introduce you to an independent licensed tax professional ("partner").

3. What BackYears is not

We do not prepare or file tax returns, give tax, legal or financial advice, or represent anyone before the IRS or any state agency. We are not a CPA firm, tax preparer or law firm, and we are not affiliated with the IRS or any government agency. Nothing on this site is advice about your own situation.

Using BackYears does not make us your accountant, tax preparer or lawyer, and it does not create any professional or fiduciary relationship between you and us.

4. Who can use BackYears

• You must be 18 or older.
• BackYears is meant for people in the United States with US tax questions. We don't offer it anywhere else.
• You can use it for yourself or for your own small business.
• Only give us information about yourself, or about someone who has asked you to and given you permission.

5. Partners

Partners are independent CPAs, Enrolled Agents and tax attorneys who run their own firms. They decide whether to accept an introduction, set and publish their own prices, and are solely responsible for the services and advice they give you. Any agreement for tax services is between you and the partner, and so is any dispute about their work.

When we call a partner "vetted", we mean exactly this: before a firm can receive introductions, we check its credential by hand against the public record (a state CPA board, the IRS for Enrolled Agents, or a state bar), it signs a written agreement with us, and we mark it active. We don't review a partner's work, advice or prices, and we don't promise any particular result. We pick a partner by matching your state and tax years against the partners who cover them and have room that month. That is not a recommendation that one partner is better than another for you. Please do your own checks before you hire anyone; the IRS has a page on choosing a tax professional, linked from our about page.

6. Your information and the sharing box

How we collect, use and share your information is explained in our privacy policy. We only share your details with a partner if you tick the sharing box, which is never ticked for you. A partner may call or text you only if you also tick the separate phone box. Please never send us your Social Security number, tax documents or bank details. Our forms block anything that looks like an SSN.

7. Cost

Using BackYears is free for you. If you hire a partner, you pay the partner directly, at the price they set. We never take a share of what a partner charges you, and nothing we receive depends on whether you hire a partner or on the outcome of your tax matter.

8. Acceptable use

Please don't:

• give false information, or someone else's details without their permission;
• send automated, bulk or spam submissions, or try to get round our bot checks or rate limits;
• try to get into parts of the site that aren't meant for you, or interfere with how the site works;
• copy or scrape the site in bulk, or use it to build a competing list of people or partners;
• use the site to break any law.

9. Our content and other websites

Our guides, pages and design belong to us or the people who license them to us. You can read, share and print them for your own personal use. Our guides link to IRS.gov and other websites we don't control. We're not responsible for their content, and a link isn't an endorsement. Our guides may mention other companies by name for information. We aren't affiliated with them unless we say so.

10. Emails and electronic records

You agree that we can send you notices, records and other communications by email or by showing them on the site, and that these count as "in writing". Today we only send service emails about your own request (for example your next steps, an introduction, a short check-in, or a deletion link). We don't send marketing email unless you have asked for it, and any marketing email will include a way to unsubscribe and our postal address.

11. Ending your use

You can stop using BackYears at any time and ask us to delete your data. We can suspend or block access to anyone who breaks these terms or misuses the site. Sections 9 and 12 to 19 keep applying after you stop using BackYears.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

BACKYEARS AND EVERYTHING ON IT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND ACCURACY. WE DON'T PROMISE THAT THE SITE WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE OR ERROR-FREE, THAT OUR GENERAL INFORMATION IS COMPLETE OR UP TO DATE FOR YOUR SITUATION, OR THAT ANY PARTNER WILL ACCEPT YOU, BE AVAILABLE, OR GET ANY PARTICULAR RESULT.

Some states don't allow implied warranties to be disclaimed, so some of this may not apply to you.

13. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, TAXES, PENALTIES, INTEREST OR DATA, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF BACKYEARS OR FROM ANY PARTNER'S SERVICES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ABOUT BACKYEARS IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM OR US$100.

Some states don't allow these limits, so they may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability for fraud, for our gross negligence or wilful misconduct, or any other liability the law says can't be limited.

These limits are part of the deal: they are why BackYears can be free for you.

14. Indemnity

If you break these terms, misuse the site, or give us information you had no right to share, and someone makes a claim against us because of it, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with that claim, including reasonable legal fees. This doesn't apply where the law doesn't allow it.

15. Resolving disputes

Talk to us first. If you have a problem with BackYears, email support@backyears.com and tell us what happened and what you'd like us to do. We'll try to sort it out with you. Neither of us will start an arbitration or court case until 30 days after that email.

Arbitration. If we can't sort it out, you and we agree that any dispute about BackYears or these terms will be decided by binding individual arbitration, not in court. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will run it under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will take place in Wilmington, Delaware, or by video if you prefer, and the Federal Arbitration Act applies. We'll pay the AAA filing, administration and arbitrator fees beyond what you would pay to file in court, unless the arbitrator decides your claim was frivolous. For a claim you start for less than US$10,000, we pay all of those fees. Each of us pays our own lawyers unless the law or the arbitrator says otherwise. The arbitrator can award you the same individual relief a court could.

Small claims. Either of us can take a dispute to small claims court instead, as long as it qualifies and stays there as an individual case.

Going to court for urgent matters. Either of us can ask a court to stop the other from misusing the site or infringing copyright, trademarks or other intellectual property. Where the law of your state gives you a right to ask a court for public injunctive relief, that claim goes to court, and it waits until any individual arbitration has finished.

No class actions. YOU AND WE MAY ONLY BRING CLAIMS AS INDIVIDUALS, NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS, COLLECTIVE OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. If this paragraph is found unenforceable for a claim, that claim goes to court, not arbitration.

Opting out. You can opt out of arbitration by emailing support@backyears.com within 30 days of first using BackYears, with the subject "Arbitration opt-out" and the email address you used. Opting out doesn't affect anything else in these terms.

Changes to this section. If we change this section, the change doesn't apply to a dispute either of us has already raised. You can reject a change by emailing support@backyears.com within 30 days of it taking effect, and the earlier version keeps applying to you.

16. Governing law

Delaware law governs these terms, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, except where the Federal Arbitration Act applies. Anything that isn't arbitrated or in small claims court will be heard in the state or federal courts in Delaware, and you and we agree to those courts. If you live in a state whose consumer protection law gives you rights that can't be taken away, you keep them.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed. If a change materially affects you, we'll say so on the site, and if you have an open introduction, we'll email you. If you keep using BackYears after a change takes effect, the new terms apply. Changes don't apply to a dispute we already knew about.

18. General

• Entire agreement. These terms and the policies linked above are the whole agreement between you and us about BackYears. Your agreement with any partner is separate.
• Severability. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies.
• No waiver. If we don't enforce a part of these terms straight away, we can still enforce it later.
• Assignment. You can't transfer these terms to someone else. We can transfer them as part of a merger, sale or reorganisation, and we'll keep protecting your information as our privacy policy says.
• Things outside our control. We're not responsible for delays or failures caused by events we can't reasonably control, such as outages at our providers, internet failures or natural disasters.

19. Notice for California users

Under California Civil Code section 1789.3, California users are entitled to this notice: the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs can be reached in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by phone at (800) 952-5210.

20. Contact us

• Operator: Quixta Ventures LLP (BackYears)
• Email: support@backyears.com
• Post: Quixta Ventures LLP, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India