Individuals who visit the Maine Revenue Services website are important to us. Because visitors to our website are important, we do not capture personal information about them without their permission. We endeavor to collect only the minimum amount of information needed to fulfill the purposes for which this website was created.
Public Disclosure
Information collected through the Maine Revenue Services website will be treated in the same way as similar information collected by means of written communications. Employees and agents of Maine Revenue Services are prohibited by law (36 M.R.S.A. § 191) from willfully inspecting information contained on any tax return for any purpose other than the conduct of official duties, and from disclosing any kind of tax information to anyone except in a limited number of very specific circumstances that are described in the law. Communications that do not constitute tax information are subject to the general confidentiality, public inspection and legal discovery provisions of 1 M.R.S.A. Chapter 13.
Visitors to the Maine Revenue Services Website
We may collect some or all of the following information about visitors who view or download information from our website:
| Information | Definition |
|---|---|
| Date | Date the visit occurred. |
| Time | Time the visit occurred. |
| Client IP | Unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the website visitor. The IP address recorded is normally that of the visitor's internet service provider, e.g., aol.com if the visitor connects from an America Online account. |
| Server IP | Unique Internet Protocol (IP) address of the State of Maine web server accessed. |
| HTTP Status | Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) error code. E.g., "404 Requested Page Not Found." |
| HTTP Request URL | Identifies the web page or file requested by the website visitor. |
| Bytes Sent | Amount of data sent from the web server to website visitor during that connection. |
| Bytes Received | Amount of data sent from website visitor to the web server. |
| User Agent | Type of web browser or other client software that made request to the web server. |
| Referrer | Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that referred to the requested file. |
| Protocol Version | Version of HTTP used by the visitor's web browser software. |
We collect this information to help us understand how people are using our online services so we can improve the content of our website. We analyze our website logs in order to continually improve the value of the materials we make available on the site. The information in the website logs is not personally identifiable, and we make no attempt to link it with the individuals that browse our website.
Some statistical information, such as a running count of the number of visitors, may be displayed on the website or shared with other state governments to aid in the provision of better service to the public.
Personally Identifiable Information
"Personally identifiable information" is information about a natural person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. It includes, for example, an individual’s name, street address, email address, or telephone number. Any personal information you provide to Maine Revenue Services will be used only for tax administration purposes. When personal information is stored by Maine Revenue Services, it is kept in a secure location where it is accessible only to authorized employees and agents of Maine Revenue Services.
We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you through our website unless you voluntarily use our site to send us an email message, to request tax forms or to file a tax return. Your choice not to engage in these activities will not impair your ability to browse our website. However, it may impair your ability to utilize some of our online services.
Email messages sent to Maine Revenue Services will be treated in the same way as any other kind of written communication having a similar content, and may be saved for a period of time before they are destroyed. Email messages that do not constitute tax information are subject to the general confidentiality, public inspection and legal discovery provisions of 1 M.R.S.A. Chapter 13. Your email message and address may be forwarded to another agency of Maine state government for response or other action if appropriate.
Information provided in the course of completing and electronically filing a tax return will be treated in the same manner as information provided when filing a paper tax return. Employees and agents of Maine Revenue Services are prohibited by law (36 M.R.S.A. § 191) from willfully inspecting information contained on any tax return for any purpose other than the conduct of official duties, and from disclosing any kind of tax information to anyone except in a limited number of very specific circumstances that are described in the law.
Cookies
In order to better serve you, the user, we use "cookies" for certain types of online transactions.
Cookies are small text files that a web server may ask your web browser to store, and then to send back to the web server when needed. Cookies are used to store and retrieve unique transaction identifiers or other server-generated or user-provided information in complex, multi-page web applications (for instance, items placed in a "shopping cart" might need to be displayed on a later "check-out" screen). Our internet filing applications use cookies to keep your tax return information separate from that of other taxpayers who may be filing a return at the same time. When we use cookies in this way, the cookie is stored on our server and then destroyed at the end of the transaction. We do not use cookies to track your visits to our website.
The "Help" portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies or how to disable cookies altogether. However, you cannot use Maine Revenue Services internet filing unless your browser is set to allow cookies, and we recommend that you leave them turned on. If you have further questions about cookies, we suggest that you read a study entitled "Information Bulletin I-034: Internet Cookies" that was issued on March 12, 1998, by the Computer Incident Advisory Capacity that monitors computer problems for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Disclaimer
Neither the State of Maine nor any agency, officer, or employee of the State of Maine warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on the Maine Revenue Services website, nor shall they be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Portions of the information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from this site does so at his or her own risk.
The Maine Revenue Services website contains links to other web sites that are not owned, operated, controlled or reviewed by Maine Revenue Services. This Privacy Statement does not apply to other web sites that are linked to the Maine Revenue Services website. Neither the State of Maine nor any agency, officer, or employee of the State of Maine endorses any products or services contained on such external web sites; nor shall they be held liable for any losses that may result from accessing an external website linked to the Maine Revenue Services website, or from reliance upon any information obtained from such a site.
Contact Information
If you would like to ask us a question or obtain additional information on any topic related to Maine state taxes, please contact us. Because the security of unencrypted internet transmissions is not assured, you may wish to avoid including confidential personal information in your email messages sent to Maine Revenue Services. We will not include personal data such as Social Security numbers, account balances or other financial information when responding to your inquiry via email.
If you have any questions or comments regarding our website or the information presented in this Privacy Statement, please email the webmaster.