Your Paycheck Numbers Never Leave Your Browser — The Full U.S. Privacy Position
What personal data we collect (almost none), why, how long we keep it, who we share it with, the calculator-input rule, and your rights under U.S. state privacy laws — CCPA/CPRA, VCDPA, CPA, CTDPA, UCPA, TDPSA, OCPA and a growing list — plus the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The salary, hourly wage, hours, bonus, deduction, and tax-withholding figures you type into our paycheck calculators are processed entirely in your browser, in JavaScript. They are not transmitted to our servers, not logged, not stored, and not shared with anyone. Close the tab and the numbers are gone. This is the only safe privacy posture for a paycheck tool, and it is the foundation of how this site is built.
What is in this notice
1. Scope and Controller
This Privacy Policy applies to paycheck-calculators.org/. The "business" / "controller" is paycheck-calculators.org/ Editorial, contactable at info@paycheck-calculators.org. This notice does not apply to the IRS, the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor, BLS, state tax authorities, or any other website we link to. Each is its own controller with its own privacy policy.
2. The Calculator-Input Rule (Plain English)
We do not receive, transmit, log, store, profile, or share any paycheck, salary, hourly wage, hours, bonus, deduction, tax-withholding, employer name, or financial figure you type into a calculator. Each calculator is a self-contained JavaScript widget that runs on your device. We could not build a profile of your income from your calculator inputs even if we wanted to — the data never reaches us.
If for any reason you also email those figures to us — for example, to report a bug — we ask that you redact them. We delete any sensitive financial details that arrive in correspondence as soon as we have helped with the underlying issue.
3. Other Personal Information We Collect
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | IP address, device ID, browser user agent | Automatic when you visit |
| Internet / network activity | Pages viewed, time on page, referrer, calculator opened (not the values entered) | Automatic |
| Contact data | Email address, name (if provided), message content | You — only if you email us |
| Cookies / similar tech | See Cookie Policy | Automatic; managed by the cookie banner |
| Approximate location | City and state inferred from IP | Automatic |
4. Why We Collect It
- To operate the site — serve pages and calculator widgets, remember cookie preferences, protect against abuse
- To understand which calculators are useful — aggregated, anonymous analytics on which tools are opened (not their values)
- To respond to you when you email a correction or inquiry
- To display non-personalized or personalized advertising depending on your consent
- To detect and prevent fraud, scraping, and attacks
- To comply with legal obligations — lawful subpoenas, court orders, and government requests
6. “Sale” and “Sharing” Disclosure
However, the broad definitions of “sale” under California’s CCPA/CPRA and “sharing” under the CPRA (for cross-context behavioral advertising) can cover the disclosure of cookie-based identifiers to third-party advertising partners (e.g., Google AdSense) when you have not opted out. To the extent any of our cookie-based advertising falls within those definitions, you can opt out via the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal (which we honor as a “Do Not Sell or Share” request), the cookie banner, the footer “Do Not Sell or Share” link where displayed, or Google’s opt-out at adssettings.google.com.
7. How Long We Keep It
| Category | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Calculator inputs (paycheck, salary, wages, etc.) | Not collected — nothing to retain |
| Web server & security logs | 30 days |
| Aggregated GA4 analytics | 14 months |
| Email correspondence | 24 months from last interaction |
| Cookie consent records | 12 months from your choice |
| Rights-request audit trail | 3 years (state AG enforcement window) |
8. Your Rights Under State Privacy Laws
| State | Law | Key rights |
|---|---|---|
| California | CCPA (Cal. Civ. Code §1798.100 et seq.) as amended by CPRA | Know, access, delete, correct, opt-out of sale/share, limit sensitive PI, non-discrimination |
| Virginia | VCDPA | Access, correct, delete, portability, opt-out of targeted advertising, sale, and certain profiling |
| Colorado | CPA | Access, correct, delete, portability, opt-out; universal opt-out signal recognition |
| Connecticut | CTDPA | Access, correct, delete, portability, opt-out; GPC recognition |
| Utah | UCPA | Access, delete, portability, opt-out of targeted advertising and sale |
| Texas | TDPSA | Access, correct, delete, portability, opt-out |
| Oregon | OCPA | Access, correct, delete, portability, opt-out; third-party-list disclosure |
| Other states | Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Montana, Delaware, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maryland, Minnesota, and a growing list | Similar core rights; effective dates and thresholds vary |
If your state is not listed, you may still email us and we will give the same core rights as a matter of policy. Note: because we do not store calculator inputs, a deletion request for those values has nothing to delete — the rule is “we never had them.”
9. How to Exercise Your Rights
Email info@paycheck-calculators.org with the subject “Privacy rights request” and the right you are exercising. We respond within 45 days (extendable by 45 days when necessary, with notice) as required by most state laws. We may need to verify your identity using information already in our records. You may use an authorized agent; for California agent requests, we require written authorization.
10. Children — COPPA
The site is intended for adults working on their paycheck and is not directed at children under 13. Under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its implementing rule (16 CFR Part 312), we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has provided personal information to us, email us with the subject “COPPA / child data” and we will delete it.
11. Security
We use technical and organizational measures appropriate to the limited categories of personal information we process — TLS/HTTPS in transit, encryption at rest where applicable, access controls, vendor due diligence, and a breach-response procedure aligned with state breach-notification statutes (e.g., Cal. Civ. Code §1798.82) and FTC data-security guidance. The strongest single security control on this site is that we do not collect your paycheck inputs.
12. Contact
For any privacy question or rights request: info@paycheck-calculators.org
You may also complain to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at reportfraud.ftc.gov, your state Attorney General, or (in California) the California Privacy Protection Agency at cppa.ca.gov.
Exercise a Privacy Right
Email us with the subject “Privacy rights request”. We respond within 45 days.
📧 info@paycheck-calculators.org