PILOT by Lodestar — Privacy Policy

Effective date: June 10, 2026
Last updated: June 10, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Lodestar Tax Tech LLC ("Lodestar," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects information in connection with PILOT by Lodestar (the "Service"). It is incorporated into our Terms of Service.

PILOT is a business-to-business tool for U.S. CPA firms. We do not offer it to consumers. Because our Customers are firms — and because the materials they upload describe their own clients — this policy carefully distinguishes the two kinds of data we handle. Please read Section 2.

If you are an individual taxpayer whose information was uploaded to PILOT by your accountant, your accountant (not Lodestar) controls that information. Please direct privacy requests to them; see Section 9.

1. Who This Policy Covers

• Customers — the CPA firms and solo CPAs that register for and use the Service, and the individual Professionals they authorize.
• Clients — the underlying taxpayers whose entity and tax facts a Customer uploads. Clients are third parties; Customers, not Lodestar, decide what Client information to provide.
• Visitors — people who visit our marketing sites at https://pilotbylodestar.com and https://lodestartaxtech.com.

2. Two Kinds of Data: "Customer Data" and "Client Data"

This distinction drives the rest of this policy.

• Customer Data is information about the Customer and its Professionals — for example, firm name, administrator and Professional email addresses, authentication identifiers, and billing details. For Customer Data, Lodestar acts as a business / data controller: we decide how to use it to run the Service and our business.

• Client Data is the information a Customer uploads or enters about its Client — for example, entity names, foreign jurisdictions, ownership percentages, U.S.-person identifiers, tax-year facts, and sometimes EINs. This is highly sensitive tax information. For Client Data, Lodestar acts as a service provider / processor: we process it only on the Customer's behalf and under the Customer's instructions to provide the Service. We do not use Client Data for our own purposes, and we do not sell it.

The Customer is responsible for having the authority and any consents needed to upload Client Data (see our Terms of Service, Section 7), and for responding to its Clients about that data.

3. Information We Collect

3.1 Information Customers provide

• Account and firm information: firm name, administrator email, Professional names and email addresses, and account settings.
• Authentication identifiers: sign-in identifiers and session information, managed through our authentication provider (Clerk).
• Billing information: subscription plan, billing email, and payment details. Payments are processed by Stripe; we do not store full payment-card numbers — Stripe handles card data.
• Client Data: the Fact Sheet content and related materials a Customer uploads describing a Client's international entity structure (see Section 2).
• Communications: information you provide when you contact us (for example, support requests).

3.2 Information the Service generates

• Output: the filing-obligation triage memo (.docx), filing map (HTML), ownership heatmap (HTML), and org chart (HTML) PILOT produces from a Fact Sheet, stored in our database and file storage so you can access and download it.
• Audit and log data: an audit trail of actions taken in the Service (who did what, and when), plus technical logs used to operate, secure, and troubleshoot the Service.

3.3 Information collected automatically

• Device and usage information: basic technical data such as IP address, browser type, and pages or features used, collected through standard server logs.

We do not intentionally collect more personal information than the Service needs. PILOT is designed to identify filing requirements, not to compute or store tax values; where a value matters, the Service flags it rather than capturing it.

4. How We Use Information

We use information to:

• Provide the Service — authenticate users, run the analysis pipeline, generate and store Output, and make it available to you;
• Process payments — bill and collect fees through Stripe;
• Operate, secure, and improve the Service — maintain reliability, monitor for abuse, keep audit logs, troubleshoot, and improve features using aggregated or de-identified data;
• Communicate with you — send service, security, billing, and support messages, and (where permitted) product updates;
• Comply with law — meet legal, tax, and regulatory obligations, and enforce our Terms.

We process Client Data only to provide the Service to the Customer and as the Customer instructs. We do not sell Customer Data or Client Data, and we do not use Client Data to build profiles or for advertising.

5. AI Processing

Generating Output requires automated analysis of your Fact Sheet, which may include Client Data. To do this, the relevant Fact Sheet content is sent to our AI provider, Anthropic, and processed through Anthropic's commercial API (Claude).

Your content is processed through Anthropic's commercial API solely to generate your Output. Anthropic does not use your content to train its models and retains API data only briefly (currently up to 30 days) for operational and abuse-prevention purposes, except where longer retention is required by law or to investigate misuse. We surface this clearly because your Clients have a legitimate interest in knowing how their information is processed.

6. How We Share Information (Sub-Processors)

We share information with a small set of vetted service providers ("sub-processors") that help us run the Service. They may process information only to provide services to us and are bound by confidentiality and data-protection obligations. Our current sub-processors are:

We will keep this list current. If we add or change a sub-processor that processes Client Data, we will update this policy and provide notice (for example, by email to your administrator or a notice in the Service or on this page) so you can review the change.

Other than to these sub-processors, we share information only:

• with you (and the Professionals in your account);
• for legal reasons — to comply with law, lawful requests, or legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and security of Lodestar, our Customers, or others;
• in a business transfer — in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to this policy; and
• with your direction or consent.

We do not sell or "share" (as defined under California law) personal information, and we do not use it for cross-context behavioral advertising.

7. Data Retention

We retain Client Data and Output for as long as your firm's subscription is active and you are using the Service. After your subscription ends or your account is closed, you have a one hundred eighty (180)-day window — which also serves as your data-export window — to export your Client Data and Output (see Terms of Service, Section 16.4).

After the 180-day window closes, we delete or de-identify your Client Data and Output, except where law requires us to retain it. You may request earlier deletion of your Client Data at any time by emailing privacy@lodestartaxtech.com, and we will delete it except where we are required to keep it by law. We retain Customer/account and billing records for longer where needed for legal, tax, and accounting purposes. When data is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it.

Note for the Customer: PILOT is not your system of record. You remain responsible for retaining your own engagement records — including any applicable tax-record retention periods — consistent with your professional obligations.

8. Cookies

We use only the cookies and similar technologies the Service needs to function and to understand basic usage:

• Essential / authentication cookies — to keep you signed in and secure your session (via Clerk).
• Payment cookies — set by Stripe during checkout and billing.

We do not use advertising cookies or sell information collected through cookies. You can control cookies through your browser settings, though disabling essential cookies may break sign-in.

9. Your Privacy Choices and Rights

9.1 Customers and Professionals

You can access and update most account information directly in the Service, or by contacting us. You may also request to access, correct, export, or delete your account information, subject to legal and contractual limits. To make a request, email privacy@lodestartaxtech.com.

9.2 Client Data and the underlying taxpayer

Because the Customer controls Client Data, requests from a Client (the underlying taxpayer) to access, correct, or delete their information should go to the Customer (their CPA firm), not to Lodestar. As a service provider, we will reasonably assist the Customer in responding — for example, by helping locate, export, correct, or delete Client Data in the Service. If an individual contacts us directly about Client Data, we will generally refer them to the relevant Customer.

The Customer is responsible for propagating access, correction, deletion, and export requests it receives from its Clients to the data held in PILOT, using the Service's export and deletion features or by contacting us for assistance.

9.3 How we handle requests

We will verify requests appropriately before acting and respond within the time required by applicable law. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

10. California Privacy Notice

This section provides additional information for California residents under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (CCPA/CPRA). Although PILOT is a U.S.-only, B2B service, we expect California-based Customers and Professionals, and Client Data may include information about California residents.

• Service-provider role. With respect to Client Data, Lodestar is a service provider and processes that information only to perform the Service for the Customer, as permitted by the CCPA. We do not retain, use, or disclose Client Data for any purpose other than providing the Service or as otherwise permitted by law.
• Categories of personal information. Depending on the data involved, we may handle identifiers (such as names, emails, and EINs), professional/employment-related information, financial/billing information, internet activity (usage and log data), and inferences limited to operating the Service. Client Data may include tax identifiers that are sensitive.
• Sources and purposes. We collect this information from Customers and Professionals, from use of the Service, and from our sub-processors, for the business purposes described in Section 4.
• No sale or sharing. We do not sell personal information and do not "share" it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
• Your rights. Subject to verification and legal limits, California residents may request to know, access, correct, or delete personal information we hold as a business (primarily Customer/account data). For Client Data, requests should be directed to the Customer (Section 9.2). To exercise rights, email privacy@lodestartaxtech.com. You may use an authorized agent, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

11. Users Outside the United States

PILOT is designed for U.S. CPA firms and operated in the United States. We do not market the Service outside the U.S. If a Customer chooses to upload information subject to non-U.S. privacy laws (for example, the EU/UK GDPR), the Customer is the controller of that data and is responsible for having a lawful basis and any required notices or consents; Lodestar acts as a processor and will handle the data under this policy and our Terms. We do not currently offer GDPR-specific mechanisms (such as an EU representative or standard contractual clauses) unless we agree to them with you in writing. By using the Service, you understand that information will be processed in the United States.

12. Security

We take the sensitivity of tax data seriously and use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect it, including:

• Encryption in transit using TLS;
• Encryption at rest for our database and file storage;
• Authentication and access controls through Clerk;
• Audit logging of actions taken in the Service; and
• Use of reputable infrastructure providers (see Section 6).

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. You are responsible for safeguarding your account credentials and for controlling which Professionals have access. If we confirm a security breach that compromises Client Data or Customer Data, we will notify you (the Customer) without undue delay. Because you are the controller of Client Data, you are responsible for notifying affected individuals (your Clients) and any regulators as required by law, and we will reasonably assist you.

13. Children's Privacy

The Service is for professional use by adults and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children. (Client Data provided by a Customer may, in some tax situations, include information about minors as taxpayers or owners; that information is handled as Client Data under this policy and remains the Customer's responsibility.)

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change — including adding or changing a sub-processor that handles Client Data — we will update the "Last updated" date and provide notice through the Service, by email to your administrator, or on this page. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.

15. Contact Us

Questions, concerns, or privacy requests:

Lodestar Tax Tech LLC
Privacy: privacy@lodestartaxtech.com
General: hello@lodestartaxtech.com
Mail address available on request.

PILOT by Lodestar is software that helps CPA Professionals triage U.S. international filing obligations. We handle Client Data only to provide the Service to the CPA firm that uploaded it.