DRAFT for attorney review. Replace every [bracketed] item and delete this box before launch.
1. Who can use the Ledger
The Abatement Ledger is operated by [OPERATOR LEGAL NAME] ("we", "us"). You must be 18 or older to submit a case.
2. Not tax or legal advice
The Ledger publishes people's own accounts of IRS penalty relief requests, published court decisions, and statistics derived from them. None of it is tax, legal or financial advice, and it may be incomplete or wrong. Using the Ledger doesn't create an attorney-client, accountant-client or any other professional relationship. The "Similar cases" tool and any statistics summarize past reports. They don't predict what will happen in your case. The IRS decides each request on its own facts. We are not affiliated with the Internal Revenue Service or any government agency.
3. What you promise when you submit a case
- The case is your own, or you are a tax professional and you have your client's written consent to share it, including any consent required by 26 U.S.C. §7216 and its regulations and by your professional rules.
- What you submit is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge.
- You haven't included names, identification numbers, addresses or other details that identify you or anyone else, and you haven't made accusations about identifiable people or firms.
- You have the right to grant the license below.
4. Contributor license
You keep whatever rights you have in your submission. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicensable license to host, store, reproduce, edit (for example, to remove identifying details or fix formatting), publish, display, analyze, and aggregate your submission, and to create statistics, models and other derived works from it. This license lets us commercially license derived works, subject to the limits in our Privacy Notice. In particular:
- We never license the text of your story.
- Case-level data is licensed only if you opted in, and never includes health-related answers.
The license lasts until you delete your case. After deletion we won't publish your case or include it in new datasets or statistics. Aggregated statistics and models produced before deletion don't have to be withdrawn, because they can't identify your case. You won't be paid for your submission. To the extent the law allows, you waive any moral rights in edits we make to remove identifying details.
5. Moderation
We review every submission before it appears. We may edit a submission to remove identifying or defamatory content, and we may decline, unpublish or delete any submission at our discretion. We don't verify the facts in self-reported cases.
6. Sponsored placements
The Ledger shows clearly labelled sponsored placements from tax professionals and firms. A sponsored placement is an advertisement, not a recommendation or endorsement by us. Sponsors don't see submissions and don't influence which cases are published or how statistics are calculated. Before hiring any tax professional, check their credentials yourself. For example, you can confirm an enrolled agent or CPA with the IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers or the state board of accountancy. Be wary of anyone who promises results or asks for large fees up front.
7. Acceptable use
Don't:
- submit false, spam or promotional content
- try to identify any contributor
- scrape or bulk-download the Ledger by automated means beyond ordinary browsing (contact us about data licensing instead)
- interfere with the site's security
- use the Ledger to solicit contributors
8. Disclaimers and limits of liability
The Ledger is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, including accuracy, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose. To the fullest extent the law allows, we aren't liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for any decision you make based on the Ledger. Our total liability for any claim is limited to [US$100]. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limits, so they may not fully apply to you.
9. Your responsibility for your content
If you break these terms in a way that causes a third-party claim against us (for example, by submitting someone else's confidential information without consent), you agree to cover our reasonable losses from that claim, to the extent the law allows.
10. Copyright complaints
If you believe content on the Ledger infringes your copyright, email with the details required by 17 U.S.C. §512(c)(3). [Register a DMCA designated agent with the U.S. Copyright Office.]
11. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by the laws of [JURISDICTION], without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be resolved in the courts of [VENUE], except where the law of your place of residence gives you the right to bring a claim locally. [Attorney: consider whether to add arbitration and class-action waiver provisions.]
12. Changes
We may update these terms. The version date at the top shows when they last changed. Changes apply from that date. If a change would expand how we use cases already submitted, it applies to those cases only with the contributor's consent.
Contact
[OPERATOR LEGAL NAME], [ADDRESS]. Email: