Private by design
Share your tax documents. Keep your identity.
TaxCloak swaps the SSNs, names, addresses, phone numbers, and bank and tax ID numbers on a tax form for consistent placeholders, and leaves the dollar amounts alone. It runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
No account. No upload. Runs in this tab.
Before
After
Fictitious sample data, not a real return.
Without TaxCloak
- The whole document, SSN and all, gets pasted into a chat window.
- A forwarded PDF or screenshot carries the name, address, and account numbers with it.
- Every assistant, forum, or preparer you ask sees the full identifiers again.
With TaxCloak
- Identifiers are swapped for placeholders before anything leaves your clipboard.
- The dollar amounts, form labels, and tax math stay intact for the conversation.
- Nothing is uploaded, so there is no server copy of the original document to worry about.
Everything you need
A short list of what this site is actually built to do. Nothing here claims a certification it does not have.
Consistent placeholders
The same SSN, name, or account keeps one placeholder everywhere it appears, like [SSN_1] or [NAME_A], so an assistant can still tell who matches whom.
Keeps dollar amounts
Wages, withholding, the tax year, filing status, and form or box labels stay untouched.
On-device, no upload
Detection runs in your browser. There is no upload and no server that receives the file.
PDFs and photos, with OCR
Open a text PDF directly, or a scanned PDF or photo. A local OCR engine reads the page in the tab.
Household names
A surname learned on one page or one OCR read is carried to the rest of the document, so a spouse or dependent gets the same placeholder throughout.
Always-redact list
Add a word or phrase that should always be blacked out, and optionally remember it on this device for next time.
Form-aware keep rules
Recognizes common form numbers like W-2, 1099, and 1040 so routine box labels aren't mistaken for identifiers.
Works offline
Once the page and its local engines have loaded, redaction keeps working with the network off.
No account, nothing to install
Open the page and use it. There is no sign-up and no analytics.
Where this helps
Sharing with an AI assistant
Ask an assistant to explain a W-2 or walk through a 1040 without handing over the SSN and address that came with it.
Sending to a tax preparer
Share the figures a preparer needs to review without resending identifiers they already have on file.
Asking a friend or a forum for help
Post a redacted version of a confusing box or line and get help without posting your Social Security number.
Keeping records
Keep a redacted copy and a private mapping key, so a shareable version exists alongside the original.
How it works
1
Open the form
Paste text, or open a PDF or a photo of a W-2, 1099, 1040, K-1, or 1098. The file is read in this tab.
2
Replace identifiers, keep amounts
Detection finds the identifiers and swaps them for placeholders. Dollar amounts, the tax year, and form labels stay.
3
Review, then copy
Check every highlight, copy the redacted text, and download a private mapping key if you want to restore an answer later.
FAQ
Does TaxCloak upload my tax document?+
The website does not. Pasted text, PDFs, and photos are read in the browser tab. There is no account and no route whose job is to receive a return. The tool page loads the PDF and OCR programs from this same site when it opens. Those downloads are the programs, not your file. The privacy meter shows the requests it observed during a redaction.
Does it work offline?+
Yes, after the tool page has loaded. Turn off wifi and pasted text still redacts. A PDF or a photo also works offline once the PDF and OCR programs from this site have finished loading into the tab. If you disconnect before that, paste the text. You can confirm there is no upload in the browser’s Network tab.
Will it catch every Social Security number, name, and account?+
No. It catches most common patterns and labels used on W-2, 1099, 1040, Schedule K-1, and 1098 layouts, and it misses some. An identifier in an unexpected place can be missed. A photograph can be misread. Review every page before sharing.
What is left in the document on purpose?+
Dollar amounts, the tax year, filing status, form names, and box or line labels stay, so an assistant can still talk about the return. The same detected person or account is replaced with one placeholder, such as [NAME_A] or [SSN_1].
What is the mapping key?+
It is a JSON file that pairs each placeholder with the original value. You download it and keep it. The website does not store it. Do not upload it, email it, or paste it into a chatbot. If you paste an assistant’s answer back into TaxCloak, the placeholders can be restored on your device from that key.
Is TaxCloak HIPAA or SOC 2 compliant?+
No. TaxCloak does not claim HIPAA, SOC 2, or any other certification. Running in your browser is not a compliance program. Review every page before you share a document.
Is this tax, legal, or security advice?+
No. TaxCloak does not prepare a return, tell you what to file, or promise that a redacted file is safe to publish. It is a review tool for making a copy you can stand to show an assistant.
Which forms can I try?+
The detector is aimed at text from W-2, 1099, 1040, Schedule K-1, and 1098 forms, including a pasted transcript or a text-based PDF. The tool includes fictitious samples of those forms. A form with a different layout may need more manual marks.
Are the sample documents real?+
No. Every name, TIN, address, and account number in the samples is invented. Each sample says so in a banner. Do not replace them with a real return in the repository.
Ready to share a document without sharing your identity?
Includes fictitious W-2, 1099, and 1040 samples. They are not real returns.