Don't trust VALID. Check it.

1. Only the law, and only five kinds of it

VALID cites the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, IRS publications, IRS form instructions, and IRS notices. Nothing else: no blogs, no forums, no "my accountant said". If an answer cannot be cited from that set, VALID says which fact is missing, or says it has no answer.

2. The real text, fetched, not remembered

VALID's library is 98 documents fetched directly from irs.gov and uscode.house.gov: 20 IRS publications, 26 sets of form instructions, and 52 sections of the Internal Revenue Code, nearly all read as in effect on September 29, 2026. Every document is stored with a SHA-256 fingerprint, and every quoted passage shows the start of it, so a reader can confirm the words came from that exact document.

When the IRS or Congress changes a document, its fingerprint changes. VALID has a check that re-fetches every source and flags each change, and a person reads the change before anything in VALID is updated.

3. Reviewed answers speak; nothing else does

Only a reviewed answer speaks in VALID's voice. When no reviewed answer covers a question, VALID says so plainly and points you to a licensed professional. It does not dress up the nearest search result as an answer.

4. It will not publish if it fails its own checks

Before every update goes live, VALID runs more than 700 automatic checks on its safety rules, checks every page, and puts 113 real questions through the answer engine. A dollar promise, a citation outside the five sources, a forbidden word, or a question that should have been refused and was not: any one of them stops the update from being published.

5. Nothing you type leaves your browser

Your questions are answered inside your own browser tab. The site's security policy blocks the page from sending data anywhere, so even a mistake in VALID's own code could not send your question to a server. VALID never asks for a Social Security number, a document, or a return, and it refuses identifiers you type by accident. The only thing that is ever sent is a sign-up form, when you choose to send it. Privacy details.

6. Licensed humans sign

VALID is software. It does not sign, represent anyone, or file anything. For firms, VALID drafts and cites; the firm's licensed staff decide and sign. For everyone else, anything about your own return belongs with a licensed CPA, enrolled agent, or tax attorney.