GoRefer Trust Center
Data Retention
Updated October 2026
GoRefer retains data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by applicable law. Different workflows have different retention mechanisms. This page lists how long each kind of data is kept and what deletes it, including what happens after a firm cancels.
Retention Schedule
Updated October 2026
| Data Category | Retention Period | Deletion Trigger | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Account & profile data | Life of the firm account, then deleted after cancellation | The deletion date shown at cancellation, or a verified deletion request | After the retention period ends, we delete the firm's workspace, including its users' accounts. |
Tax client records and PII | Life of the firm account, then deleted after cancellation | The deletion date shown at cancellation, an authorized record deletion, or a verified erasure request | Your firm determines its own record-keeping obligations; export what you must keep before the deletion date. The practice retention ledger records decisions; it does not itself destroy source records. |
A client's request to delete their data | Answered within 30 days; the firm has 10 days to review before the data is deleted | The client's request from their portal, or deleting their account | The firm can download the client's file or place a legal hold during the review. The client is emailed what was deleted and what was kept. |
Tax records kept after a client's data is deleted | Only until the period the law sets (for example 3 years for returns and e-file signature forms, 7 years for invoices), then deleted | The end of the period the law sets for each record | Returns, e-file signature forms, due-diligence records, invoices and consents to use tax information. Records on legal hold are kept until the hold is released. |
Leads that never became clients | 24 months after the last activity, after 30 days' notice to the firm, which can keep a lead for another year | 24 months without activity | The firm's admins are told 30 days before and can keep any lead for another year. |
Consent records | While the answer is current, then 5 years after it was changed or the person's record was deleted, in a reduced form | Automatic expiry | What a person agreed to, with the exact wording they saw. Proof of texting consent: 5 years, kept in a reduced form after the firm's account or the person's record is deleted. Opt-outs: Kept while the number is opted out; 5 years after the last change once it opts back in. |
Payment & billing records | At least 7 years (tax and accounting records) | Reviewed after required retention ends | Kept after cancellation for tax, dispute and accounting purposes. |
Audit & authentication logs | Workflow-specific | Automatic log expiry or a reviewed deletion request | Retention differs by log; there is no single 365-day guarantee for all audit data. The security audit trail is kept when a firm's data is deleted. |
Email / communication logs | Firm messages: life of the firm account, then deleted after cancellation. Call recordings and voicemails: the periods the firm sets. GoRefer support texts and chat notes: 36 months | The deletion date shown at cancellation; automatic expiry for GoRefer support texts and chat notes | Contact legal@gorefer.io for the retention of a specific message type. |
Error tracking (Sentry) | Set in Sentry | Provider retention and deletion controls | Error monitoring only; session replay is turned off. |
Product usage analytics | Up to 24 months | Automatic expiry | Events record which features were used, not the content of your records. |
Marketing analytics | 12 months | Automatic expiry; browser storage clearing | First-party visitor IDs persist until you clear site data; session IDs last for the browser session. |
Uploaded spreadsheets | Until saved or discarded, and at most 7 days (encrypted) | Saved, discarded, or automatic expiry | A file's rows wait here until someone at the firm reviews them. Afterwards only the returns they update are kept. |
Emailed reports | The list of emails: 24 months. The files: until imported or discarded, and at most 7 days (encrypted) | Imported, discarded, or automatic expiry | Reports a firm's bank or tax software emails to the firm's own report address. The list shows who sent each one, its subject and file names, and what happened to it. |
Import history | 24 months | Automatic expiry | What each import added or changed, so the firm can see it and undo it. The earlier values an undo needs are kept 30 days after the import. |
Gio cases and related documents | Life of the firm account, then deleted after cancellation | The deletion date shown at cancellation, or an authorized record deletion | Cases, case documents and their files are kept with the firm's other client records and deleted with the workspace. |
Gio background-job logs | 90 days | Daily automatic cleanup of finished jobs | Logs of Gio's finished background work. Removing them never removes a case, a document or a file. |
Automation run history | 12 months by default; the firm can choose 30 days to 10 years | Daily automatic cleanup of finished runs, or a verified erasure request | What started each automation run and what each step did, which can include a client's email, phone number and name. A run still waiting or running is not deleted, and a person under a legal hold keeps theirs until the hold is released. Erasing a person scrubs their runs at once. |
Sweepstakes free entries | 3 years after the sweepstakes ends, then deleted | Automatic expiry, or a verified erasure request | The name, email address and state a person gave to enter a firm's sweepstakes for free. Records on legal hold are kept until the hold is released. |
Tax forms for prizes and rewards (Form W-9) | 4 years after the last year a prize or reward was given to the person, then deleted, including after the person's other data is deleted | Automatic expiry | The firm needs them for its Form 1099 records, so they are kept for that period even when the person asks for their data to be deleted. Records on legal hold are kept until the hold is released. |
Backups | Up to 30 days | Backup expiry | Deleted data can remain in our backups for up to 30 days, until those backups expire. |
Deletion after cancellation
When a firm cancels, we show the date its data will be deleted. After the retention period ends, we delete the firm's workspace: its users, client records, messages, call recordings, voicemails and Gio cases, the documents stored for it in our current document storage, and its account with our phone provider, whose numbers are released. Records on legal hold are kept until the hold is released. Billing and payment records are kept for at least 7 years for tax and accounting purposes, proof that a person agreed to receive messages or asked to stop is kept in a reduced form for up to 5 years, and our security audit trail is kept. Deleted data can remain in our backups for up to 30 days, until those backups expire. Each deletion is recorded. Ask legal@gorefer.io to confirm when your firm's data was deleted and what was kept.
Account & Data Deletion
Updated October 2026
Account Deletion Process
Admin-initiated deletion
A firm admin can use account cancellation tools and contact legal@gorefer.io for a full deletion request
Cancellation and access
Cancellation ends access and sets the date the firm's data will be deleted. It is separate from a verified erasure request.
A client's request to their firm
A client can ask their firm to delete their data from their portal or by deleting their account. The firm is told and has 10 days to review the request, and the data is deleted within 30 days of it: the person's calls, recordings, voicemails, texts, notes, appointments, intakes, documents and lead record, and their login. The tax records the law requires the firm to keep (returns, e-file signature forms, due-diligence records, invoices and consents to use tax information) are kept only until the period the law sets, then deleted. Proof of consent is kept in a reduced form. Records on legal hold are kept until the hold is released. The person is told by email what was deleted, what was kept, why, and until when.
Reviewed deletion
Contact legal@gorefer.io to request erasure. We check any legal holds and which data is in scope before deleting.
Confirm completion
Each deletion is recorded. Ask us to confirm when it ran, which records were deleted and which had to be kept.
Legal Hold & Retention Exceptions
Tax record-keeping obligations
Retention periods vary by record type and applicable law; your firm must determine and document the appropriate period
Active dispute hold
Data may be retained pending resolution of a billing dispute or legal claim
Law enforcement requests
Valid legal orders may require temporary retention of specific data
Anonymization alternative
Where the law prevents deletion, we review access and continued retention; we do not automatically anonymize data instead
Data Export & Portability
Updated October 2026
Request or create an authorized export
GoRefer supports authorized exports of the firm's records. The full data export is a ZIP of the firm's records as CSV files, its stored client documents, e-signature records, compliance records, and its call log, text messages and notes, with a manifest that lists every document and anything left out and why. It does not include call recording and voicemail audio, Gio chat conversations, the email delivery log and team chat messages. It is on every plan. What an export contains depends on the permissions of the person who makes it and on your account status. Exports can contain sensitive data. Use the available Data Export controls or contact legal@gorefer.io for help.
Self-Serve Export
Available to authorized firm administrators
A ZIP of CSV records, stored client documents, e-signature and compliance records
A manifest lists every document and anything left out
Call recording audio, Gio chats, the email log and team chat are not in it
Assisted Export
Request via legal@gorefer.io
We verify who is asking and what data is in scope
We confirm the available formats
Protect downloaded sensitive records
Timeline
Export duration depends on data volume
Assisted requests require review
Legal holds may restrict deletion
Ask for written confirmation when it is done