Terms of Use

These Terms of Use apply to your use of our website Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD) Learning Portal (PLP), managed by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (TCPA), located at ptad-lms.cpa.texas.gov (collectively the “Site”). PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY.

1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS

By accessing and using the PLP Site (by creating or using a Username and the associated Password to access this Site), you accept these terms and agree to be subject to the terms and conditions described in this document. If you do not agree to these terms of use, please exit this site immediately. The TCPA reserves the right to update the Terms of Use at any time without prior notice to you. We will alert you of any changes solely by updating the “Last Updated” date of these Terms of Use. Any changes or modifications will be effective immediately upon posting of the updated Terms of Use on the Site, and you will be bound by the updated terms if you access or use the Site thereafter. In addition, when using any particular system on the PLP Site, you will be subject to any additional posted guidelines or rules applicable to such service, which may be revised from time to time. All such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.

2. YOUR ACCOUNT

The use of the functionality of this site requires that you use a unique Username and Password to create an individualized account designation. Upon completion of the account registration process, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your personal information including the Username and Password, and for restricting access to your computer. You agree to accept full responsibility for any and all activities that occur under your Username and Password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a Username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such Username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. You agree to:

  1. immediately notify the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and
  2. ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session.

The TCPA and its employees, agents, and contractors cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section. TCPA reserves the right to terminate access to the Site at its sole discretion and without prior notice.

3. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

When using this Site, you agree to:

  1. provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by various forms;
  2. maintain and promptly update your information as needed to keep it true, accurate, current, and complete;
  3. receive electronic communications, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications we provide to you electronically, via email and on the Site, satisfy any legal requirement that such communication be in writing; and
  4. comply with all applicable federal and state laws, rules and regulations. If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, or TCPA or its employees, agents, and contractors have reasonable grounds to suspect that such information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, TCPA or its employees, agents, and contractors have the right to suspend and refuse any and all of your current or future use of the Site. You, not TCPA or its employees, agents, and contractors, are solely responsible for all content (i.e., information, data text, or other) you upload, post, email or otherwise transmit.

4. CONTENT

All text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively, "Content"), contained on the Site, including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, "look and feel", and arrangement of such Content, is owned, controlled by us, or licensed to us, and is protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and international conventions.

The Content is provided on the Site “AS IS” for your information and personal use only. Except as expressly stated in these Terms of Use, no part of the Site and no Content may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.

Provided that you are eligible to use the Site, you are granted a limited license to access and use the Site and to download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access solely for your personal, non-commercial use. 

We expressly reserve all proprietary rights to the Site and the Content not expressly granted to you in these Terms of Use.

5. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES

You may not access or use the Site for any purpose other than that for which we make the Site available. The Site may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us.

In connection with your use of the Site, you may not:

  1. systematically retrieve data or other content from the Site to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database, or directory without written permission from us.
  2. make any unauthorized use of the Site, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.
  3. use the Site to advertise or offer to sell goods and services.
  4. circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Site, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on the use of the Site and/or the Content contained therein.
  5. engage in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Site.
  6. trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as user passwords.
  7. make improper use of our support services or submit false reports of abuse or misconduct.
  8. engage in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.
  9. interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on the Site or the networks or services connected to the Site.
  10. attempt to impersonate another user or person or use the Username of another user.
  11. sell or otherwise transfer your profile.
  12. use any information obtained from the Site in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.
  13. use the Site as part of any effort to compete with us or otherwise use the Site and/or the Content for any revenue-generating endeavor or commercial enterprise.
  14. decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the Site.
  15. attempt to bypass any measures of the Site designed to prevent or restrict access to the Site or any portion of the Site.
  16. harass, annoy, intimidate, or threaten any of our employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Site to you.
  17. delete the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any Content.
  18. copy or adapt the Site’s software, including but not limited to Flash, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, or other code.
  19. upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or transmit) viruses, Trojan horses, or other material, including excessive use of capital letters and spamming (continuous posting of repetitive text), that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Site or modifies, impairs, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use, features, functions, operation, or maintenance of the Site.
  20. upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or transmit) any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism, including without limitation, clear graphics interchange formats (“gifs”), 1×1 pixels, web bugs, cookies, or other similar devices (sometimes referred to as “spyware” or “passive collection mechanisms” or “pcms”).
  21. except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, use, launch, develop, or distribute any automated system, including without limitation, any spider, robot, cheat utility, scraper, or offline reader that accesses the Site, or using or launching any unauthorized script or other software.
  22. use the Site for any illegal or unauthorized purpose or otherwise in a manner inconsistent with any applicable laws or regulations.

6. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

Certain authorized users may be allowed limited access to information considered confidential under Texas Government Code, Chapter 552. By accessing and using the PLP site, you agree to maintain the confidentiality of any confidential information you may receive in the same manner that you protect the confidentiality of your own materials of like kind, but in no event less than reasonable care, and always in accordance with state and federal law. You shall take reasonable precautions to protect the confidential information including, but not limited to, not disclosing confidential information in any manner to any person, firm, or entity, except for your authorized employees, agents, or contractors.

7. PRIVACY

Our Privacy and Security Policy informs you about the types of information we gather online when you visit TCPA’s COMPTROLLER.TEXAS.GOV site or any of our associated websites (including PLP), how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and your choices regarding our use of, and your ability to correct, that information. For more information, please see our full Privacy and Security Policy statement. The Public Information Act, Chapter 552, Texas Government Code, will govern release of information on the registration form or any other information submitted through PLP in response to a public information request. For more information, please see Public Information Act statement.

8. ACCESSIBILITY

Our Accessibility Statement informs you about our efforts for inclusion and universal access to all of our services and programs. For more information, please see our Accessibility Policy.

9. INDEMNITY

You agree to indemnify and hold the State of Texas, TCPA, and its employees, agents, LICENSORS AND/or contractors harmless from any from and against any loss, damage, liability, claim, or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses, made by any third party due to or arising out of: (1) your Contributions; (2) use of the Site; (3) breach of these Terms of Use; (4) any breach of your representations and warranties set forth in these Terms of Use; (5) your violation of the rights of a third party, including but not limited to intellectual property rights; or (6) any overt harmful act toward any other user  aof the Site with whom you connected via the Site. yOU SHALL COORDINATE DEFENSE WITH THE OFFICE OF THE Texas ATTORNEY GENERAL WHEN TEXAS STATE AGENCIES ARE NAMED DEFENDANTS IN ANY LAWSUIT AND yOU MAY NOT AGREE TO ANY SETTLEMENT WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING THE CONCURRENCE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE texas ATTORNEY GENERAL.

10. DISCLAIMERS

The TCPA will make every reasonable effort to provide reliable service through PLP and, in a timely manner, to resolve disputes that may arise. PLP has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information that you may provide. However, you and your agents use this site and the service it provides at your own risk. TCPA and its employees, agents, and contractors make no warranties or representations as to the accuracy of content on the site. TCPA and its employees, agents, and contractors assume no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content or operation of the Site. You understand and agree that TCPA and its employees, agents, and contractors assume no responsibility for the timeliness, deletion, mis-delivery or failure to store any communications or personal settings. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO NEGLIGENCE, SHALL TCPA, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES, ITS AGENTS, CONTRACTORS AND LICENSORS, AND ANY OTHER PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DELIVERING THE SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE EVEN IF TCPA OR A TCPA AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE SITE IS PROVIDED TO YOU AS IS AND AS AVAILABLE WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. TCPA and its employees, agents, and contractors also assume no responsibility, and shall not be liable for, any damages to, or viruses that may infect your computer equipment or other property on account of your access to, use of, or browsing in the Site or your downloading of any materials, data, text, images, video or audio from the Site.

9. DISPUTES/APPLICABLE LAW

The Terms and the relationship between you and the TCPA are governed by the laws of the State of Texas without regard to its conflict of law provisions. You agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the County of Travis, Texas.

10. VIOLATIONS

Report violations of the Terms to Criminal Investigation Division: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Criminal Investigations Division P. O. Box 13232 Austin, TX 78774

11. THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT, MODIFICATION, AND SEVERABILITY

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and the TCPA and govern your use of Password-secured access, superseding any prior agreements between you and the TCPA; PROVIDED HOWEVER, TCPA reserves the right to make changes to our site, policies, and these Terms at any time. You may be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use other site based or web linked services, affiliate services, third party content or third party software. The failure of the TCPA to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Terms remain in full force and effect. The section titles in the Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

Last updated August 28, 2023