To Our Individual Clients:
Your privacy is important to us, and maintaining
your trust and confidence is one of our highest priorities.
We respect your right to keep your personal information
confidential and understand your desire to avoid unwanted
solicitations. A recent law change requires us (along with
banks, brokerage houses, and other financial institutions)
to disclose our Privacy Policy to you-- which we are more
than happy to do. We hope that by taking a few moments to
read it, you will have a better understanding of what we
do with the information you provide us and how we keep it
private and secure.
A. Types of Information We Collect
We collect certain personal information
about you-but only when that information is provided by
you or is obtained by us with your authorization. We use
that information to prepare your personal income tax returns
and may also provide various tax and financial planning
services to you at your request.
Examples of sources from which we collect
information include:
- interviews and phone calls with you,
- letters or e-mail's from you,
- tax return organizers, and
- financial history questionnaires.
B. Parties to Whom We Disclose Information
As a general rule, we do not disclose
personal information about our clients or former clients
to anyone. However, to the extent permitted by law and any
applicable state Code of Professional Conduct, certain nonpublic
information about you may be disclosed in the following
situations:
1. To comply with validly issued and enforceable
subpoena or summons.
2. In the course of a review of our firm's
practices under the authorization of a state or national
licensing board or organization.
3. In conjunction with a prospective purchase,
sale or merger of all or part of our practice, provided
that we take appropriate precautions (for example, through
a written confidentiality agreement) so the proactive purchaser
or merger partner does not disclose information obtained
in the course of the review.
4. As a part of any actual or threatened
legal proceedings or alternative dispute resolution proceedings
either initiated by or against us, provided we disclose
only the information necessary to file, purse, or defend
against the lawsuit and take reasonable precautions to ensure
that the information disclosed does not become a matter
of public record.
5. To provide information to affiliates
of the firm and nonaffiliated third parties we perform services
or functions for us in conjunction with our services to
you, but only if we have a contractual agreement with the
other party which prohibits them from disclosing or using
the information other than for the purposes for which it
was disclosed. (Examples of such disclosures include using
an outside service bureau to process tax returns or engaging
a records-retention agency to store prior year records.)
C. Confidentiality and Security of
Nonpublic Personal Information
Except as otherwise described in this notice,
we restrict access to nonpublic personal information about
you to employees of our firm and other parties who must
use that information to provide services to you. Their right
to further disclose and use the information is limited by
the policies of our firm, applicable law, our Code of Professional
Conduct, and nondisclosure agreements where appropriate.
We also maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards
in compliance with applicable laws and regulations to guard
your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration,
or premature destruction.
Thank you for allowing us to serve your
accounting, tax and financial planning needs. We value your
business and are committed to protecting your privacy. We
hope you view our firm as your most trusted adviser and
we will work to continue earning your trust. Please call
us if you have any questions or if we can be of further
service.