To Our Tax 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. 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. California law specifically prohibits the disclosure or use of tax information without your advance written consent. California law now also mandates that individual income tax returns be electronically filed. In compliance with these laws, we hope that by taking a few moments to read this policy statement, you will have a better understanding of what we do with the information you provide us and how we keep it private and secure.

Types of Information We Collect

We collect certain personal information about you that is provided to us by you or is obtained by us from third parties with your authorization. We use that information to prepare your personal and business income tax returns and may also use it to provide various tax and other 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-mails from you
  • Tax return & other planning organizers
  • Tax questionnaires
  • Tax Document Support

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:

• To comply with a validly issued and enforceable subpoena or summons.
  • In the course of a review of our firms’ practices under the authorization of a state or national licensing board, or as necessary to properly respond to an inquiry from such a licensing board or organization.
  • As a part of any actual or threatened legal proceedings or alternative dispute resolution proceedings either initiated by or against us (although there have been none of these) provided we disclose only the information necessary to file, pursue, or defend against the lawsuit and take reasonable precautions to ensure that the information disclosed does not become a matter of public record.
  • To provide information to affiliates of the firm (there are currently none) and nonaffiliated third parties who 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.
  • California now mandates that all preparers file individual income tax returns electronically with the state of California. There are also additional mandates both in California and other states which require additional individual and business tax returns electronically. As a result, all income tax returns prepared by us will be filed electronically (and not mailed) to the Internal Revenue Service and any applicable states that accept e-filed returns. These electronically filed returns are processed through an e-file service provider.

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.

As a result of these requirements, if you ever have a need for us to disclose information to third parties such as banks, attorneys, etc., we require that you specifically request in writing that the disclosure be made.

Electronic Confidentiality Measures

These procedures include gateways, firewalls, passwords, and procedural controls to prevent unauthorized access to our computer systems. It is possible for us, with your authorization, to transmit tax returns and information to you in Adobe Acrobat formatted documents or via our secure online client portal, SmartVault. If you request and authorize non-secure methods of transmission and file exchange, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted over the Internet.

Thank you for allowing us to serve your tax and other planning needs.
Please call us at (714) 777-1500 if you have any questions or if we can be of further service.