Client Privacy Policy

Your Protection

At Bates Kos Simek & Skrivanek LLP, we believe our ability to offer sound recommendations and tax advice depends on our ability to know and understand the needs of each individual client. Your CPA plays a key role in developing that understanding. As a firm, Bates Kos Simek & Skrivanek LLP also uses technology to manage, maintain, and report timely and accurate information about your taxes. We understand that confidentiality is key in any financial relationship. We have always taken our responsibility to protect your privacy very seriously by keeping information secure and confidential. We are providing this notice in accordance with recent legislation, which requires that we make all clients aware of our processes for collecting, using, disclosing and protecting information. CPAs have been and continue to be bound by professional standards of confidentiality that are even more stringent than those required by the new law. Therefore, we have always protected your right to privacy.

Information Collection

To better understand your financial tax planning needs and to accurately handle your tax compliance requirements, we collect nonpublic personal information about you that is provided to us by you or obtained by us with your authorization. This information could include, but is not limited to, your name, address, Social Security number and details about your income and expenses.

Information Disclosure

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our current or former clients to anyone, except as required or permitted by law. Permitted disclosures include, for instance, providing information to our employees, and in limited situations, to unrelated third parties who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. In all such situations, we stress the confidential nature of information being shared.

Ongoing Protection

We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in some cases, to comply with professional guidelines. In order to guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards. Clients will receive a current copy of our privacy notice on an annual basis. Former clients can rest assured that we will continue to treat and safeguard their information as described in this privacy notice. We hope this information is useful to you. We understand that confidentiality is key to a strong relationship between you and your CPA, and we are committed to protecting your privacy. Please call us at (281) 358-3178 if you have any questions, because your privacy, our professional ethics, and the ability to provide you with quality financial services are very important to us.

Revised: July 2005