You have shared important personal information with us that enables us to provide professional services to you. As a client, the privacy of your personal information is of the utmost importance to every member of our firm. Our commitment to you is simple: Your information will be kept in the strictest of confidence and will only be used or shared in the manner which you have specifically consented. Effective January 1, 2004, all businesses must comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Personally identifiable information includes your name, address, gender, age, social insurance number, home telephone number, and other matters personal or financial in nature.

To assist you in understanding our commitment to these Privacy Policies, we are pleased to describe the ways that we protect your personal information.

  • Identifying Purpose. The purposes for which we collect personal information will be clearly identified prior to or at the time we collect that information, including:
    • what personal information we are gathering or obtaining from all sources including third parties;
    • why that personal information is necessary;
    • how we will handle and use it within our organization; and
    • when, how and why we make personal information available to third parties outside of our organization (for example: Washington Department of Revenue)
  • Consent. Except in special circumstances, your knowledge and consent are required before we collect, use or disclose any of your personal information. The special circumstances would include during a federal, provincial or foreign legal investigation, and when that personal information is used for that investigation, or if required by law. We accept any of the following methods as consent for our existing use and future collection, use and disclosure of your personal information for the identified purpose:
    • Your receipt of this Privacy Policy document, unless you advise us, either orally or written, that you do not agree with the terms set out in this Privacy Policy and that you wish to opt-out of all or portions of it;
    • Your express written or oral consent as obtained during the initial consultation whereby the personal information was gathered; or
    • Your consent as provided by your authorized representative (legal guardian or power of attorney). Should the purpose of the use or disclosure of the personal information be different than at the time it was collected, we will obtain additional written or oral consent from you prior to its use or disclosure. You may withdraw your consent at any time. Please note, however, that withdrawing your consent may affect our ability to effectively provide any existing or future professional services to you. In order to withdraw your consent, please contact our Privacy Compliance Partner, in writing. Unless a written notice of your withdrawal is received, we will continue to use the personal information as originally identified.
  • Limiting Collection. We will only collect the information necessary to provide professional services to you. Should you wish to provide us with any additional personal information, we will not use or disclose it without your implicit consent. We may gather personal information from the following sources:
    • From you, during a meeting to gather the necessary personal information to perform the professional service you require. For example, your name, address, date of birth, marital status and social insurance number will be used in the preparation of your personal income tax return;
    • From bankers, lawyers and other financial service representatives with whom you have a relationship and have given consent to them to provide personal information to us; or
    • From past interactions with us; for example, preparing federal corporate income tax returns for a corporation of which you are a shareholder.
  • Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention. We collect, use and disclose personal information in order for us to better understand your professional accounting needs, communicate effectively with you and provide you with the professional services and products you want. Specifically: – to authenticate your identity;
    • to prepare government filings (personal and corporate income tax returns);
    • to advise you on specific financial and taxation issues.

    We use your personal information to provide and market our services to you and to administer your account with us. If you advise us that you no longer wish to receive information about our services, we will not send any further material. Your personal information is retained only as long as required to provide the necessary professional services intended, and for a reasonable length of time thereafter in order to comply with any potential legal or governmental requirements. When destroying your personal information, we will shred all papers and delete all electronic records. We do not disclose your personal information to any third party to enable them to market their products or services. However, there are certain circumstances when we will disclose your personal information, for example:

    • if you request that we provide information to a third party on your behalf;
    • if we engage a third party to provide services to us;
    • where it is necessary to establish or collect payment;
    • if the information is already publicly available.
  • Accuracy. We are committed to ensuring that the personal information we have on file is as accurate and up-to-date as necessary for the identified purposes for which it is to be used. We will make every effort to update our records as needed, as well as advise all parties authorized to use the personal information.
  • Safeguards. We have strict security safeguards in place to protect personal information in our control, whether in electronic or paper-based format, against loss, theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. In situations where personal information is transferred to third parties, (for example, when e-filing your personal tax return), we contractually require any person or organization providing products or services on our behalf to protect our client’s confidentiality in a manner consistent with our Privacy Policies, or as required by law.

We appreciate you entrusting your personal and confidential information with us. We are available at any time to discuss our Privacy Policies with you.

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