Privacy policy

Carolina Tax Service respects the privacy of every client. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and how we protect it. It also serves as our financial-privacy notice.

Information we collect

To prepare your return or keep your books, we collect the information you provide and the documents you upload through your secure client portal, for example identification, income and deduction records, and prior returns. Our public website itself does not collect Social Security numbers, dates of birth, or tax documents.

How we use your information

We use your information only to provide the services you request, such as preparing and filing your returns, performing bookkeeping, and communicating with you about your work. We do not sell your information.

Disclosure of tax return information

Federal law (Internal Revenue Code §7216) prohibits us from using or disclosing the information you provide for tax preparation for any purpose other than preparing your return, unless you give us your written consent. We will not use or disclose your tax return information for any other purpose without first obtaining that consent.

Financial-privacy notice

Like all financial institutions, we collect nonpublic personal information about you from the information you provide and from your transactions with us. We restrict access to this information to those who need it to provide services to you, and we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect it. We do not disclose your nonpublic personal information to anyone except as permitted by law or with your consent.

Social Security numbers

We collect Social Security numbers only as needed to prepare and file your returns, only through secure, encrypted channels, and never as a website login. We protect their confidentiality and limit access to them, consistent with North Carolina law.

Document handling and security

Documents are exchanged through encrypted professional software. For details on how we protect your information, see our security page.

Website analytics and advertising

Our public website uses limited analytics and advertising tools to understand how visitors find and use the site and to measure our advertising. These include Vercel Analytics, which is privacy-focused and does not use cookies, and the Google tag for Google Ads, which may set cookies and share limited information, such as the pages you visit and how you reached the site, with Google to measure ad performance and show relevant ads. These tools never receive your tax documents, Social Security number, or client-portal information, because the website does not collect that data. You can limit or opt out of advertising cookies through your browser settings or your Google Ads Settings.

Some browsers can send a Do Not Track signal. There is no common standard for how a website should answer that signal, so this website does not respond to it. You can still limit advertising cookies through your browser settings or through your Google Ads settings.

Messages you send through this website

If you use the contact form, we receive the name, email address, telephone number, and message you enter, so that we can reply. That form is not a secure channel for sensitive information, and it will refuse anything that looks like a Social Security number. Please use your client portal for tax documents and personal details.

Marketing communications

We sometimes contact businesses that are not yet clients to introduce our bookkeeping and tax services. When we do, the contact information comes from public records, most often the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s public motor carrier registry, or from information a business has published itself.

Every message of this kind includes our business address and a link to unsubscribe. You can also opt out at any time at www.carolinataxservice.com/unsubscribe, or by replying to any message and asking us to stop. We honor those requests within ten business days, and we keep a record of the address only so that we do not contact it again.

We do not sell or rent contact information. We share it only with the service providers that store our records and send our email, and only so that they can do that work. Prospect contact information is never combined with client tax records.

This section applies only to marketing email. Communications with existing clients about their returns, bookkeeping, or account are governed by the confidentiality terms above and by Internal Revenue Code §7216.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact us at (704) 888-1234 or samhatley@carolinataxservice.com, or write to Carolina Tax Service, 217 West Main Street, Suite A, Locust, NC 28097.

This policy is effective as of 20 August 2026. When we revise it, we will post the new date here. It is provided for general information and is not legal advice.