Privacy Policy

Welcome to GRF CPAs & Advisors’ website. GRF CPAs & Advisors has created this statement so that you understand the specific ways in which we demonstrate our respect for your privacy.  We appreciate and value that you entrust us with your sensitive personal information, and the primary guide in our privacy policy is our professional and personal commitment to ensuring that you have confidence in our professionalism and dedication to client service.

The core of our commitment is that we do not share any of the personal information that you entrust to us with any third parties for their marketing purposes.  We treat your personal information with the utmost respect consistent with this privacy policy.

What Personal Information We Collect

We collect personal information about you for the purpose of offering or furnishing our products and services to you. The types of personal information we collect may include:

  • Contact information, such as name, mailing and e-mail address;
  • Information we receive from you on tax organizers, applications or other forms. This information may include your social security number, assets and income;
  • Bank details and financial history, including your transactions with us and our affiliated companies;
  • Information you may authorize us to obtain from others, such as consumer credit reports and medical information;
  • Information we receive from prospective client meetings;
  • Information from public sources (such as web directories and information);
  • Information provided to GRF for its own uses; and
  • Information on what data is downloaded from the GRF website.

Our website does not collect any personal information about you unless you specifically and knowingly provide such information.  Visitors to our website may choose to interact with our website in ways that require us to gather personally-identifying information. For example, visitors may choose to submit a Request for Proposal on our website. In each case, our firm collects such information insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with our website. Our firm does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. Visitors are never obligated to supply personally-identifying information, though the failure to disclose information may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Disclosure and Transfer of Personal Information

GRF CPAs & Advisors respects your privacy.  We disclose personal information only to those  employees and service providers who (i) need to know that information in order to provide requested client services, and (ii) have agreed not to disclose it to others. GRF CPAs & Advisors does not otherwise share any personal information with third parties who are not service providers unless otherwise required or authorized by applicable law.

If you have supplied your contact information to GRF CPAs & Advisors, our firm may occasionally send you electronic industry alerts, solicit your feedback, inform you of upcoming firm events or share current general news about our firm. Electronic communications include an easy unsubscribe option, providing you with the option to opt out of receiving correspondence of this nature in the future.

We may disclose information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, such as to respond to a subpoena or similar legal process, to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our website, to limit our legal liability, and to protect our rights or to protect the rights, property, or safety of visitors of this website or the public, and to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory authorities.

We may transfer or share a copy of personal information about you in the event that GRF CPAs & Advisors goes through a business transition, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets. You will be notified via email or prominent notice on our website prior to a change of ownership or control of your personal information, if your personal information will be used contrary to this policy.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to interfere with the ability of GRF CPAs & Advisors to transfer all or part of its business and/or assets to a independent third party at any time, for any purpose, without any limitation. GRF CPAs & Advisors specifically reserves the right to transfer or share a copy of personally identifiable information collected to the buyer of that portion of its business relating to that information.

Such transfers may involve the transfer of your information between jurisdictions and outside of the jurisdiction in which you submitted your information, including to jurisdictions that the European Union may not deem to provide “adequate” data protection. Please do not provide us any information that you do not wish to be transferred between these entities.

Data Retention

GRF CPAs & Advisors may retain your Personal information as long as necessary for the provision of the services, internal analytical purposes, or to comply with its legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce agreements (e.g. settlement). The criteria used to determine the retention periods include: (i) how long the personal data is needed to provide the services and operate the business; (ii) the type of personal data collected; and (iii) whether we are subject to a legal, contractual or similar obligation to retain the data (e.g., mandatory data retention laws, government orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation, or data that must be retained for the purposes of litigation or disputes).

Security

GRF CPAs & Advisors takes all appropriate measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction of personal information.

Children

In order to respect the privacy of minors, GRF CPAs & Advisors does not knowingly collect, maintain or process personal Information submitted online via our Internet Services by anyone under the age of 18.

California Privacy Rights

Under California Civil Code Section 1798.83, California customers are entitled to request information relating to whether a business has disclosed personal information to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. That notice will identify the categories of information shared and will include a list of the third parties and affiliates with which it was shared, along with their names and addresses. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing at the address information at the bottom of this policy.

EU Data Storage, Access, The Right to be Forgotten, and Dispute Resolution

GRF CPAs & Advisors stores personal data for different periods of time consistent with the purposes for which they were originally collected, as subsequently further authorized, or when required or allowed under applicable law.

Individuals in Europe have certain data subject rights which may be subject to limitations and/or restrictions. These rights may include the right to: (i) request access to and rectification or erasure of their personal data; (ii) obtain restriction of processing or to object to processing of their personal data; and (iii) the right to data portability. If you wish to exercise one of the above mentioned rights, please send us your request via email to the contact information at the end of this policy. Individuals in Europe may also have the right to lodge a complaint about the processing of their personal data with their local data protection authority.

In addition to the rights above, GRF CPAs & Advisors is committed to providing all individuals with access to their personal data. If you believe that we may be processing data about you and wish to have access to that information, we can provide you with that data or at least an explanation of why we cannot do so in the particular context, such as if responding to the request would be unreasonably expensive.  Please also let us know if you have any questions, concerns, disputes, or issues. We are always open to dialogue to resolve issues. If your concerns cannot be resolved, we can enter into appropriate third-party neutral dispute resolution. If you need to reach us about a privacy or data protection issue, please contact us at the information at the end of this policy.

Cookies

This website uses “cookies,” which may automatically collect certain information and data, including browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. “Cookies” are small pieces of data sent to your computer browser from our web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. The data identifies you as a unique user and facilitates your ongoing access to and use of this website. Cookies also help us diagnose problems with our server and the website. If you do not want us to use cookies when you use this website, you can adjust your internet browser settings not to accept cookies. Your web browser’s help function should tell you how to do this. However, without these identifier files you may not have access to many features that may make your browsing of our website smoother, and some of our services may not function properly. The firm’s purpose in collecting this information is to understand how visitors use our website and to help us improve the functionality of the website.

International Transfer

If you reside in Europe, personal information collected from you will be transferred to certain recipients located outside Europe, (including the United States where this office is hosted) which do not provide a similar or adequate level of protection to that provided by countries in Europe. In order to perform services related to U.S. tax and audit, personal information of persons to recipients as described in this Privacy Policy which are located outside of Europe. You may withdraw your consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, GRF CPAs & Advisors may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and at our firm’s sole discretion. Our firm encourages visitors to check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments about our Privacy Policy, or if you are located in Europe and wish to exercise your rights as described above, please feel free to contact GRF CPAs & Advisors at info@grfcpa.com or 4550 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 800 North, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, toll-free 877-437-4771.