What I do with your information

This policy applies to Ryan Hogan CPA PLLC, a Texas professional limited liability company, and to this website at ryanhogancpa.com. Ryan Hogan is the sole practitioner and the person accountable for everything described here. Questions go to ryan@ryanhogancpa.com.

There are only three ways this site collects anything.

Forms. The contact form on the home page and the new client intake form collect what you type: your name, email address, an optional phone number, which service you're asking about, whether you're filing as an individual or a business, how you found the practice, and any notes you add. Both forms ask you not to include Social Security numbers or account numbers, and you shouldn't.

Analytics. Google Analytics records page views, roughly where in the world you are, what browser you're using, and which site referred you. It sets a cookie with a random identifier so returning visits aren't double-counted. I use it to see which pages are worth keeping. It does not tell me who you are.

Server logs. The host records standard request logs, including IP addresses, as part of serving and protecting the site.

The Texas Business Tax Calculator collects nothing at all. It runs entirely in your browser. The revenue and profit figures you enter are never transmitted anywhere, never stored, and never reach me. You can confirm that by opening your browser's network tab while you use it.

Three companies process data on my behalf. I've listed exactly what each one gets, because "we may share information with trusted partners" tells you nothing.

I do not sell your personal information, and I never have. I don't share it with advertisers, data brokers, lead generators, or lenders. There is no affiliate arrangement behind any recommendation on this site.

Federal law treats information you give a tax return preparer differently from ordinary business data. Under Internal Revenue Code §7216 and the regulations under it, I may not disclose or use your tax return information for any purpose other than preparing your return without your prior written, signed consent. Violating that is a criminal offence, not a policy breach.

In practice that means:

• I will not disclose your tax return information to anyone outside the engagement without a signed consent that complies with Revenue Procedure 2013-14.
• I will not use your tax return information to market other services to you, including the technology consulting side of this practice, without a separate signed consent.
• Any such consent is a standalone document you sign before the use or disclosure happens. It is never bundled into an engagement letter, and it is never a checkbox on this website. You are not required to sign one, and declining does not affect the tax work I do for you.

If you believe your tax return information has been disclosed or used improperly in a manner unauthorised by law or without your permission, you may contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) by telephone at 1-800-366-4484, or by email at complaints@tigta.treas.gov.

The Federal Trade Commission treats tax preparers as financial institutions under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Two obligations follow, and both are ongoing rather than one-time.

Privacy notice. Clients receive a GLBA privacy notice at the start of the relationship describing what non-public personal information is collected and how it's handled. This web page is a general disclosure and does not replace that notice.

Safeguards. The Safeguards Rule requires a written information security plan covering administrative, technical, and physical controls. The practice maintains one. Its specifics aren't published, for the same reason you don't publish your alarm code, but the technical controls that are externally verifiable are described on the data security page.

This site sets cookies for one purpose: Google Analytics. There is no advertising pixel, no remarketing tag, no social tracker, and no session recording or heatmap tool.

You can block analytics cookies in your browser settings, or with Google's opt-out add-on, and the site will work exactly as it does now. Most browsers also send a Global Privacy Control signal if you turn it on.

Client records. Tax returns and the records supporting them are retained for a minimum of three years from the filing date, in line with IRS recordkeeping expectations, and in most cases seven, because amended returns and notices can reach back further.

Enquiries that don't become engagements. If you contact me and we never work together, I keep the message long enough to be useful if you come back, and no longer. Ask me to delete it and I will.

Analytics. Google Analytics data expires on the retention window set in that product, currently 14 months.

Regardless of what any state statute does or doesn't require of a firm this size, you can ask me to tell you what information I hold about you, correct it if it's wrong, delete anything I'm not legally required to retain, or send you a copy. Email ryan@ryanhogancpa.com and I'll answer within one business day.

The limit is retention law: I can't delete records the IRS or the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy requires me to keep, and I'll tell you plainly when that's the reason.

If this policy changes materially, the effective date at the top changes with it and the revision is described here. This version is effective 16 August 2026.