Confidentiality isn’t a promise here. It’s a statute.
Tax return information is protected by federal criminal law, professional ethics rules, and this firm’s own written governance, in that order of severity. We honor all three.
Four frameworks, one obligation.
IRC §7216: Federal Criminal Law
Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code makes it a federal crime for a tax return preparer to knowingly or recklessly disclose or use your return information for anything other than preparing your return. It is a misdemeanor punishable by fine and up to one year in prison. Its companion, §6713, adds civil penalties.
The §7216 Consent Rules
Under the Treasury regulations, any use or disclosure beyond preparing your return generally requires your consent, and a buried checkbox does not count. Consents must be knowing, voluntary, in writing, and specific: what information, who receives it, and for what purpose. They are signed before the use or disclosure, never after. That is the legal floor behind our consent-first policy.
AICPA Confidential Client Information Rule
The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (ET §1.700.001) bars a CPA in public practice from disclosing confidential client information without the client’s specific consent. Exceptions are narrow: a valid subpoena or summons, a professional practice review, or a board or ethics inquiry. Texas adds its own parallel rule, enforced by the State Board of Public Accountancy, so the license itself is on the line.
FTC Safeguards Rule
Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, professional tax preparers are treated as financial institutions. They must keep a written information security program: how client data is secured, who can access it, and how incidents are handled. Ours is written and maintained.
The law is the floor. This is the house.
Qualified Vendors Only
Client data moves only through technology vendors we have vetted and qualified in writing, with documented security terms and re-qualification triggers when anything changes. Never consumer-grade cloud apps. Never public AI tools.
Consent First, in Plain Language
Where the law requires your written consent before technology touches your return information, we obtain it before the work begins. It is written so you can understand what you’re agreeing to, and you are free to decline.
Hardened Infrastructure
Our office sits inside The Westland Bunker, a secured campus in Montgomery with gated, staffed entry. Six diesel generators back up the power, and redundant internet keeps us connected. All web traffic in and out of the office runs through a dedicated inline filter, a machine that does nothing else. Client files move through the encrypted portal, never loose email, behind Smart Lockout, multi-factor authentication, and knowledge-based authentication. They are stored with qualified vendors under written security terms, in business-grade cloud services and on firm systems.
Licensed Eyes Only
No offshore processing pools, no unlicensed preparers, no interns on returns, no AI output delivered without professional review, and no client used as a marketing prop. That last one has its own page: our client list, fully redacted, on purpose. The work is performed by this firm’s own people, working in Texas, never by a subcontracted preparation pool. Qualified vendors provide the software and the hosting. The judgment stays here.
What clients ask about confidentiality.
What is IRC §7216, in plain English?
It’s the federal law that makes your tax return information legally different from ordinary business data. A preparer who knowingly or recklessly uses or discloses it for anything beyond preparing your return commits a federal crime, with civil penalties on top under §6713. In practice, we cannot sell your information or use it to market unrelated products. We cannot hand it to a third party without your specific, written, advance consent or a legal exception. The law has teeth, and they point at us. That is how client protection should work.
Can anyone force the firm to hand over my information?
Only through narrow legal channels. Those are disclosures to the IRS in connection with your return, a valid court order or subpoena, and a few similar exceptions in the statute and the AICPA rule, such as a professional practice review or a licensing board inquiry. Outside those, the answer to any request for your information is no, whoever is asking. Where the law permits, we inform clients when compelled process arrives. We never volunteer information because someone asked persuasively.
What consents might I be asked to sign, and can I say no?
You may see a consent where technology-assisted workflows involve a use or disclosure the regulations say requires one. Each names exactly what information is covered, who receives it, and for what purpose, and it is signed before anything happens. And yes, you can decline: consent must be voluntary to be valid at all. Declining may change which workflows we use on your engagement. It never changes whether we serve you, or the confidentiality every framework on this page requires.