Privacy Policy

The short version

The iPhone and Android apps contain no accounts, ad networks or analytics trackers, and the checklists, deadline profile and calculator figures you enter stay on your own phone or computer. The website is different in two ways, both described below: it measures visits with Google Analytics, and consultation booking and client login are handled by a separate service. Beyond that, the only information that reaches us is what you deliberately send us: a call, an email, a form you submit, or documents you hand to us as a client.

Which app you have

There are two BKS Tax apps. They are built differently, so a few of the details below depend on which one you are using.

• Android, from Google Play. Built natively, the same way as the iPhone app, which is why the calculators, guides and deadline reminders work with no signal: they run on the phone rather than being fetched from us. It can ask for two things: use of your camera, so you can photograph a document to send us, and permission to show reminder notifications. Both are optional and both are explained below. The app works if you decline them. It never asks for your photo library. To attach a photo you already have, it uses Android's own photo picker, which hands the app only the pictures you choose.
• iPhone, from the App Store. This one is built natively, which is why the calculators, guides and deadline reminders work with no signal: they run on the phone rather than being fetched from us. It can ask for two things: access to your photo library, and permission to show reminder notifications. Both are optional and both are explained below. The app works if you decline them.

Information stored on your device

The app hub at bkstax.com/app.html saves the following in your browser or app storage, on your device only:

• Which profile you selected (individual, business, or owner-operator)
• Which deduction and document checklist items you have checked off
• The income figure and set-aside percentage you typed into the estimator
• The section of the app you last had open

The iPhone and Android apps save one thing: your reminder settings. That means whether reminders are switched on, which set of deadlines you asked for (individual, business, or owner-operator), and how many days ahead you want warning. What you type into the calculators is not saved at all, on the phone or anywhere else; leave the screen and the figures are gone.

None of it is transmitted to BKS Accounting Group or to anyone else. It is not backed up to our servers, and we cannot see it. Clearing the app's storage, clearing your browser data for this site, or uninstalling the app deletes it permanently.

Information you send us

The contact form and the "Email my list to BKS" buttons open your own email app with a message drafted for you. Nothing is sent until you press send in your email app. When you do send it, or when you call or email us directly, we receive what you chose to include, and we keep it as part of our normal business correspondence.

"Send documents" in the iPhone and Android apps works the same way. It opens a draft in your own mail app, addressed to us, with the photos or files you picked attached, and nothing leaves your phone until you press send. We do not operate an upload service, so there is no other route by which a document could reach us from the app.

If you become a client, the tax and financial documents you provide are handled under the confidentiality obligations that apply to tax preparation practice. We do not sell, rent, or trade client information, and we do not share it except as needed to prepare and file your returns, or where the law requires it.

What we do not collect

• No advertising identifiers and no ad networks
• No ad pixels and no session recording. Neither app contains any analytics or third-party tracking. The website's only third-party measurement is Google Analytics, described above.
• No location tracking. The "Directions" button hands the office address to your maps app; it does not read your location.
• No access to your contacts, your microphone or your location, on either app. The Android app can ask you for two permissions, camera and notifications, both explained here. Like nearly every Android app it also carries a handful of standard permissions that Android grants automatically and never asks you about, such as network access, vibration, and restarting your scheduled reminders after the phone reboots. The app makes no network requests of its own and sends nothing about you anywhere; the network permission is carried by the app framework it is built on and is not used to transmit your information. Buttons that open a web page hand you to your browser, which is separate from the app.
• No photos or files taken from your device. The iPhone app can ask for your photo library, and only so that you can pick a document to attach to an email you send us yourself. It asks at the moment you tap "Send documents", never in the background, and declining leaves the rest of the app working normally. The Android app never asks for your photo library at all; it uses Android's own photo picker, and only the pictures you select are shared with it. Its camera permission is asked when you tap "Take a photo", and the picture goes into a draft email you send yourself. Nothing either app can see is read, copied or sent anywhere by us.
• No notifications sent by us. In both apps the deadline reminders are scheduled by the phone itself (iOS or Android) from dates stored in the app, so there is no device token, we cannot send you a message, and we have no way of knowing whether you turned reminders on.
• No sign-up, no password and no profile held on our servers by either app. Booking and client login on the website are a separate service, described above.

Website analytics (Google Analytics)

The website at www.bkstax.com uses Google Analytics 4, a measurement service run by Google, to count visits and see which pages and tools are used. When you load a page, Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser and receives details such as the pages you viewed, your approximate location derived from your IP address, and your browser and device type. We also record two actions: clicking a "Book a Consultation" link, and using one of the tax calculators. For a calculator we record only that it was used and which one, never the figures you typed.

The iPhone and Android apps do not contain Google Analytics. If you tap a button in an app that opens a page of this website in a browser, that page is the website and the analytics above apply to it. We use Google Analytics for measurement only, not for advertising, and we do not use it to identify you. You can decline it by turning off cookies for this site, using your browser's tracking protection, or installing Google's Analytics opt-out add-on. Google's handling of the data is described in Google's privacy policy.

Booking a consultation and client login

The "Book a Consultation" and "Client Login" buttons on the website take you to a separate service at suite.bkstax.com. That service is not part of either app and is not covered by the statements above about what the apps store. It is where you enter the details a booking needs, including your contact details and, where a fee applies, payment, and where a client account signs in. We use what you give it to run your booking and your engagement with us.

Server logs

Our web host keeps standard server logs for security and reliability, which can include IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time of the request. These are used to keep the site running and to investigate abuse. They are not used to build a profile of you or combined with any other data.

Links out of the app

Buttons that place a call, open your email app, or open maps hand you off to apps that have their own privacy policies. The same is true of buttons that open a web page, including our Form 2290 filing service and our permit service, which run on their own sites under their own terms. Distribution of the Android app through Google Play, and of the iPhone app through the App Store, is also governed by Google's and Apple's own policies for installs, updates and crash reporting.

Children

This site and these apps are for adults handling their own or their business's taxes. They are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them.

Your choices

To delete information stored on your device, clear the app's storage or uninstall it. To ask what correspondence we hold about you, or to ask us to delete it where we are not required to keep it, email TEAM@BKSTAX.COM or call 732-634-9800. Tax records we are legally required to retain are an exception we will explain if it applies.

Changes

If this policy changes, the updated date at the top of this page changes with it. Material changes will be noted on this page.

Contact

BKS Accounting Group
225-227 Avenel St, Avenel, NJ 07001
732-634-9800 · 866-PICK-BKS
TEAM@BKSTAX.COM

This page explains how we handle information. It is not tax advice, and nothing here changes the professional standards we follow when preparing your return.