Legal

Privacy policy.

The Tax Shelter · 630 Hawthorne Ave, Athens, GA 30606 · Effective July 31, 2026

Who we are

The Tax Shelter is a tax preparation and accounting firm in Athens, Georgia. We have served individuals and businesses since 1971. Protecting the privacy of our clients' financial information has been part of that work from the beginning — this page explains, in plain language, how we handle information about you.

Our commitment on client information

As tax professionals, we collect nonpublic personal information about our clients — such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, income, and financial records — provided to us by you or obtained with your authorization in the course of preparing your returns and performing accounting services.

We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our clients or former clients to anyone, except as permitted or required by law, or with your consent. We do not sell client information. Period.

Your tax return information is additionally protected by federal law, including Internal Revenue Code §7216, which prohibits tax return preparers from using or disclosing return information for any purpose other than preparing your return, except with your written consent or as the law specifically allows.

We restrict access to your information to the members of our firm who need it to provide your services, and we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards designed to protect it.

What this website collects

This website is informational. It does not require an account and does not ask you to fill out forms.

Like nearly all websites, our hosting and network providers automatically record standard technical logs (such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested) for security and performance purposes.

We use Google Analytics to understand, in aggregate, how visitors use this site — how many people visit, which pages they view, and the general geographic area they visit from. Google Analytics sets cookies to do this. We use these statistics only to improve our website and services; we do not use them to identify you, and we do not sell or share them for marketing. You can read Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy, and you can opt out of Google Analytics at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Services you may choose to use

Some links on this site take you to services we use to serve clients. Each operates under its own privacy policy, which we encourage you to review:

  • Client portal — for uploading documents and signing securely.
  • Appointment scheduling — for booking time with your preparer.
  • Invoice payment — for paying your invoice online. Card details are handled by our payment processor; we never see or store your full card number.
  • Google Maps — directions to our office.

Information you provide to those services is governed by their policies and our engagement with you — the client-information commitments above apply to everything you entrust to us through them.

Email and phone

If you email or call us, we use your contact information to respond and to serve you. We do not add you to marketing lists without your consent.

Children

This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 through it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will post the updated version on this page with a new effective date.

Questions

If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, contact us:

The Tax Shelter
630 Hawthorne Ave, Athens, GA 30606
(706) 353-1711 · [email protected]