Privacy policy

Last modified: December 6, 2025

Information

Effective Date: December 6, 2025 Last Updated: December 6, 2025

Welcome to Fern Taxes CPA. We are a Chartered Professional Accounting firm committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the personal information entrusted to us.

This Privacy Policy explains how Fern Taxes CPA (referred to as “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects the personal information of our clients, website visitors, and other individuals. As a Canadian organization engaged in commercial activities, we comply with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and any substantially similar provincial privacy legislation (such as in BC, Alberta, and Quebec).

By engaging our services or using our website, https://ferntaxes.com/, you consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy.

1. What is Personal Information?

Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual. In the context of a CPA firm, this often includes highly sensitive financial information.

Examples of Personal Information we collect may include, but are not limited to:

Identity Information: Full name, date of birth, Social Insurance Number (SIN), address, contact details (phone number, email address).
Financial and Tax Information: Employment details, income statements, investment records, bank account information, credit card information (for payment processing), tax history, and dependency information.
Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device information, and usage details when you visit our website (collected via cookies and analytics).

Business contact information (e.g., employee name, title, business address, and phone number used solely for business communications) is generally not considered “personal information” under PIPEDA.

2. The 10 PIPEDA Principles & Our Commitment

Our privacy practices are based on the ten Fair Information Principles outlined in PIPEDA:

Principle	Our Commitment at Fern Taxes CPA
Accountability	We have designated a Privacy Officer responsible for compliance with this policy and privacy laws. We are responsible for all personal information under our control.
Identifying Purposes	We identify the reasons for collecting personal information before or at the time of collection.
Consent	We require your explicit consent for the collection, use, or disclosure of your sensitive personal information, particularly for tax and financial services.
Limiting Collection	We only collect the personal information necessary for the purposes we have identified.
Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention	We use and disclose personal information only for the identified purposes or as required by law. We retain it only as long as necessary to fulfill those purposes (e.g., tax record retention periods).
Accuracy	We strive to keep your personal information accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.
Safeguards	We protect personal information with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
Openness	We make specific information about our policies and practices relating to the management of personal information available to you.
Individual Access	Upon written request, we will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal information and give you access to that information.
Challenging Compliance	You have the right to address a challenge concerning our compliance with the above principles to the designated Privacy Officer.

3. How We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

We primarily collect information directly from you when you engage us for tax or accounting services, fill out a contact form, or interact with our website.

A. Purposes for Collection & Use

We collect and use your personal information for the following legitimate purposes:

To Provide Professional Services: To prepare, file, and manage your tax returns, financial statements, or other agreed-upon accounting and advisory services.
Legal & Regulatory Compliance: To meet obligations required by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), professional CPA governing bodies, and other applicable laws.
Communication: To contact you regarding your file, invoicing, updates to our services, or to respond to your inquiries.
Billing & Administration: To process payments for services rendered.
Website Improvement (Technical Data): To analyze website usage, improve user experience, and secure our online systems.

B. Consent

Due to the highly sensitive nature of tax and financial data, we rely on express consent, which may be obtained through written agreements, engagement letters, or clearly defined electronic forms, prior to collecting or using your data for primary purposes. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. Note that withdrawing consent may prevent us from providing certain services.

4. Disclosure of Personal Information

We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We only disclose your information in the following limited circumstances:

With Your Consent: Where you have provided consent, express or implied.
To Government & Regulators: To the CRA or other governmental and regulatory authorities as required by law (e.g., to file tax returns).
To Third-Party Service Providers (Processors): We may share information with trusted third parties who perform services on our behalf, such as:
- Secure tax preparation software (e.g., TaxCycle, Cantax).
- Secure cloud storage and data backup providers (e.g., Canadian-based servers).
- Payment processors.
- Website analytics providers (e.g., Google Analytics).
- These third parties are contractually bound to maintain confidentiality and use your information only for the purposes for which it was provided.
As Required by Law: To comply with a subpoena, warrant, or court order.

Note on Cross-Border Data Transfer: Some of our third-party service providers (such as cloud storage or website analytics) may store or process data outside of your province or outside of Canada. By using our services, you acknowledge and consent to this transfer, storage, or processing. We ensure that our contracts with these providers require a comparable level of protection.

5. Security Safeguards

We protect your personal information using physical, technological, and administrative safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Physical: Secured office access and locked filing cabinets.
Technological: Encrypted communications, secure password access, firewalls, up-to-date anti-virus software, and secure client portals for document exchange.
Administrative: Employee training on privacy principles, confidentiality agreements, and strict internal access controls to limit data access to employees who require it for their duties.

In the event of a security breach involving personal information that poses a real risk of significant harm to you, we will report the breach to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and notify affected individuals as required by PIPEDA.

6. Access and Correction

You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you and to request that any inaccuracies be corrected.

All access requests must be made in writing to our Privacy Officer (see Section 8).
We will respond to your request within 30 days, unless an extension is permitted by law.
We may charge a minimal fee for providing access, which will be communicated in advance.

7. Website, Cookies, and Third-Party Links

Our website, https://ferntaxes.com/, uses cookies and standard web analytics tools (like Google Analytics) to collect non-identifiable information about visitors to improve the site.

Cookies: Cookies are small text files placed on your device. You can choose to disable cookies through your browser settings, but this may affect the functionality of our website.
Third-Party Links: Our website may contain links to third-party websites (e.g., the CRA website). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites.

8. Contacting Our Privacy Officer

We are accountable for our compliance with this policy. If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal information, please contact our designated Privacy Officer:

Privacy Officer Fern Taxes CPA Email: info@ferntaxes.com.