Legal
Privacy policy
Plain English, because a privacy policy nobody can read protects nobody. This covers what I collect, why, who sees it and what I will not do with it.
Who this is about
Suncoast Bookkeeping Services, LLC is a bookkeeping business in Tampa Bay, FL, serving clients across Florida. This policy covers this website and the bookkeeping work itself, because in practice they are the same relationship.
What I collect
What you send me to get in touch
Your name, business name, phone number and anything you choose to tell me about your books when you call, text or write to me.
Your financial records, once you are a client or have asked for a file review
QuickBooks company files or read-only access to them, bank and credit card activity, invoices, bills, payroll figures, and the details of subcontractors you pay on a 1099. This is the sensitive part and it is treated that way.
Ordinary website information
The hosting provider records standard request information such as the pages requested and the general location of the request. It is used to keep the site working and to understand which pages are read. It is not used to identify you personally.
What I use it for
Doing the work, and answering you
Reviewing your file, keeping your books, preparing reports, filing what you have engaged me to file, and getting back to you when you make contact. That is the whole list.
Not marketing lists
I do not sell your information, I do not rent it, and I do not add you to a mailing list because you called to ask a question.
Who else sees it
The software the work runs in
Bookkeeping happens inside QuickBooks Online, which is Intuit’s product and subject to Intuit’s own terms and security. If your books use payroll, payment or document software alongside it, your records pass through that software too. I will tell you which products are in use for your file if you ask.
Your CPA, and anyone else you direct me to
I hand your year-end package to your CPA, your lender or your bonding agent when you ask me to. I do not send your records to anyone you have not told me to send them to.
Where the law requires it
If a lawful order, subpoena or regulatory requirement compels disclosure, I comply. Where I am permitted to tell you that it has happened, I will.
How it is handled and how long it is kept
Access, not copies, wherever that is possible
Wherever the work can be done through read-only or accountant access to your own file, it is, because that leaves the records in your hands rather than duplicated into mine. Where a copy is genuinely needed, it is kept on access-controlled devices and accounts.
Kept for as long as the engagement and the record-keeping rules require
Bookkeeping records have to survive long enough to support the tax years they belong to, so they are not deleted the day an engagement ends. When they are no longer needed for that purpose or required by law, they are destroyed. If you want your records returned or deleted within what the rules allow, call and ask.
No system is perfect, and this one is not claimed to be
Reasonable and appropriate safeguards are used. Nobody honest promises that data cannot be breached. If a breach affects your records, you will be told promptly and directly.
Your choices
Ask what I hold
Call and ask what records I have for you and where they are. You do not need a reason and there is no charge for asking.
Correct it
If anything I hold about you is wrong, tell me and it gets fixed.
Stop hearing from me
Say so once, by any route, and the contact stops.
Children
This is a service for businesses
The site is not directed at children and I do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13.
Cookies and website analytics
This site uses Google Analytics, and it sets cookies
They record how the site is used: which pages get read, how someone arrived, roughly where in the world they are, and what kind of device they are on. It is aggregate traffic measurement, not a profile of you, and it is not connected to any bookkeeping records.
Nothing you type into this website is sent to Google
Analytics measures pages, not people. If you call, text or email me, that conversation is between us. Client financial records are never part of website analytics and never will be.
A second, cookieless measure runs alongside it
The site also uses Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies and without identifying anyone.
You can turn it off
Block cookies in your browser settings, or use Google’s own opt-out browser add-on. Nothing on this site stops working if you do, and I would rather you browse how you want to than be counted.
Changes, and how to reach me
If this policy changes, the new version goes on this page
Material changes that affect existing clients get told to those clients directly rather than left to be noticed here.
Questions about any of it
Call 727-729-2185. You will get me, and a straight answer.