Who we are
Saveward Tax (“Saveward Tax,” “we,” “us”) provides tax resolution, tax planning, tax preparation, business formation and financial planning services. Our principal, Samira Mahzad, is an IRS Enrolled Agent.
This policy covers information we collect through this website (savewardtax.com), by phone, email and video, through our scheduling, client portal and billing tools, and while we provide services to you.
Because we prepare tax returns and give tax and financial advice, we are treated as a “financial institution” under the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. That means we follow the Federal Trade Commission’s Privacy Rule and Safeguards Rule, along with the Internal Revenue Code’s rules on tax return information and the privacy and data security laws of the states where our clients live.
Information we collect
Information you give us
- Contact details: name, phone number, email address and mailing address.
- Booking details: your time zone and the answers you give when you schedule a review, such as the type of tax issue or the notice you received.
- Tax and financial information (clients only): Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers, dates of birth, income, expenses, assets, bank and account information, prior returns, IRS and state notices, and information about your spouse, dependents or business.
- Identity documents when needed to verify who you are, such as a driver’s license.
- Signed forms such as engagement letters, IRS Form 2848 (power of attorney) and Form 8821 (tax information authorization).
- Payment information, which is processed by our payment provider. We don’t store full card numbers.
Information we get from others, with your authorization
- IRS account and wage-and-income transcripts, and records from state tax agencies.
- Information from your employer, bank, lender, broker or other advisor when you ask us to obtain it.
- The name of the person who referred you to us, if anyone did.
Information collected automatically
When you visit this website, our hosting provider automatically receives standard technical information, such as your IP address, browser type, device type and the pages you request. This is used to deliver the site and protect it from attacks. See This website, cookies & tools.
How we use your information
- To respond to your questions and schedule your free review.
- To provide the services you engage us for: resolving IRS and state tax matters, preparing returns, tax planning, business setup and financial planning.
- To represent you before the IRS and state tax agencies when you authorize us to.
- To verify your identity and prevent fraud and identity theft.
- To send invoices, collect payment and keep business records.
- To meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations, including IRS rules for tax professionals.
- To send you service reminders and, if you agree, occasional tax tips. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Your tax return information
Federal law (Internal Revenue Code section 7216 and its regulations) strictly limits how tax preparers can use and disclose information you give us to prepare your return.
Our commitment: we use your tax return information only to prepare your returns and provide the services you ask for. We will not use it for any other purpose, or disclose it to anyone else, without your signed written consent, except where the law specifically allows or requires it, such as filing your return with the IRS or responding to a valid court order.
If we ever ask for your consent, the form will explain exactly what will be used or disclosed, to whom and for how long. Giving consent is always optional and never a condition of our services. You can revoke a consent at any time by contacting us in writing.
This website, cookies & tools
- Free tools stay on your device. The IRS letter decoder and the S-corporation savings estimator run entirely in your browser. What you type or select is not sent to us or stored.
- No advertising or tracking cookies. We don’t use advertising networks, retargeting, tracking pixels or third-party analytics on this site. Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, may set a strictly necessary security cookie to block bots and attacks.
- Fonts. The site loads its typefaces from Google Fonts, so Google receives your IP address and browser information when the page loads, under Google’s own privacy policy.
- Booking form. When you click “Book a free review,” we ask for your first and last name, phone number, email address and time zone so we can contact you and schedule the call at a convenient time. This website doesn’t store those details. They are passed to our scheduling provider, Calendly, when you choose a time (or placed into an email to us that you choose to send), and Calendly handles them under its own privacy policy and shares them with us.
- Do Not Track. Because we don’t track you across other websites, our site works the same whether or not your browser sends a “Do Not Track” signal or Global Privacy Control signal.
- Links to other websites, such as IRS.gov or a state tax agency, are governed by those sites’ own privacy policies.
Please don’t send sensitive information through email, text or social media. Social Security numbers, tax returns, bank statements and IRS notices should be shared only through our secure client portal, which we’ll set up for you once you become a client.
How we protect your information
As the FTC Safeguards Rule requires, we maintain a written information security program. It follows the IRS’s security guidance for tax professionals (Publication 4557) and includes:
- Encryption of client data when it is stored and when it is sent.
- Multi-factor authentication on systems that hold client information.
- Access limited to people who need it to serve you.
- A secure, encrypted client portal for exchanging documents.
- Up-to-date security software, secure backups and regular risk assessments.
- Careful selection and oversight of service providers.
- Secure shredding and deletion of records we no longer need.
- An incident response plan.
If a breach happens, we will notify affected clients as required by the laws of the state where they live, and we will report to the IRS, the FTC and state authorities as the law requires. Under the Safeguards Rule, that includes notifying the FTC of any breach involving the unencrypted information of 500 or more people.
No system is perfectly secure, but protecting your information is a core part of how we work.
How long we keep your information
We keep client records for as long as federal and state law, IRS rules for tax professionals and our professional obligations require. For example, tax preparers must keep copies or a list of the returns they prepare for at least three years, and records for representation and payment matters are often kept longer while a case could be reopened. When records are no longer needed, we destroy them securely.
If you contact us but don’t become a client, we keep your contact and booking details only as long as needed to respond to you and keep basic business records.
Your choices & rights
- Access and correction: you can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it.
- Deletion: you can ask us to delete your information. We’ll honor the request except where the law or professional rules require us to keep records.
- Consents: you can revoke any consent you gave under section 7216, or any IRS authorization such as Form 2848 or 8821.
- Marketing: you can unsubscribe from tax tips and newsletters at any time using the link in the email or by contacting us.
- State privacy rights: residents of California and other states with consumer privacy laws may have additional rights. Many of these laws treat information covered by the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act differently, but we will respond to every request as the law of your state requires, and we will never treat you differently for making one.
To make a request, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before acting on it, to protect your information from someone pretending to be you.
Children
This website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information online from them. When parents or guardians give us information about their children or dependents for tax purposes, we protect it the same way as all client information.
Protecting yourself from scams
Tax scams are common. To help you recognize real contact from us:
- We will never ask you to pay with gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfers to a personal account.
- We will never ask for your passwords or for your IRS Identity Protection PIN by email or text.
- We will contact you from help@savewardtax.com or (818) 966-1169. If something seems wrong, call us directly before acting.
Remember that the IRS usually first contacts people by mail, not by phone, text or social media.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our services or the law change. We’ll post the new version here with a new “last updated” date. If a change affects how we share your information, we will notify clients before it takes effect.
Contact us
For privacy questions or requests, contact Samira Mahzad, EA: