How we handle your information

The short version

We collect what you type into our forms, what you give us when you book a call, and standard analytics about how you use the site. We use it to answer you, to schedule and prepare for your consultation, to send you something you asked for, and to see which pages and ads bring people here. We do not sell it. We share it only with the service providers listed below that run our website, booking and email, and only with what each one needs. Do not send tax identifiers, banking credentials, or complete tax documents through a form, a chat widget, or a messaging app. Once you are engaged, we give you a secure channel for those. You can ask us what we hold, ask for a copy, ask us to correct or delete it, and withdraw consent at any time. The full detail is below and it governs.

This summary is for readability. The sections below are the policy.

1. Who we are

SV FINANCIAL CONSULTING CORPORATION is an Ontario corporation providing cross-border Canada and United States tax and financial consulting services. This policy explains what personal information we collect through our website and connected channels, why we collect it, and what you can do about it.

We handle personal information under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Where provincial or United States privacy law also applies to a specific engagement, we apply the stricter standard.

2. What we collect

From website contact and inquiry forms Name, email address, phone number, country of residence, the subject of your inquiry, and anything else you choose to type into a free text field.

From the booking flow Name, email address, phone number, time zone, selected appointment slot, and any notes you add when booking. Our scheduling and CRM platform records the booking and any reminders sent to you.

From phone and WhatsApp Your phone number, the date and time of contact, and the content of the message or a summary of the call. If a call is recorded or transcribed, we tell you at the start of the call and you can decline.

Automatically, from analytics and advertising tools IP address, approximate location derived from IP address, browser and device type, operating system, referring website, pages viewed, time on page, clicks, form starts and submissions, and advertising identifiers set by cookies or similar technologies. See the Cookie Policy for the full inventory.

What we do not collect through the website Do not send Social Insurance Numbers, Social Security Numbers, banking credentials, or complete tax documents through a website form, chat, or WhatsApp. If we need those to do your work, we collect them through a secure channel after an engagement is signed, under a separate consent.

3. Why we collect it

• To answer your question and follow up on your inquiry.
• To schedule, confirm, and remind you about consultations.
• To assess whether we can help you and to prepare a scope and fee proposal.
• To send you material you asked for, such as a guide or a checklist.
• To measure which pages, ads, and campaigns bring people to the site so we can improve them.
• To meet our own legal, tax, and record keeping obligations.

We do not sell personal information.

4. Consent

We collect personal information with your knowledge and consent. Submitting a form, booking a call, or messaging us is your consent for us to use that information to respond to you.

Consent for commercial email is handled separately and on an opt in basis, consistent with Canada's Anti Spam Legislation (CASL). Marketing consent is a distinct checkbox on our forms. It is never bundled into the act of contacting us, and every marketing message carries an unsubscribe link.

Consent for non essential cookies and tracking is handled through the cookie banner. See the Cookie Policy.

You can withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal and contractual limits. Withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide a service.

5. Who we share it with

We use third party service providers to run the website and our client communications. Each one receives only what it needs.

We may also disclose personal information where the law requires it, for example in response to a valid court order, or to establish or defend a legal claim.

6. Cross border transfer of data

Several of the providers listed above are based in the United States or process data on servers outside Canada. When you give us personal information through this website, it may be stored or processed outside Canada, including in the United States, and it becomes subject to the laws of that country. Foreign courts, law enforcement, and regulators may be able to obtain access to it under those laws.

We use providers that offer contractual protections and recognised security standards, and we hold them to a comparable level of protection to what we apply ourselves. If you would prefer that we handle your information without using a particular tool, contact us and we will tell you what is possible.

7. How we handle your information at SV Financial

7.1 Website information and engagement information are handled separately

Two different kinds of information reach us and they are not treated the same way.

Website information is what you give us before an engagement: your name, email, phone number, country of residence, the subject of your enquiry, your booking details, and anything you type into a free-text field. It lives in our booking and client-communication platform and it is used to answer you and to prepare for your consultation.

Engagement information is what we need to do your work: tax identifiers, filing history, account details, and complete tax documents. We do not collect that through the website. It is collected through a secure channel after an engagement agreement is signed, under a separate consent that names what we are collecting and why.

7.2 What not to send through the website

Do not send Social Insurance Numbers, Social Security Numbers, banking credentials, passwords, images of identity documents, or complete tax returns through a website form, a chat widget, or a messaging app. Those channels are not built for it.

If you send something in that category anyway, we remove it from the channel it arrived in and either delete it or move it to secure storage, and we tell you which.

7.3 Automated tools on this site

Any quiz, calculator, chat assistant, or call assistant on this site exists to point you toward the right service and to help you book time with a person. These tools are not authorised to collect tax identifiers, banking details, or complete return data, and anything you type into them is treated as website information under 7.1. Their output is informational.

7.4 Where your information is stored

Several of the service providers listed in section 5 are based in the United States or process data on servers outside Canada, so information you give us may be stored or processed outside Canada. Section 6 explains what that means for you.

7.5 Who inside the firm can see it

Access is limited to the people who need it to do the work. Your enquiry and booking information is seen by the person who answers you and the person who would own your file. Engagement information is seen by the people performing, reviewing, and signing off your work.

7.6 Recorded and transcribed calls

If a call is recorded or transcribed, we tell you at the start of the call and you can decline without affecting the service you receive. A recording or transcript is retained under the booking and consultation retention period in the section below.

7.7 Marketing consent is separate

Contacting us is not consent to be marketed to. Marketing consent is a distinct, unticked, unbundled checkbox that states what you are agreeing to receive, consistent with CASL. Every marketing message carries an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing does not affect anything to do with your file.

7.8 If something goes wrong

If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, as PIPEDA requires. We tell you what happened, what was involved, and what we are doing about it, in plain language.

8. How long we keep it

• Inquiries that do not become engagements: up to 24 months from last contact, then deleted or anonymised.
• Booking and consultation records: up to 24 months from the appointment date, unless an engagement follows.
• Client engagement records: for the period required by applicable tax, corporate, and professional record keeping rules, and then securely destroyed.
• Analytics and advertising data: for the retention window set inside each platform, which is typically between 2 and 26 months.
• Marketing subscriber records: until you unsubscribe, plus a suppression record so we do not email you again.

9. How we protect it

• Access is limited to people who need the information to do their work.
• Accounts are protected with strong passwords and multi factor authentication.
• Data in transit is encrypted over HTTPS.
• Credentials are held in a password manager, never in shared documents or chat.
• Service providers are selected in part on their security posture and are reviewed periodically.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as PIPEDA requires.

10. Your rights

Under PIPEDA you can:

• Ask what personal information we hold about you and how it has been used and disclosed.
• Get a copy of that information.
• Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Withdraw consent, subject to legal and contractual limits.
• Ask us to delete information we no longer need.
• Complain about how we handled your information.

To exercise any of these, email marketing@svfinancial.ca with the subject line "Privacy Request". We will confirm receipt and respond within 30 days. We may ask you to verify your identity first so that we do not release your information to someone else. There is no fee for a standard request.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can escalate to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca.

11. Children

The website is aimed at adults seeking professional services. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16. If you believe a minor has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Changes to this policy

We update this policy when our tools, services, or legal obligations change. The version date sits at the top of the page. Material changes will be announced on the website before they take effect.

13. Contact

Privacy questions and requests: marketing@svfinancial.ca

SV FINANCIAL CONSULTING CORPORATION, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.