Privacy notice.

This page covers two different things. The first part explains what happens when you visit zerbygroup.com. The second part is the notice we give clients about financial information. If you are a client, both parts apply to you. If you are only reading the site, only the first part does.

Last updated August 13, 2026.

What we collect from visitors

What you type. Our contact form asks for your name, email address, business name, and whatever you write in the message box. The business name is optional. A third party form service receives the submission and passes it to our email. We keep those messages so we can respond and so we have a record of the request.

What your browser sends. Every page load sends standard technical information: your IP address, your device and browser type, the page you asked for, and the page that referred you. Our hosting provider and our analytics receive that information.

Analytics and cookies

We use Google Analytics 4 on every page. It tells us which pages get read, how visitors arrive, and which links get clicked. We track three actions: a contact form submission, a click on our phone number, and a click through to the client portal.

This site sets analytics cookies. It does not set advertising cookies and it does not run cross site tracking pixels. We do not sell visitor information. You can refuse or delete cookies in your browser settings, and you can block analytics with a browser extension. Blocking them does not break the site.

We serve our fonts from our own domain, so loading a page does not send a request to a font provider.

Do not send sensitive information through this form

Do not send Social Security numbers, employer identification numbers, bank or card numbers, or copies of sensitive documents through our contact form or by email. Email and web forms are not secure channels. Clients send documents through the client portal, which requires a login.

The notice we give clients about financial information

Federal law treats a business that prepares income tax returns as a financial institution. That is set out at 16 CFR 314.2(h)(2)(viii). It is why clients get a privacy notice.

What follows is a plain English summary. It is not the notice itself. Individual clients receive the formal notice with their engagement letter, because posting a notice on a website does not deliver it. Business entities are not covered by that particular rule, but we handle entity information the same way.

• Why we collect it. We cannot prepare a return, close a month, or file a payroll or sales tax report without it.
• What we collect. Identifying information such as name, address, taxpayer identification number and date of birth. Income and expense records. Bank and brokerage statements. Payroll records. Prior year returns. Payment information you enter at checkout.
• Who we share it with. With you, and with anyone you tell us in writing to send it to. With the Internal Revenue Service, the Illinois Department of Revenue and other tax authorities, to file your returns and reports. With the vendors that run our software, document storage, website and payments, who are under contract to protect it. And when a court order, a subpoena or a law requires it.
• What we do not do. We do not sell client information. We do not share it with anyone for their own marketing. We have no affiliates, so there is no affiliate sharing.
• Former clients. We handle information about former clients the same way we handle information about current clients.

Tax return information is governed separately

Federal law puts a stricter rule on top of everything above. Under 26 U.S.C. 7216 it is a crime for a tax return preparer to disclose or use tax return information for any purpose other than preparing the return, unless a regulation permits it or the client consents in writing first. A separate civil penalty sits at 26 U.S.C. 6713.

What that means in practice. We will not use your return information to market anything to you, name you as a client, publish a testimonial or write a case study about your business, unless you have signed a consent that says so first. If we ask you for that consent you are free to say no, and saying no does not change the service or the price.

How we protect information

We maintain a written information security program covering the systems that hold client information, and we review the vendors that process it. We do not publish the specific controls we use. Publishing a security control tells an attacker what to expect and turns a technical decision into a public promise, so we describe our safeguards to clients in the engagement letter instead.

No method of transmitting information over the internet is completely secure. If an incident affects your information, we will notify you as required by law and within the deadlines that apply to us.

Retention, your choices, and the rest

Retention. We keep client records for as long as the engagement and the law require, and contact form messages for as long as we need them to respond and keep a record. Some records we are required to keep for a set period even after an engagement ends.

Your choices. You can decline to provide information, adjust your browser cookie settings, or block analytics. To ask what information we hold about you, or to ask us to delete something you sent us, use the contact details below. Some records we cannot delete on request because we are required to retain them.

Children. This site is for businesses and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from them.

Changes. We may update this page. The last updated date at the top will change when we do.

Contact. Questions about this page, or about information we hold, go to [email protected] or (630) 492-1318. Zerby Group LLC is based in St. Charles, Illinois.