Alka Financial
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Privacy Policy

How we collect, use, and protect your personal information

Last updated: January 2025

Our website address is: https://alkafinancial.com

This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of your information when you use the Service and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

We use your Personal Data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Interpretation and Definitions

Interpretation

The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions. The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:

You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.

Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to Alka Financial, 4035 Washington Ave., New Orleans, LA 70125.

Account means a unique account created for you to access our Service or parts of our Service.

Website refers to Alka Financial, accessible from https://alkafinancial.com

Service refers to the Website, client portal, and all services provided by Alka Financial including tax preparation, accounting, bookkeeping, and financial advisory services.

Country refers to: Louisiana, United States

Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.

Third-party Social Media Service refers to any website or any social network website through which a User can log in or create an account to use the Service.

Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.

Cookies are small files that are placed on your computer, mobile device or any other device by a website, containing the details of your browsing history on that website among its many uses.

Usage Data refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

Collecting and Using Your Personal Data

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Email address
  • First name and last name
  • Phone number
  • Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
  • Social Security Number (SSN) or Employer Identification Number (EIN)
  • Business name and information
  • Bank account information (when you connect accounts via Plaid)
  • Tax documents and financial records
  • Usage Data

Usage Data

Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.

Usage Data may include information such as your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When you access the Service by or through a mobile device, we may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service or when you access the Service by or through a mobile device.

Information from Third-Party Services

Plaid Integration: If you connect bank accounts through Plaid, we will access your bank account information and transaction data for bookkeeping, tax preparation, and financial analysis purposes. You can disconnect bank accounts at any time through the client portal.

Google User Data

If you choose to connect your Google account to our Service, this section describes how we access, use, store, and protect your Google user data in compliance with Google's API Services User Data Policy.

Data Accessed

We access the following types of Google user data only with your explicit authorization:

Gmail Data:

  • Email messages (read-only access)
  • Email attachments (PDFs, images, documents)
  • Email metadata (sender, subject, date) for emails containing financial keywords

We only access emails that contain financial-related keywords such as "invoice", "receipt", "W-2", "1099", "tax", "financial", "statement", and similar terms. We do not access, read, or process non-financial emails.

Google Calendar Data:

  • Calendar events (read and write access)
  • Event details (title, description, date, time, attendees)

We access calendar events solely for the purpose of scheduling and managing appointments through our Service.

Data Usage

We use Google user data exclusively for the following purposes:

Gmail Data Usage:

  • Scanning emails to identify financial documents (receipts, invoices, tax forms, bank statements, etc.)
  • Extracting financial information from email attachments using OCR technology
  • Categorizing and organizing financial documents for tax preparation and accounting services
  • Storing relevant financial documents securely in your client portal

We do not use Gmail data for advertising, marketing, or any purpose other than providing tax preparation and financial services. We do not read the content of non-financial emails.

Google Calendar Data Usage:

  • Creating calendar events for scheduled appointments
  • Reading existing calendar events to check availability
  • Sending calendar invitations for consultations and appointments

We use calendar data solely for appointment scheduling and management. We do not use calendar data for any other purpose.

Data Sharing

We do not share your Google user data with any third parties except as follows:

  • Service Providers: We use AWS (Amazon Web Services) to store and process data. AWS acts as a data processor and is contractually obligated to protect your data and use it only for the purposes we specify. AWS does not have access to your Google account credentials.
  • Legal Requirements: We may disclose Google user data if required by law, court order, or government request, or to protect our rights and prevent fraud.
  • With Your Consent: We will only share your Google user data with other parties if you explicitly authorize us to do so.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your Google user data. We do not use Google user data for advertising purposes or share it with advertising networks.

Data Storage and Protection

We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your Google user data:

  • Encryption: All Google user data is encrypted in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher and encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption
  • Access Controls: Access to Google user data is restricted to authorized personnel only and is protected by multi-factor authentication
  • Secure Storage: Google user data is stored in secure AWS data centers with physical and logical access controls
  • Token Management: We use OAuth 2.0 tokens to access Google services. Refresh tokens are stored securely in AWS Secrets Manager, encrypted at rest
  • No Credential Storage: We never store your Google account password or credentials. We only store OAuth access and refresh tokens
  • Monitoring: We continuously monitor access to Google user data and maintain audit logs of all access

Your Google account credentials are never stored by our Service. We only store OAuth tokens that you authorize through Google's OAuth consent screen.

Data Retention and Deletion

Data Retention:

  • Gmail Data: Financial documents extracted from emails are retained for 7 years as required by IRS regulations for tax records. Email metadata (sender, subject, date) is retained only as long as necessary to identify and process financial documents.
  • Google Calendar Data: Calendar events created through our Service are retained in your Google Calendar. We retain a copy of appointment information in our systems for 7 years for tax and business record-keeping purposes.
  • OAuth Tokens: OAuth access and refresh tokens are retained until you revoke access through your Google account settings or request deletion.

Data Deletion:

You can request deletion of your Google user data at any time by:

  • Revoking access through your Google account settings (https://myaccount.google.com/permissions)
  • Contacting us at alkafinancialgroup@gmail.com or (504) 788-5679 to request deletion
  • Disconnecting Google services through the client portal settings

Upon receiving a deletion request, we will:

  • Delete all stored Google user data within 30 days of your request
  • Revoke and delete all OAuth tokens
  • Stop accessing your Google account immediately
  • Provide confirmation of deletion

Note: We may be required to retain certain financial documents extracted from Gmail for 7 years to comply with IRS regulations. If you request deletion, we will delete all Google user data except for financial documents that are legally required to be retained, which will be retained in anonymized form without any connection to your Google account.

You can revoke Google access at any time, and we will immediately stop accessing your Google account. Revocation through Google account settings takes effect immediately.

Tracking Technologies and Cookies

We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept Cookies, you may not be able to use some parts of our Service.

Types of Cookies We Use:

Essential Cookies: These Cookies are essential to provide you with services available through the Website and to enable you to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these Cookies to provide you with those services.

Analytics Cookies: These Cookies allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. These cookies require your consent.

Marketing Cookies: These Cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user. These cookies require your explicit consent and are optional.

Use of Your Personal Data

The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service: Including processing your tax returns, managing your accounting and bookkeeping, providing financial advisory services, and maintaining your client account.

To manage your Account: To manage your registration as a user of the Service. The Personal Data you provide can give you access to different functionalities of the Service that are available to you as a registered user.

For the performance of a contract: The development, compliance and undertaking of the purchase contract for the services you have purchased or of any other contract with us through the Service.

To contact you: To contact you by email, telephone calls, SMS, or other equivalent forms of electronic communication regarding updates or informative communications related to the services, including security updates, when necessary or reasonable for their implementation.

To provide you with news, special offers and general information: About other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless you have opted not to receive such information.

To manage your requests: To attend and manage your requests to us.

For business transfers: We may use your information to evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding.

For other purposes: We may use your information for other purposes, such as data analysis, identifying usage trends, determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns and to evaluate and improve our Service, products, services, marketing and your experience.

Retention of Your Personal Data

The Company will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Tax records and related financial documents will be retained for 7 years as required by IRS regulations. Client account information will be retained while your account is active and for 7 years after account closure. Analytics data will be retained for 2 years in anonymized form. Logs and security data will be retained for 30-90 days depending on the type of data.

Transfer of Your Personal Data

Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to and maintained on computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Your Personal Data

Business Transactions

If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.

Law Enforcement

Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Other Legal Requirements

The Company may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of the Company
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • Protect the personal safety of Users of the Service or the public
  • Protect against legal liability

Security of Your Personal Data

The security of your Personal Data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

We implement industry-standard security measures including:

  • Encryption of data in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher
  • Encryption of data at rest using AES-256 encryption
  • Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all accounts
  • Role-based access controls
  • Regular security assessments and monitoring
  • Secure authentication through AWS Cognito

Children's Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 18 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Your Privacy Rights

You have certain rights regarding your Personal Data:

The right to access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data.

The right to rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete.

The right to erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions, subject to legal retention requirements (tax records must be retained for 7 years).

The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

The right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

The right to opt-out: You can opt-out of marketing communications and manage cookie preferences through our website and client portal.

If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA):

  • The right to know what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell
  • The right to delete personal information (subject to legal requirements)
  • The right to opt-out of the sale of personal information (we do not sell your personal information)
  • The right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

Links to Other Websites

Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us:

By email: alkafinancialgroup@gmail.com

By phone: (504) 788-5679

By mail: Alka Financial, 4035 Washington Ave., New Orleans, LA 70125