Your engagement policy bundle

Who you are engaging

Raccoon Accountant® is the registered trademark used by RKH Contracting, LLC, doing business as Raccoon Accountant. In these policies, ‘we’ and ‘our’ mean that firm. Dillon Vincent, EA, provides the services described in your engagement.

These master terms apply after you approve them and we confirm the client relationship in writing. Sending an inquiry, preparing an email, delivering documents, or visiting this website does not by itself begin an engagement.

Agreeing on the work

The website offers tax document review and consultation, accounting and bookkeeping, and consulting and business advisory services. We agree with you on the specific work, deliverables, fees, payment terms, and timing in writing before starting that work. Email can document that agreement.

A new assignment or a material change in scope requires a further written agreement. Accepting these master terms does not authorize an unlimited assignment, establish a fixed fee, or commit either of us to future work.

Services requiring a separate engagement

Tax return preparation requires a separate engagement through our MyTAXPortal process. Representation before a tax authority and any audit, review, or compilation engagement also require separate written arrangements and confirmation that we can accept the work.

Ordinary bookkeeping, document review, and advisory work do not provide assurance on financial statements and are not designed to detect every error, fraud, or unlawful act. We will raise material concerns that come to our attention within the agreed work.

Your information and decisions

Please provide accurate, complete information on time, identify relevant deadlines, and tell us promptly about changes. We may rely on your records while asking questions or seeking support when something is unclear or inconsistent.

You remain responsible for business decisions, internal controls, keeping original records, and reviewing the information and deliverables we ask you to approve. Our advice depends on the facts supplied and the rules applicable when we give it; continuing monitoring or updates are included only if agreed in writing.

Fees, timing, and ending work

Your written scope sets the fee basis, billing schedule, payment dates, and any approved expenses. Estimates may change when facts or requested services change; we will discuss material changes before proceeding. No interest charge or additional fee is created by these website terms alone.

Each of us may end an engagement by written notice. We may also pause work for missing information, nonpayment under agreed terms, conflicts, or professional obligations. We will communicate the status of unfinished work and known deadlines. Fees for authorized work already performed remain payable under the agreed terms, subject to applicable law.

Ending work does not remove our duties concerning confidentiality or the return of client records. Contact us promptly about a concern so we can discuss a practical resolution. These terms do not waive rights that cannot lawfully be waived.

Policy versions and separate permissions

The policy version supplied when you approve an engagement is the version for that agreement. We will seek written agreement to material changes affecting existing work; publishing an update does not silently replace your accepted terms. A specific written engagement controls an expressly agreed difference, subject to applicable law.

The tax services, AI use, privacy, and records retention policies explain additional practices. Acceptance of any of these policies is not a tax-information disclosure or use consent. Any legally required consent is handled separately.

Consultation and document review

Tax document review and consultation cover the questions and records identified in your written scope. They do not automatically include preparing or filing a return, making an election, calculating every payment, requesting an extension, responding to a notice, or representing you before a tax authority.

Reviewing records before return preparation does not automatically put those records outside tax-information confidentiality rules. We assess the actual information, purpose, and circumstances before any use or disclosure.

Return preparation through MyTAXPortal

Return preparation begins only after we agree to a separate engagement identifying the client, tax year, returns and jurisdictions, fee basis, and responsibilities. Use our MyTAXPortal at Tax portal for the agreed preparation process and document exchange.

Provide complete records and requested explanations by the agreed dates. You review the completed return and supply the required signatures and filing authorizations. We confirm who will file and how filing acceptance will be checked; a draft return or a portal upload alone is not proof of filing.

Deadlines, extensions, and payments

Tell us about filing deadlines and notices at the start. We confirm which deadlines we have accepted responsibility to handle. Late or incomplete records may require an extension or a revised schedule; an extension is not automatic and must be arranged with us.

An extension of time to file generally does not extend the time to pay. You remain responsible for timely payment of taxes and for reviewing payment instructions. We cannot promise a particular tax outcome or that a return will avoid examination.

Professional judgment and additional help

We apply the standards governing the particular tax position and discuss material uncertainties, required support, and any necessary disclosure. We may decline a position or withdraw if we cannot complete the work consistent with applicable requirements.

Notices, examinations, appeals, amended returns, and additional planning require a separate written scope unless your engagement expressly includes them. Send any notice promptly so we can discuss the deadline and whether we can assist.

Tax information and consent

We evaluate tax-information uses and disclosures under the rules that apply to each workflow. When a separate consent is required, we obtain it before the covered use or disclosure. Approval of an engagement, a general email approval, payment, silence, or delivery of records is not a substitute for a valid section 7216 consent.

Optional external AI processing may be declined without conditioning tax return preparation on that consent. See our AI use policy for the review process and your choices.

Assistance with human responsibility

We may use AI for research, document organization, extraction, reconciliation, and drafting when the workflow is appropriate. AI can be wrong or incomplete. We review its work, check material calculations and supporting authorities, and retain responsibility for professional judgments and deliverables.

AI output is not tax authority. We do not leave final tax decisions, filing, or client communications to an autonomous AI tool.

Tools considered

Our contemplated tools include an individual OpenAI ChatGPT Pro subscription, Microsoft commercial Copilot, and MyTAXPrepOffice My AI Assistant. The exact Microsoft subscription, settings, and features must be verified before a client-data workflow is approved.

The applicable service, account, feature, and settings matter. Provider policies do not establish your permission or a legal exception. We do not promise that all processing stays in the United States, that provider personnel can never access information, or that data has no retention period. Linked provider policies explain their own current terms.

Before client information is used

Before confidential information or tax return information goes to an external AI service, we review the particular purpose, necessary data, recipients and connected services, processing locations, access, retention, security, and applicable provider terms. We document the legal basis, including any applicable exception, and obtain a valid separate consent when required. If we cannot establish those conditions, we do not provide the information to that service.

This policy describes our process. It is not a section 7216 consent or permission for unrestricted disclosure. Where consent is required, separately completed documents identify the information, recipient, purpose, duration, and other required disclosures and signatures. All required taxpayers must authorize the covered use or disclosure before it occurs.

Limiting information and access

We use fictional examples for general research where practical and limit client information to what is needed. Removing a name alone does not remove confidentiality or tax-information restrictions. We exclude Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, account credentials, and full financial account numbers from external AI inputs.

For an approved ChatGPT Pro workflow, we disable model-training sharing and verify relevant controls before use. We separately review any environment-level training setting and connected-tool access. We do not submit client content as product feedback, publish it through shared links, or use unapproved apps, agents, actions, or connectors.

Training controls do not eliminate processing, retention, or all authorized provider access. We reassess a workflow when its purpose, recipients, features, or relevant terms change and request removal of unnecessary copies where the provider supports it and applicable obligations permit.

Declining or withdrawing permission

You may decline optional external AI processing of your records and request a workflow without it. We do not condition tax return preparation on optional AI consent.

You may withdraw an AI disclosure permission prospectively by notifying us in writing at dillon@rccnacct.com. After receipt, we stop future disclosures covered by that permission. Withdrawal cannot undo a disclosure already made or require deletion that conflicts with lawful retention obligations.

This website does not collect tax-information consents. If a consent is needed, we arrange a separately completed and signed document or an appropriately verified secure-portal process before the covered activity. A general approval email does not satisfy that requirement.

Website inquiries

The website inquiry form prepares an email using the information you enter. Its fields remain in the current page's memory while you use the form; the form does not upload files or save an inquiry to a website database. Opening the prepared email does not send it. You must review and send it through your email application.

Do not put Social Security numbers, tax returns, account credentials, full financial account numbers, or other sensitive records in the inquiry form or ordinary email. We can arrange an appropriate document-exchange method after discussing your needs.

Hosting and external services

We have not added advertising trackers or analytics to this website. Hosting and delivery services may process ordinary request information, such as IP addresses, browser details, requested pages, and security logs, to operate and protect the site. We do not represent that visiting the website produces no logs.

Your email provider processes an email you choose to send. MyTAXPortal and other external services have their own privacy and security terms. Opening an external link takes you to that service, and its practices apply there.

Information received for our work

We use contact details and the information you provide to respond to inquiries, evaluate and carry out agreed services, communicate with you, bill for work, and meet legal and professional obligations. We limit access and disclosure to appropriate purposes and the rules governing the information.

Service providers may handle information when needed for an authorized workflow and after the relevant review. Confidential client information is not made unrestricted merely because a provider is used. Tax information may require a separate consent or an applicable exception; our AI use policy describes additional conditions for external AI tools.

Legal requests, security, and retention

If we receive a subpoena or other legal demand, we assess what disclosure is permitted or required, limit the response accordingly, and notify you when legally permitted. Silence is not treated as consent to an otherwise unauthorized disclosure.

We apply safeguards appropriate to the information and workflow. No transmission or storage method can be promised risk-free. Our records retention policy explains the records we retain and the circumstances that can affect removal.

Questions and requests

Contact dillon@rccnacct.com to ask about privacy, correct information, request records, or raise a concern. We may verify identity and authority before providing records or acting on a request. Applicable law, another person's rights, and retention obligations can limit what we may disclose or delete.

We will update this page when practices change. Material changes affecting an existing engagement follow the written-agreement process described in our standard engagement terms.

Core engagement records

Our standard retention period for core engagement files is seven years after the relevant engagement is completed or terminated. These files may include agreed scopes, essential supporting records, final deliverables, material correspondence, and authorization records needed to document the work. We retain master relationship acceptance records for seven years after the client relationship ends.

These periods reflect our recordkeeping policy, not a statement that every law requires seven years for every item. We assess the legal requirements and legitimate business reasons for keeping particular records, review what remains necessary, and avoid keeping unnecessary duplicate or temporary material simply because it relates to a client.

When a longer period is needed

Applicable minimum retention requirements, litigation or investigation holds, unresolved matters, and a continuing documented need can extend a retention period. Records supporting asset basis, carryforwards, or other ongoing tax items may need to be kept beyond seven years. We reassess those records when the continuing need ends.

Consent records are kept for the applicable legal minimum and, when necessary, with the related core file to document the authorization and any withdrawal. Retention of a consent does not extend its permission beyond its stated terms.

Temporary and provider-held copies

We remove temporary working copies when they are no longer needed, subject to applicable requirements and holds. This includes reviewing downloaded files, intermediate exports, and approved AI copies for removal rather than treating them all as permanent records.

Provider systems, backups, and legal exceptions can affect removal. We do not promise immediate erasure or a single automatic deletion deadline across all services. We document appropriate removal requests and any known limitations.

Keep your own records

Keep your original records and copies of completed returns and deliverables. Our file is not a substitute for your own recordkeeping, and a portal should not be your only archive. Ask us about your particular records if you are unsure how long to keep them.

You may request a copy or return of your records at dillon@rccnacct.com. We verify identity and authority and follow the rules governing access and return of client records. A fee dispute does not remove the record-return duties that apply to us.