Privacy Policy

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to information collected by Guinea Services LLC ("we," "us") through guineaservices.com, our staff dashboard, our Newark, NJ office, and any SMS or email communications between us. "You" means the person whose information is being processed.

2. Information we collect

We collect only what we need to deliver the service you requested:

Identity & contact: legal name, date of birth, address, phone number, email, preferred language.
Service-specific information: tax filing status, business EIN, immigration history, travel itinerary, money-transfer recipient details, depending on the service.
Sensitive identifiers: Social Security Number, ITIN, A-Number, passport number, government-issued ID numbers (when the service requires them).
Documents you upload: government IDs, W-2s, 1099s, prior-year tax returns, marriage certificates, green cards, passports, bank statements, etc.
Payment metadata: amount, method, and last four digits of a card if processed by Stripe. We never see your full card number; Stripe handles it.
Service activity: requests you submit, messages with our staff, appointment times, payment receipts.
Technical info: IP address, device and browser, pages viewed, for security, abuse prevention, and basic site analytics. No third-party advertising trackers.

3. How we use your information

We use your information only for the purposes you'd expect:

To deliver the service you requested (prepare a return, file a packet, complete a money transfer, etc.)
To contact you about your request (status updates, document requests, reminders, receipts)
To process payments through Stripe
To meet legal obligations (IRS records retention, USCIS filing rules, anti-money-laundering checks, state filing requirements)
To keep our systems secure (fraud detection, abuse prevention, audit logs)
To improve our service through aggregate, non-identifying analytics

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We do not use your data for behavioral advertising.

We share information only when it's necessary to do the work you hired us for:

Government agencies: IRS, USCIS, New Jersey Division of Revenue, FinCEN, state notary registries, when filing on your behalf.
Licensed transmitters: Ria, MoneyGram, Western Union, or our active money-transfer partner, for transactions you initiate.
Service providers: Stripe (payments), Calendly (appointments), our cloud hosting provider, our email and SMS provider, all under written agreements that limit how they may use your information.
Professional advisors: attorneys or accountants we refer you to, with your consent.
Legal compliance: court orders, subpoenas, or lawful requests from regulators.

5. How we protect your information

We take security seriously. Our safeguards include:

Encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) for every page and form
Encryption at rest for uploaded documents in private cloud storage
Column-level encryption for sensitive fields like SSN, A-Number, and bank account numbers
Role-based access: only authorized staff with a legitimate need can view your file
Audit logging of every read of a sensitive field
Compliance with IRS Publication 4557 (Safeguarding Taxpayer Data) and the GLBA Safeguards Rule

No system is 100% secure, but we follow industry best practices and we take breach notification seriously.

6. How long we keep your information

We keep your information only as long as needed to provide service and to meet legal retention requirements:

Tax records: 7 years (IRS recommendation)
Immigration packet copies: 6 years (USCIS records and our reference)
Money-transfer transaction records: 5 years (Bank Secrecy Act / FinCEN)
Notary journal entries: 7 years (New Jersey notary law)
General correspondence and unrelated documents: until you ask us to delete them

After the retention period, we securely delete or anonymize the data.

7. Your rights

You can:

Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
Correct inaccurate information
Ask us to delete information that is no longer needed (subject to the retention rules above)
Opt out of SMS reminders any time by replying STOP
Opt out of marketing emails (we currently send only transactional emails)
Withdraw consent for new processing (existing legal obligations remain)

To exercise any of these rights, email guineaservicesllc@gmail.com from the email address on your file. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Cookies and tracking

We use a minimal set of cookies to keep you logged in, remember your language preference, and prevent CSRF (anti-fraud) attacks. We do not use third-party advertising or analytics trackers. If we add a privacy-friendly analytics tool in the future (such as Plausible or self-hosted Umami), we will update this policy.

9. Third-party services we use

The site embeds a small number of third-party tools:

Stripe: secure card processing. Stripe receives your payment details directly and is bound by its own privacy policy and PCI-DSS compliance.
Calendly: appointment scheduling. Your name, email, and chosen time are shared with Calendly. See calendly.com/privacy.
Google Fonts: loads our typography from Google's CDN.

10. Children

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect information directly from anyone under 13. If you are a parent and believe your child has provided us information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. State-specific rights

If you live in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, or another state with a consumer-privacy law, you may have additional rights, including the right to know what we collect, to delete it, to correct it, to opt out of "sales" (we do not sell), and to appeal a denial. To exercise these rights, email us at the address above.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date above and, for material changes, notify you by email.

13. Contact

Questions or concerns? Email guineaservicesllc@gmail.com, call (201) 238-9397, or write to us at our Newark, NJ office.