Privacy Policy

Accountax is committed to protecting your personal information. This privacy policy explains how Accountax use any personal information we collect about you when you use our services or websites.

Our Privacy Policy contains important information about what personal details we collect; what we do with that information; who we may share it with and why; and your choices and rights when it comes to the personal information you have given us.

We may need to make changes to our Privacy Policy; so please check our website for updates from time to time. If there are important changes such as changes to where your personal data will be processed; we will contact you to let you know.

The Law
Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so. This includes sharing it outside Accountax. The reasons we collect and use your data are:

To fulfil our contract to provide services to you or the data controller.
When you consent to it – when you agree for us to contact you to advise you of events, or products and services from us or other organisations.
When we have a legal duty – to obey laws and regulations that apply to us.
When it’s in the legitimate interest of the firm or of a third party – to run our business in an efficient and proper way.

Information we collect
We collect personal data as is required to fulfil our contract with you when you sign an engagement letter or request advice, products or services and, if you agree consent, to email you about other products and services we think may be of interest to you.

Information we may collect includes:

Contact details – names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses.
Financial details – employment details, bank details.
Data classified as ‘sensitive’ personal information e.g. relating to your health, marital or civil partnership status. This information will only be collected and used where it’s needed to provide the product or service you have requested or to comply with our legal obligations.
Open data and public records.
Documentary data – passport, driving licence.
Information that is automatically collected e.g. via cookies when you visit one of our websites.
We also collect personal data as is required if you have completed an application to join Accountax.

Information we may collect include, information from above section as well as:

Your name, address, contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth and gender / preferred title.
Details of your qualifications, skill, professional memberships, experience and employment history.
Information about your remuneration.

How we collect information
Information may be obtained from you face to face, through e-mail or telephone calls, from data controllers, from public information sources such as Companies House, or completion of online documentation. As the information is required to enable us to provide our services if you opt not to provide it we may not be able to continue to provide services to you.

How we look after your information
We limit the amount of personal data collected to what is required to fulfil our obligations to you.

We restrict, secure and control all our information assets against unauthorised access, damage, loss or destruction: whether physical or electronic.

We will keep your personal information while you are a client or as long as required to meet our legal or regulatory obligations. We may keep it longer if we cannot delete it for legal, regulatory or technical reasons.

With your assistance we try to maintain the accuracy of your personal data.

How we use your information
We will collect and use your information only where:

Contract: It’s necessary to provide the service or product you have requested i.e. to fulfil the Terms of our Engagement with you.
Consent: We have obtained permission from yourself e.g. when you agree for us to contact you to advise you of events, or general communication including blogs and industry insights, or from the data controller for meeting our contracted requirement with them e.g., payroll services, HR services and whistleblowing services.
Legal: It’s necessary for us to meet our legal or regulatory obligations – to obey laws and regulations that apply to us.
Legitimate interests: Accountax are collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, and this is normally used to improve the service offering to clients and keep you informed of new and existing services we provide.

There may be situations where the information we require is a special category of personal data under the legislation. In this case we will explain why we need it and obtain your consent to obtain the data.

Who we share information with
We may share your data with these organisations but only for the reasons outlined in “The Law”:

Companies we, or you, have chosen to support us in the delivery of products and services we offer.
Our Regulators and Supervisory Authorities.
HMRC.
Law enforcement for the prevention and detection of crime.

We periodically check that these third parties have appropriate safeguards in place to protect your data and that they are compliant with Data Protection Regulations.

How long we keep your information
Accountax have implemented a data retention schedule, which takes into account all legal and regulatory requirements.

Keeping you involved and informed
We would like to send you information about our events or general communication including blogs and industry insights, which may be of interest to you. If you have consented to receive these communications, you may opt out any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any email.

You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for these purposes.

Website visits – cookie policy
We may collect information about your visits to our websites such as IP address, location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views. This information may be used to improve our websites’ usability and for marketing purposes. Personal data submitted on this website could be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in any relevant parts of the website.

When visiting our website, you are prompted to allow or disallow the gathering of cookies. We use cookies in order to distinguish you from other site visitors, to provide you with a better experience whilst you browse our webpages.

Cookies are small text files that may be stored on your device when you visit websites. They are primarily used to make websites work and analyse typical navigation behaviours of site visitors to provide statistical information to site owners. The information we obtain through cookies can help us improve our website usability and for various marketing purposes. We may also use that information to recognise your device in order to further personalise our website for you.

Access to your information and correction
The accuracy of your information is important to us, and we will update the information as appropriate. If you change your contact information, please notify us and we will update our records.

You have a number of specific rights; these are summarised below:

Access –You may ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and we will provide this within one month of receipt free of charge (we may charge a fee for subsequent or duplicate requests).
Rectification –You may ask us to correct any information that we hold that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Erasure –You may ask us to delete or cease processing data in certain situations. Please note that we will have regulatory obligations to retain information for certain time periods and we will retain such information as we believe is necessary to fulfil these obligations.
Restrict processing –You may ask us to cease processing information. This means that we will be able to retain it but no longer act upon it. In the event that you no longer need our services and terminate them we will automatically cease processing information.
Portability –You may have the right to have your data transferred to another service provider in an appropriate electronic format. Please note that we will have regulatory obligations to retain copies of the information as outlined previously.
Objection –You may have the right to object to us processing information or using it for marketing purposes.

This is a brief summary of your rights and there may be restrictions on some of them. If you wish to explore any of these rights at any time, please contact us and we will be pleased to assist you.

How to contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you.

Please let us know if you believe we are not holding your information correctly, if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information or have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can do this:

via their website https://ico.org.uk/concerns
In writing to

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Company details
Our company details are listed within the “Legal Notice” section of our website.