Introduction
The Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA 2018”) and the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) impose certain legal obligations in connection with the processing of personal data.
N.TRUST Accountancy is an accountancy and business advisory firm. We also operate under N.TRUST Accountancy Limited, a company registered in England & Wales, number 11013217.
For the purpose of Data Protection Legislation and this notice, one or more of the above entities is a ‘data controller’. We are therefore responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal data.
If you have any queries about this, please contact:
Mrs Nina Rust
Suite 3a Kings Hall
St Ives Business Park
Parsons Green
St Ives
Cambridgeshire
PE27 4WY
We may amend this privacy notice from time to time. If we do so, we will supply you with and/or otherwise make available to you a copy of the amended privacy notice.
Where we act as a data processor on behalf of a data controller (for example, when processing payroll), we provide an additional schedule setting out required information as part of that agreement. That additional schedule should be read in conjunction with this privacy notice.
Personal Data
The types of personal data that we hold and how we collect and use that data vary according to our relationship with the person whose data it is (the ‘data subject’). Details in respect of each type of data subject are given in the links below:
- Personal clients and persons associated with corporate clients
- Other individuals whose personal data we obtain in the course of providing services to our clients
- Business contacts
- Suppliers
- Users of our website
In all cases, we use that data:
- To enable us to supply professional services to you as our client.
- To fulfil our obligations under relevant laws in force from time to time (e.g. the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (“MLR 2017”)).
- To comply with professional obligations to which we are subject as a member of The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
- To use in the investigation and/or defense of potential complaints, disciplinary proceedings and legal proceedings.
- To contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so.
It may be a requirement of our contract with you that you provide us with the personal data that we request. If you do not provide the information that we request, we may not be able to provide professional services to you. If this is the case, we will not be able to commence acting or will need to cease to act.
Persons/organisations to whom we may give personal data
We may share your personal data with:
- HMRC
- Any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond
- Subcontractors
- An alternate appointed by us in the event of incapacity or death
- Tax insurance providers
- Professional indemnity insurers
- Our professional body [The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants] and/or the Office of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (OPBAS) in relation to practice assurance and/or the requirements of MLR 2017 (or any similar legislation)
If the law allows or requires us to do so, we may share your personal data with:
- The police and law enforcement agencies
- Courts and tribunals
- The Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”)
We may need to share your personal data with the third parties identified above in order to comply with our legal obligations, including our legal obligations to you. If you ask us not to share your personal data with such third parties we may need to cease to act.
Transfers of personal data outside the EEA
Your personal data will be processed in the EEA only.
Retention of personal data
When acting as a data controller and in accordance with recognised good practice within the tax and accountancy sector we will retain all of our records relating to you as follows:
- Where tax returns have been prepared it is our policy to retain information for 10 years from the end of the tax year to which the information relates.
- Where ad hoc advisory work has been undertaken it is our policy to retain information for 7 years from the date the business relationship ceased.
- Where we have an ongoing client relationship, data which is needed for more than one year’s tax compliance (e.g. capital gains base costs and claims and elections submitted to HMRC) is retained throughout the period of the relationship but will be deleted 7 years after the end of the business relationship unless you as our client ask us to retain it for a longer period.
Our contractual terms provide for the destruction of documents after 7 years and therefore agreement to the contractual terms is taken as agreement to the retention of records for this period, and to their destruction thereafter.
You are responsible for retaining information that we send to you (including details of capital gains base costs and claims and elections submitted) and this will be supplied in the form agreed between us. Documents and records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained by you as follows:
Individuals, trustees and partnerships
- With trading or rental income: five years and 10 months after the end of the tax year;
- Otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year.
Companies, LLPs and other corporate entities
- Six years from the end of the accounting period.
Where we act as a data processor as defined in DPA 2018, we will delete or return all personal data to the data controller as agreed with the controller at the termination of the contract.
Requesting personal data we hold about you (subject access requests)
You have a right to request access to your personal data that we hold. Such requests are known as ‘subject access requests’ (“SARs”).
Please provide all SARs in writing marked for the attention of Nina Rust.
To help us provide the information you want and deal with your request more quickly, you should include enough details to enable us to verify your identity and locate the relevant information. For example, you should tell us:
- Your date of birth
- Previous or other name(s) you have used
- Your previous addresses in the past five years
- Personal reference number(s) that we may have given you, for example your national insurance number, your tax reference number or your VAT registration number
- What type of information you want to know
If you do not have a national insurance number, you must send a copy of:
- The back page of your passport or a copy of your driving licence; and
- A recent utility bill.
DPA 2018 requires that we comply with a SAR promptly and in any event within one month of receipt. There are, however, some circumstances in which the law allows us to refuse to provide access to personal data in response to a SAR (e.g. if you have previously made a similar request and there has been little or no change to the data since we complied with the original request).
We will not charge you for dealing with a SAR.
You can ask someone else to request information on your behalf – for example, a friend, relative or solicitor. We must have your authority to respond to a SAR made on your behalf. You can provide such authority by signing a letter which states that you authorise the person concerned to write to us for information about you, and/or receive our reply.
Where you are a data controller and we act for you as a data processor (e.g. by processing payroll), we will assist you with SARs on the same basis as is set out above.
Putting things right (the right to rectification)
You have a right to obtain the rectification of any inaccurate personal data concerning you that we hold. You also have a right to have any incomplete personal data that we hold about you completed. Should you become aware that any personal data that we hold about you is inaccurate and/or incomplete, please inform us immediately so we can correct and/or complete it.
Deleting your records (the right to erasure)
In certain circumstances you have a right to have the personal data that we hold about you erased. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk). If you would like your personal data to be erased, please inform us immediately and we will consider your request. In certain circumstances we have the right to refuse to comply with a request for erasure. If applicable, we will supply you with the reasons for refusing your request.
The right to restrict processing and the right to object
In certain circumstances you have the right to ‘block’ or suppress the processing of personal data or to object to the processing of that information. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk). Please inform us immediately if you want us to cease to process your information or you object to processing so that we can consider what action, if any, is appropriate.
Obtaining and reusing personal data (the right to data portability)
In certain circumstances you have the right to be provided with the personal data that we hold about you in a machine-readable format, e.g. so that the data can easily be provided to a new professional adviser. Further information is available on the ICO website (www.ico.org.uk).
The right to data portability only applies:
- To personal data an individual has provided to a controller;
- Where the processing is based on the individual’s consent or for the performance of a contract; and
- When processing is carried out by automated means
We will respond to any data portability requests made to us without undue delay and within one month. We may extend the period by a further two months where the request is complex or a number of requests are received but we will inform you within one month of the receipt of the request and explain why the extension is necessary.
Withdrawal of consent
Where you have consented to our processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Please inform us immediately if you wish to withdraw your consent.
Please note:
- The withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of earlier processing
- If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to continue to provide services to you
- Even if you withdraw your consent, it may remain lawful for us to process your data on another legal basis (e.g. because we have a legal obligation to continue to process your data)
Automated decision-making
We do not intend to use automated decision-making in relation to your personal data.
Complaints
If you have requested details of the information we hold about you and you are not happy with our response, or you think we have not complied with the GDPR or DPA 2018 in some other way, you can complain to us. Please send any complaints to Nina Rust.
If you are not happy with our response, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the ICO (www.ico.org.uk).
Personal clients and persons associated with corporate clients
Who do we collect information about?
We collect information about clients who are individuals, the owners of our clients, the management of our clients and persons connected with our clients who we interact with in the course of our work.
What personal information do we collect?
It is our policy only to collect the personal information which is required for our work. In some cases, this may mean that the only personal information that we hold is contact information and details of any communications with that person, but in other cases this may include:
- Financial information
- Information about business activities
- Information about family or business relationships
- Information about marketing activities
How do we use this data?
We may use this data to carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between our clients and us (for example in providing tax advice to personal clients).
In addition, we may use this data in managing our relationships with our clients and in providing to our clients’ information about our services or other information that we consider may be of interest to them.
The basis for this processing is the contracts that we have with our clients, legal obligations and/or that such processing is necessary for our or our clients’ legitimate interests.
What is the source of this information?
This information is usually supplied by clients but may also be supplied by third parties who have been authorised by clients or from publicly available information.
Other individuals whose personal data we obtain in the course of providing services to our clients
Who do we collect information about?
The services that we provide to our client sometimes require us to collect personal information about other individuals (for example where we provide bookkeeping services, Purchase Ledger/Sales Ledger control and payroll services).
What personal information do we collect?
It is our policy only to collect the personal information which is required for our work. This may include:
- Salary details, including but not limited to pay details, National Insurance records, dates of birth
- Bank account details
- Addresses
- Investments and other financial details
- Other personal details required to provide our services
How do we use this data?
We may use this data to carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between our clients and us.
Data obtained in this way will only be used to the extent necessary to provide these services. We will not use it for any other purpose. We will not use it for marketing purposes.
The basis for this processing is the contracts that we have with our clients, legal obligations and/or that such processing is necessary for our or our clients’ legitimate interests.
What is the source of this information?
This information is usually supplied by clients but may also be supplied by third parties who have been authorised by clients (for example other payroll providers).
Business contacts
Who do we collect information about?
We also collect information about business contacts other than personal clients and persons associated with corporate clients.
What personal information do we collect?
In the case of business contacts, we collect information necessary for our communications with them. This may include:
- Contact details
- Business details
How do we use this data?
We may use this data to communicate with contacts about possible business opportunities, our range of professional services, sharing insight and to invite them to events.
The basis for this processing is either the consent of the contacts themselves or legitimate business interest. This consent may be withdrawn at any time (see the contact us section of the privacy policy for details of who to contact).
What is the source of this information?
This information is provided by the business contacts themselves.
Suppliers
Who do we collect information about?
We collect personal information about our suppliers (where these are individuals) and persons associated with them (for example our relationship manager at a supplier).
What personal information do we collect?
We collect the information necessary to manage our relationships with our suppliers. This may include:
- Contact details
- Business activities
- Bank details
How do we use this data?
We use this data to manage our relationships with our suppliers.
The basis for this processing is the contracts that we have with our suppliers, legal obligations and/or that such processing is necessary for our legitimate interests.
What is the source of this information?
The source of this information is the suppliers themselves.
Users of our website
Who do we collect information about?
We collect personal data about users of our website if they choose to provide this information to us. In addition, we collect some limited personal data via the use of cookies on our website.
What is the source of this information?
The data is provided by users of the website if they choose to do so.
What personal information do we collect?
The principal information that is collected is the contact details provided by the website user however, depending on the nature of the submission other personal information may be provided.
How do we use this data?
Data is used in order to respond to communications from the users of the website. In some cases users will sign up to services which will result in them becoming business contacts, in which case their data will be used in accordance with the ‘Business Contacts’ section of this policy.
Data is processed on the basis of the consent of the website user, which is given when the data is provided.
