Mark Sivakumar trading as TaxAssist Accountants ("we", "us" or "our") respects your privacy and we are committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data in the course of providing our services to you and when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
This privacy notice is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. Please also use the Glossary to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy notice.
1. Who we are and important information
Purpose of this privacy notice
This privacy notice aims to give you information on how we collect and processes your personal data through the provision of our services to you, your use of this website and any other interactions that you have with us whether by phone, email or otherwise .
It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.
Controller – who we are
The data controller is Mark Sivakumar trading as TaxAssist Accountants of 408 Hitchin Road, Luton, Beds, LU2 7ST. We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager via our contact form.
TaxAssist is a network of business, where all offices are owned and operated by independent TaxAssist franchisees (each a “Franchisee”) or a subsidiary of The TaxAssist Direct Group Ltd (“Group Company”). In this policy, references to ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ means Mark Sivakumar trading as TaxAssist Accountants which is a TaxAssist franchisee and this policy does not apply to or cover the practices of our franchisor, TaxAssist Direct Limited. If you would like to review the privacy policy and practices of TaxAssist Direct Limited as the franchisor, please see the privacy policy on their website
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes
This version was last updated on 1st June 2022. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
Third-party links
This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.
2. The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified.
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:
- Identity Data includes first name last name.
- Contact Data includes email address and telephone numbers.
- Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
- Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
- Professional Data includes any information we may collect in the course of providing services to you.
We also collect and use Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for internal purposes.
We do not generally collect any Special Categories of Personal Data (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). We will seek your express consent when we collect such special categories of personal data. Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with an answer to an enquiry). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
3. How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
-
Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Professional Data when you instruct us to provide our services to you by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by phone or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
- contact us; or
- request marketing to be sent to you.
- Other Franchisees and Group Companies We may receive information about you from TaxAssist Group Companies or other TaxAssist Franchisees, usually when they have made a referral or introduction to us.
- Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
4. How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
- Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.
| Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
|---|---|---|
| To respond to your enquiry submitted on the site or via phone or email |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Professional |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to manage your enquiry)
(b) Performance of a contract with you |
| To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Technical |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences |
(a) Technical
(b) Usage |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy) |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Technical |
Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business) |
| To provide our professional services to you | (a) Professional | Performance of a contract with you |
| To allow TaxAssist Direct Ltd and other Group Companies to manage and maintain standards within the TaxAssist network of businesses |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Professional |
Necessary for our legitimate interests as a member of the TaxAssist network of businesses and the legitimate interests of TaxAssist Direct Ltd in operating the TaxAssist network |
| To comply with legal and regulatory requirements including under anti-money laundering legislation |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Professional |
Necessary to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about our services that may be of interest to you |
(a) Identity
(b) Contact (c) Marketing and Communications |
(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests in promoting our business
(b) Consent |
Marketing
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.
We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical and Marketing of Communications Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).
We may send further marketing communications to you in future where you have been in contact with us regarding our services unless you have opted out of receiving such marketing communications.
You can ask us or third parties to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.
Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.
5. Disclosures of your personal data
We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.
- Our third party service providers
- Law enforcement and regulatory agencies in connection with any investigation to help prevent unlawful activity or as otherwise required by law
- HMRC and other authorities where we are required to do so
- An alternate appointed by us in the event of incapacity or death
- TaxAssist Direct Ltd as the franchisor of the TaxAssist franchised network of businesses
- Other TaxAssist Group Companies and Franchisees where appropriate
- Third parties in the event of an actual or proposed sale, transfer, or merger of our business, parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.
- Others, where you have specifically agreed.
We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
6. International transfers
Some of our third party service providers are based outside the United Kingdom and/or the European Economic Area (“EEA”) so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK and/or the EEA.
Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK or EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:
- We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the relevant UK or EU authority; and/or
- Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the relevant UK or EU authority which give personal data equivalent protection to that it has in the UK or EU as applicable.
Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.
7. Data security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so. If you think that any part of our process is not secure please email us at [email protected].
8. Data retention - how long will you use my personal data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
9. Your legal rights
Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:
- Request access to your personal data.
- Request correction of your personal data.
- Request erasure of your personal data.
- Object to processing of your personal data.
- Request restriction of processing your personal data.
- Request transfer of your personal data.
- Right to withdraw consent.
If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
10. Glossary
Lawful basis
Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us
Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.
Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.
Your legal rights
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.