Privacy Policy
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.
Crestmere Limited is a data controller within the meaning of the GDPR and we process personal data. The firm’s contact details are as follows: Crestmere Limited, Unit F1, Intec, Ffordd Y Parc, Parc Menai, Bangor, LL57 4BA. Telephone 0330 400 4232. Data Protection Officer can also be contacted at Crestmere Limited at the same address.
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.
The purposes for which we intend to process personal data
We intend to process personal data for the following purposes:
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 enable us to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen
to contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so
The legal bases for our intended processing of personal data
Our intended processing of personal data has the following legal bases:
at the time you instructed us to act, you gave consent to our processing your personal data for the purposes listed above
the processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you
the processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject (e.g. MLR 2017)
the processing is necessary for the purposes of the following legitimate interests which we pursue:
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 enable us to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen
to contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so
It is 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.
Categories of personal data collected
Personal data is any information capable of identifying an individual. It does not include anonymised data. We may collect certain types of data about you as follows:
Identifying Data. This may include your first name, maiden name, last name, user name, title, date of birth, gender, tax reference numbers and professional association registration numbers
Contact Data. This may include your business address, residence address, billing address, delivery address, email address, employer address, and telephone numbers
Financial Data. This may include bank accounts, building society accounts and payment card details
Transaction Data. This may include details of payments between us and other details of sales and purchases made by you
Marketing and Communications Data. This may include your preferences in receiving marketing communications from us and our third parties and your communication preferences
Source of personal data collected
We collect data about you through the following:
Direct interactions
You may provide data by filling in forms, communicating with us by post, telephone, email, face to face meetings or otherwise, including when you enlist our services, request advice, resources or marketing information be sent to you, enter a survey or give us feedback.
Third parties or publicly available sources
We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources, for example:
Analytics providers, such as Google, based outside the EU
Advertising networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, based outside the EU
Search information providers such as Google, based outside the EU
Contact, financial and transaction data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services
Identity and contact data from publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Electoral Register, based inside the EU
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)
service providers who provide IT and systems administration services
professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, accountants, insurers and consultants who provide banking, legal, insurance and IT services
any entity which is required to receive your data as part of the standard processing of the services you have entrusted us with
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 EU
Your personal data is processed in the UK and Ireland 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 7 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.
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 the Practice Manager.
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
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
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 Practice Manager, Crestmere Limited, Unit F1, Intec, Parc Menai, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 4FG..
You have a right to make a report or lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
For more information on your rights and how to contact the ICO, please refer to their website.