PRIVACY NOTICE
Who we are
Charles Burrows & Co is a professional firm of Chartered Accountants, regulated by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS). Our office is at 7 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh EH12 5AH.
What personal information we collect
When we are engaged to provide personal tax services, we will collect personal taxpayer details, including, but not limited to: name, date of birth, address, National Insurance and tax reference numbers, marital status, bank account details, contact details, sources and amounts of income, expenses, investments and other assets. We will also require to see identification details, including copy passport and photographic ID and proof of address.
When a client engages us to provide accountancy services, we may collect the following personal information relating to our client's employees and their partners:
salary details, including: name, date of birth, address, National Insurance number / tax reference, marital status, salary / earnings details, bank account details, contact details (for example, email address), pension deductions and benefits in kind or other deductions;
financial information for accounts and audits, including: bank statements, invoices, supplier and customer information, payroll information and company secretarial information (name, date of birth, addresses, details of certain taxable income (for example, dividends) and share registry;
VAT information, including: bank statements, invoices (sales and costs) and cash expenses; and
identification details, including: copy passport, photographic ID and proof of address and details of all correspondence, which may contain financial information.
When we are engaged to provide payroll services, we will collect employee details, including, but not limited to: name, date of birth, address, National Insurance and tax reference numbers, marital status, bank account details, contact details, pension deductions and benefits in kind or other deductions.
We may ask you for additional personal information during the course of our engagement with clients, which shall be collected, stored and used in accordance with this privacy notice.
Where we collect personal information from
We collect personal information from our clients and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), banks, solicitors, investment managers, lenders and other agents. We also collect personal information from Companies House, which is a publicly accessible source.
How we use your personal information
We need to process personal information to perform the services you have engaged us to carry out and to comply with legal obligations and this includes:
deliver payroll services by processing salaries for clients, including filing returns with HMRC and distributing employee payslips by email / post;
deliver personal tax services by preparing and submitting annual tax returns and advising on tax payments / liabilities by email / post;
deliver accounting services by preparing accounts, submitting tax returns and complying with Companies House reporting requirements, as set down under the Companies Act 2006;
deliver VAT services by preparing and submitting VAT returns;
deliver audit services by reviewing entities' accounts to reach an audit opinion;
deliver company secretarial services by maintaining statutory books and submitting documentation to Companies House in accordance with the Companies Act 2006;
meet legal responsibilities, including the requirements of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and regulatory requirements imposed by regulatory bodies such as ICAS;
verify identity where this is required;
communication by post, email or telephone;
understand needs and how they may be met;
maintain records;
process financial transactions; and
prevent and detect crime, fraud or corruption.
We may also contact our clients in pursuit of our legitimate interests to promote our services by sending clients communications with updates. Where we use our clients' personal information for this purpose, you have a right to object to such use by writing to us at 7 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh EH12 5AH or emailing us at mail@charlesburrows.co.uk.
Who we share your personal information with
We may be required to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with statutory obligations and in relation to the provision of accountancy, taxation and payroll services. Such organisations include, but are not limited to, HMRC, Government and regulatory authorities such as ICAS.
We also share personal information with financial organisations, such as banks and pension providers, service providers and credit reference and debt collection agencies in relation to the provision of accountancy, taxation and payroll services and for the prevention and detection of crime, fraud or corruption.
The above organisations will likely become "controllers" of your personal information upon receipt and you should refer to their privacy statements if you would like further information on how they process your personal information.
We may also share personal information with our professional and legal advisors for the purposes of taking advice.
In the event that we do share personal information with external third parties, we will only share such personal information strictly required for the specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure that recipients shall only process the disclosed personal information in accordance with those purposes.
If you do not provide your personal information
If we do not receive all of the personal information that we need then this may affect our ability to provide our clients with the services they have engaged us to carry out.
How long we retain your personal information for
We will only keep your personal information for as long as is necessary and we have strict review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We generally hold your personal information for a minimum of six years after which time it will be destroyed. We may hold your information for a longer period than six years where we feel this is appropriate, e.g. in relation to Capital Gains Tax transactions where historic information may be usually held permanently.
Holding personal information outside the EEA
Personal data in the European Union is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) but some other countries may not necessarily have the same high standard of protection for your personal data. Charles Burrows & Co do not transfer or store any personal data outside the EU.
Using our website
We do not generally collect any personal information from our website. Any such information we do collect will be used in accordance with Data Protection Legislation and other applicable laws.
Your rights
Access to your information – You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.
Correcting your information – We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.
Deletion of your information – You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:
You consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained.
We are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent.
You have validly objected to our use of your personal information.
Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.
Objecting to how we may use your information – You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.
Restricting how we may use your information – In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where this is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you don't want us to delete the data. Where this right to validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.
Automated processing – If we use your personal information on an automated basis to make decisions which significantly affect you, you have the right to ask that the decision be reviewed by an individual to whom you may make representations and contest the decision. This right only applies where we use your information with your consent or as part of a contractual relationship with you.
Withdrawing consent using your information – Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.
You can exercise any of the above rights by writing to us at 7 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh, EH12 5AH or emailing us at mail@charlesburrows.co.uk
Changes to our privacy statement
We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained by request from our office, 7 Palmerston Please, Edinburgh EH12 5AH.
This privacy statement was last updated on 5 July 2018.
Contact information and further advice
If you have any questions which are not covered in this notice, we suggest that you email us at mail@charlesburrows.co.uk. If you would prefer to submit your questions in writing, please write to us at 7 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh EH12 5AH addressing your letter to the Data Protection Officer.
Complaints
We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, whose contact details are as follows:
The Information Commissioner’s Office – Scotland 45 Melville Street Edinburgh EH3 7HL Telephone: 0303 123 1115 Email: Scotland@ico.org.uk Website: ico.org.uk/concerns