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.

F & R Watson Accountants Limited is a data controller within the meaning of the GDPR and we process personal data.  The company is registered with Companies House under registration SC566760 and with the ICO under registration ZA372561. 

The firm’s contact details are as follows: F & R Watson Accountants Limited, 16 Kirk Brae, Maybole, KA19 7ER. 

If you have any queries or require further information, then you should contact Frank Watson on the address above or email: Frank@watsonaccountants.co.uk

Why we collect information from you

We only collect personal data from you so that we are able:

• to provide services under the contract in force between us
• to contact you about other services we provide which may be of interest to you if you have consented to us doing so
• to fulfil our legal obligations and comply with our regulatory requirements
• to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen
• to use for other legitimate interests. We will retain records based on our retention policy so that we can defend ourselves against potential legal claims or disciplinary action which can be brought within statutory time limits.

We may also use information from other people or organisations when carrying out these activities.

There is no automated decision-making involved in the use of your information and therefore no data portability.

What type of personal data will we hold

• Your full name 
• Your personal address
• Your email address
• Your contact telephone number
• Your date of birth
• Your gender
• Your marital status
• Your next of kin
• Your national insurance number
• Your UTR number
• Your passport identification
• Your driving licence identification
• Your photograph

The data will vary according to our relationship with the person whose data it is.

Information we may give to others

Your information will only be processed by the employees and the Directors of this practice, except in the following circumstances, and to enable us to undertake our contract with you:

• HM Revenue & Customs
• other third parties you require us to correspond with (for example, finance providers, pension providers (including auto-enrolment) and investment brokers)
• specialist advisors
• 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) or the Office of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (OPBAS) in relation to practice assurance or the requirements on us in relation to MLR 2017

If the law allows or requires us during the period of our contractual arrangements or after we have ceased to act we may give information about you to:

• the police and law enforcement agencies
• courts and tribunals
• the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

In addition, after we have ceased to act we may give information about you to:

• our professional indemnity insurers or legal advisers where we need to defend ourselves against a claim
• our professional disciplinary body where a complaint has been made against us in order to defend ourselves against a claim
• your new advisers or other third parties you ask us to give information to.

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.

Transferring personal data outside of the UK

Your personal data will be processed in the UK only. We shall not process and/or transfer, or otherwise directly or indirectly disclose, any Protected Data in or to countries outside the European Economic Authority unless your prior written consent has been obtained.

Data processed by third parties on our behalf

To enable us to perform our duties we use the services of other organisations in the processing your data. We use cloud-based software for accounting, credit checking and remote video calling and other service providers to support our accounting activities. A list of those data processors is available on request.

Those organisations that process personal data on our behalf are subject to a data processing contract as required by Article 28 of the UK GPDR. This ensures that your data is handled in accordance with the UK GPDR.

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 seven 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 seven 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 seven 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 seven 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 annually 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 Frank Watson.

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).

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 marked for the attention of Frank Watson. If you are not happy with our response, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the ICO (www.ico.org.uk).