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Introduction

The Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 2017 (DPL 2017) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impose certain legal obligations in connection with the processing and protection of personal data.

Perkins Group consists of Perkins Chartered Certified Accountants, Perkins Trustees Limited and Albany Secretarial Services Limited, all located in Guernsey. The relevant Perkins Group entity with the primary client relationship will be confirmed in an engagement letter in respect of any client relationship and that entity is a data controller within the meaning of the DPL 2017 / GDPR and processes personal data.

Any questions in relation to this Privacy Notice or requests in respect of personal data should be directed to [email protected] in the first instance.

We may amend this privacy notice from time to time. If we do so, a revised notice will appear on our website. A hard copy will be available in our reception area during normal office hours.

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, such as accountancy, audit, tax, pensions, corporate and fiduciary services
  • to fulfil our obligations under relevant laws in force from time to time
  • compliance with professional obligations to which we are subject as licensed fiduciaries, or as a member firm of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
  • to use in the investigation of potential complaints, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings and other 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

Categories of personal data collected

Perkins Group processes data in order to provide accountancy, audit, tax, pensions, corporate and fiduciary services. The type of data we may collect and process includes:

  • contact details (including names, business and residential addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers)
  • your age/date of birth and gender
  • special or sensitive category data (such as: health or medical status, biometrics used for identification purposes e.g. a copy of your Photo ID certified as being of true likeness)
  • information required for Perkins Group to meet legal and regulatory requirements, in particular in respect of anti-money laundering legislation, including information on source of funds and source of wealth
  • information provided in the course of the provision of accountancy, audit, tax, pensions, corporate and fiduciary services (for example, information on professional relationships and background, financial wealth and assets held, transactions entered into and tax status)
  • financial information, such as accounts and payment related information
  • professional interests and events attended
  • meetings attended and visits to our offices
  • any other information you may provide to us

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.

Source of personal data collected

The sources of data may include clients, intermediaries, data subjects directly, third parties connected to the data subject (for example, their employer or another service provider who provides services to the data subject) or open-source material.

The provision of data to one entity in Perkins Group may result in that data being accessible by all other members of Perkins Group. Reasonable endeavours are made to ensure that data is only accessible by those with a need for access to fulfil the purposes set out above.

Persons/organisations to whom we may give personal data

We may share your personal data with:

  • other members of the Perkins Group
  • other providers of services (legal, governance or otherwise, including any bank or financial institution providing services in relation to any matter on which Perkins Group is engaged) where disclosure to that provider of services is considered necessary to fulfil the purposes set out above
  • States of Guernsey Revenue Service (income tax, social security)
  • Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
  • any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond
  • subcontractors, agents or service providers
  • an alternate appointed by us in the event of incapacity or death
  • tax insurance providers
  • professional indemnity insurers
  • The Guernsey Financial Services Commission or the Financial Services Ombudsman or the Pensions Regulator in pursuance of their regulatory responsibilities
  • our professional body (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in relation to practice assurance and/or the requirements of relevant legislation or the rules of the Association

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 Data Protection Commissioner in Guernsey

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 the provision of professional services to you.

Transfers of personal data outside Guernsey

Your personal data will be processed in Guernsey and by service providers located in the Channel Islands, UK, EU or equivalent jurisdictions under DPL 2017 /GDPR.

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 including supporting accounts and working papers for 10 years from the end of the tax year to which the information relates
  • where accounts have been prepared it is our policy to retain information including working papers for 10 years from the end of the financial year to which the information relates
  • where ad hoc advisory work has been undertaken it is our policy to retain information for 10 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 10 years after the end of the business relationship (unless you as our client ask us to retain it for a longer period, for which we may levy a fee)

Our contractual terms provide for the destruction of documents after 10 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 where applicable. Documents and records relevant to your tax affairs including supporting accounts, books and records are required by law to be retained by you as follows:

Guernsey Income Tax:

  • six years from the end of the calendar year in which the return was submitted to Guernsey Income Tax.

UK Tax:

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 we will delete or return all personal data to the data controller as agreed with the data controller either monthly, annually and/or 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 our Data Protection 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.

DPL 2017 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 unless we are being asked for additional copies of data already supplied or unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

You can ask someone else to request information on your behalf – for example, a friend, relative or advocate/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 to 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 website of the Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner (www.odpa.gg). 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 website of the Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner (www.odpa.gg). 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.

The right to data portability only applies:

  • to personal data an individual has provided to a data 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 DPL 2017 or GDPR in some other way, you can complain to us. Please send any complaints to the Data Protection Manager, Perkins Group, The Albany, South Esplanade, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1AQ (tel: 01481 724966).

If you are not happy with our response, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Guernsey Data Protection Commissioner, Office of the Data Protection Authority (ODPA), St Martin’s House, Le Bordage, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1BR (Tel: +44 (0)1481 742074 Email: [email protected] Website: www.odpa.gg).