We strive to protect your personal information and support a general policy of openness about how we collect, use and disclose your personal information. Any such information that we collect in respect of your use of this website and when you contact us through the website will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy. By accessing or using our website, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set out in this privacy policy. We are committed to protecting the privacy of personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles, which are contained in the Privacy Act 1988.

We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy was last updated on 04/04/2016.

We are TaxAssist Direct Australia Pty Ltd (company number 26102840) of Level 14, 275 Alfred Street, North Sydney, New South Wales 2060 (we or us).

Our Privacy Officer is Mandy Sigaloff who can be contacted at the above address.

What we may collect

For the purpose of this privacy policy, ‘personal information’ means information about an identifiable individual.

Information you give to us:

We may collect the following information as indicated by our ‘contact us’ form:

  • Name.
  • Email address.
  • Postal address and postal code.
  • Telephone number.
  • How you found our website.
  • Your business experience and qualifications.
  • Other information which may help us deal with your enquiry and any information which may help us decide if the franchise is right for you and you are right for the franchise.

Other information we may collect: 

With regard to each of your visits to the website, we may also automatically collect the following information:

  • Technical information, including the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions operating systems and platforms.
  • Information about your visit to our website, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time), page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.

What we do with the information we gather

Information you give us

We will use this information for the following purposes:

  • Internal record keeping.
  • To send you newsletters and other marketing communications if you have requested it.
  • To contact you regarding your enquiry and our franchise offering.
  • To decide if the franchise is right for you and you are right for the franchise.

You can choose not to allow us to use your personal information for marketing purposes by contacting us as outlined below.

If TaxAssist Direct Australia Pty Ltd uses or discloses your personal information for the purposes of direct marketing, you may request not to receive direct marketing communications from us or our related entities. We will stop sending direct marketing communications to you within a reasonable period after your request is made (usually within five business days from receiving your request).

Other information we may collect from you:

We will use this information for the following purposes:

  • To administer our website and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes.
  • To improve our website to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
  • As part of our efforts to help keep our website safe and secure.

Disclosure of your information

We may share your personal information with:

  • Our UK affiliates, for the same reasons as set out above.
  • An unaffiliated service provider, to provide any of the services (including website functionality) on our behalf or to carry out one or more of the purposes described above. In some instances, such service providers may collect the information described above directly from you or your computer instead of through us.
  • Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website.
  • Our professional advisors.
  • Any member of our group that may exist from time to time, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect any of our rights and/or property. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Your consent

Typically, we will seek consent for the use or disclosure of your personal information at the time of collection. In certain circumstances, consent may be sought after the information has been collected but before use (for example, when we want to use information for a purpose not previously identified).

The form of consent that we seek, including whether it is express or implied, will largely depend on the sensitivity of the personal information and the reasonable expectations of the individual in the circumstances. We will not, as a condition of the supply of a product or service, require you to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of information beyond that required to fulfil the explicitly specified and legitimate purposes for which the information is being provided.

You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact us as set out below. We will inform you of the implications of withdrawing consent.

Storing your data

We or one of our affiliates, or an unaffiliated service provider may process and store your personal information outside of the state or territory in which you reside and/or outside of Australia. Under the laws of those other jurisdictions, in certain circumstances courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other states, territories or foreign jurisdictions may be entitled to access your personal information.

We will take all commercially reasonable steps necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected and to comply with applicable laws, and your consent to such purposes(s) remains valid after termination of our relationship with you.

Security

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we strive to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to and from our website; any transmission is at your own risk.

Once we have received your personal information, we strive to protect it. In order to reduce the risk of unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. However, we cannot guarantee that unauthorised access or disclosure will never happen.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which is placed on your computer's hard drive. The cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to provide you with a more customized browsing experience. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

For more detailed information about cookies visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

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 choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. By continuing to use our website unless you have declined cookies, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our website, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information by not using our website or not providing it to us via the ‘contact us’ forms on this website.

Other than set out in this privacy policy, we will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so.

We aim to ensure that any information we obtain from you is accurate.  You can request access to your personal information or advise us of any required correction and information which you believe to be inaccurate by forwarding a request to [email protected].

The exceptions under the Australian Privacy Principles which affect your right to access your personal information we hold about you include the following:

  • Access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any individual.
  • Access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others.
  • A frivolous or vexatious request.
  • The information relates to a commercially sensitive decision making process.
  • Access would be unlawful or denying access is required or authorised by law.
  • Access would prejudice enforcement activities relating to criminal activities and other breaches of law, public revenue, a security function, or negotiations with the individual.
  • Legal dispute resolution proceedings.

Although we are committed to ensuring that at all times there is strict adherence to the Australian Privacy Principles, in the event that you are dissatisfied in any way with the collection, use, storage and/or disclosure of your personal information or believe that there has been a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, we invite you to contact us as soon as possible. Our Privacy Officer (Mandy Sigaloff) can be contacted on:

1300 513 332
[email protected]

All complaints are to be made in writing to TaxAssist Accountants is then allowed a reasonable time (within 30 days) to respond to complaints. We may ask you to participate in a dispute resolution scheme (such as mediation) in order to resolve your complaint.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can write to “Privacy Officer, TaxAssist Accountants, Level 14, 275 Alfred Street, North Sydney, New South Wales 2060″. If you are not satisfied with the manner in which we deal with your complaint, you may refer it to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC“). You can contact OAIC by:

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