Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

PR Accountants Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you visit our website, contact us, make an enquiry, become a client, or use our accountancy, tax, bookkeeping, payroll, VAT or company secretarial services.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, PR Accountants Ltd is the data controller for the personal data we process, unless we tell you otherwise.

2. Our details

Business name: PR Accountants Ltd
Company number: 15102388
Email: info@praccounting.co.uk
Telephone: 07459192762
ICO registration Ref: ZB649142

3. Personal data we may collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

• your name, address, email address and telephone number;
• business name and business contact details;
• date of birth and National Insurance number, where required;
• Unique Taxpayer Reference, company number, VAT number, PAYE references and Companies House details;
• identification documents and anti-money laundering information;
• financial records, bookkeeping records, bank information and tax information;
• payroll information, employee details and pension information, where relevant;
• correspondence, emails and documents you send to us;
• information submitted through our website contact form;
• website usage data, such as pages visited and technical information about your device, where cookies or analytics tools are used.

We only collect information that is relevant to the enquiry, service, legal obligation or professional work being carried out.

4. How we collect personal data

We may collect personal data from:

• you directly;
• your business, employees, directors, shareholders or authorised representatives;
• HMRC, Companies House and other public registers;
• accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero or similar platforms;
• payroll, bookkeeping, tax and compliance systems;
• email, telephone, online forms and document-sharing systems;
• anti-money laundering and identity verification providers;
• banks, lenders, solicitors or other advisers, where you authorise this or where it is necessary for the work.

5. Why we use your personal data

We may use your personal data to:

• respond to enquiries;
• provide quotes and discuss services;
• onboard clients and complete anti-money laundering checks;
• prepare accounts, tax returns, VAT returns, payroll and bookkeeping records;
• provide company secretarial services;
• communicate with HMRC, Companies House and other relevant authorities;
• manage client relationships and correspondence;
• issue invoices and collect payments;
• comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations;
• keep business records;
• improve our website and services;
• deal with complaints, disputes or professional matters.

6. Lawful basis for using your personal data

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. The ICO explains that lawful bases include contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests and consent, among others.

We may rely on the following lawful bases:

Purpose

Lawful basis

Responding to enquiries

Legitimate interests / pre-contract steps

Providing accountancy and tax services

Contract

Completing AML checks

Legal obligation

Preparing and filing tax returns/accounts

Contract / legal obligation

Payroll processing

Contract / legal obligation

Communicating with HMRC or Companies House

Contract / legal obligation

Invoicing and fee collection

Contract / legitimate interests

Keeping professional and business records

Legal obligation / legitimate interests

Website analytics

Consent, where required

Marketing communications

Consent or legitimate interests, depending on the circumstances

Where we rely on legitimate interests, this means we use your personal data in a way that is necessary for running our business, providing services, responding to enquiries, protecting our position, and managing client relationships, provided your rights and interests do not override those interests.

7. Anti-money laundering checks

As an accountancy service provider, we may be required to carry out identity verification and anti-money laundering checks before acting for you and during the client relationship.

This may include collecting identification documents, proof of address, company ownership details, source of funds information and related due diligence records.

We may use third-party identity verification or AML screening providers to help complete these checks.

8. Sharing your personal data

We may share your personal data with:

• HMRC;
• Companies House;
• payroll and pension providers;
• accounting software providers;
• tax, bookkeeping and practice management software providers;
• anti-money laundering and identity verification providers;
• professional advisers, insurers or legal representatives;
• payment providers and banks;
• IT, cloud storage, email and document-sharing providers;
• subcontractors or staff working under appropriate confidentiality obligations;
• regulators or authorities where we are legally required to do so.

We will only share personal data where it is necessary, lawful and relevant to the work or obligation involved.

9. International transfers

Some software, cloud storage, email, analytics or IT service providers may process data outside the UK.

Where this happens, we expect appropriate safeguards to be in place, such as adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms required by UK data protection law.

10. How long we keep personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected, including legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, professional indemnity and record-keeping requirements.

As a general guide:

• enquiry records may be kept for up to 12 months if you do not become a client;
• client records are usually kept for at least 6 years after the end of the client relationship or the relevant tax/accounting period;
• AML records are usually kept for at least 5 years after the end of the business relationship, unless a longer period is required;
• complaint, dispute or claim-related records may be kept for longer where necessary.

The ICO says privacy information should explain retention periods or the criteria used to decide how long personal data will be kept.

11. How we protect your data

We take reasonable steps to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse or disclosure.

This may include:

• secure email and document-sharing systems;
• password protection and access controls;
• cloud software with appropriate security measures;
• staff/subcontractor confidentiality obligations;
• anti-virus and IT security measures;
• limiting access to data to those who need it.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Your rights

You have rights under UK data protection law. These may include the right to:

• access your personal data;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• request deletion of your data;
• restrict processing;
• object to processing;
• request data portability;
• withdraw consent, where processing is based on consent;
• complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO confirms that individuals should be told about their rights, including access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection and data portability.

13. Marketing

We may contact existing or prospective clients about services that may be relevant to them, where permitted by law.

You can ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time by contacting us using the details above.

We do not sell personal data to third parties.

14. Website contact forms

When you submit an enquiry through our website, we use the information you provide to respond to your enquiry and consider whether we can assist you.

Submitting an enquiry does not create an accountant-client relationship. A client relationship is only formed once we have agreed to act for you and issued engagement terms.

15. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of those external websites.

16. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have any concerns about how we handle your personal data.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data protection matters.

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will be published on our website.