ABN Australia respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, and how you can access or correct it or make a complaint.
We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
1. Who we are
1.1 This policy applies to ABN Australia Accounting Services Pty Ltd (ABN 18 647 607 850, ACN 647 607 850), trading as ABN Australia, and to the related entities in the ABN Australia group through which we provide our services.
1.2 In this policy, ABN Australia, we, us and our mean those entities. You and your mean the individual whose personal information we handle, which may include our clients, the directors, officers, beneficial owners and employees of our clients, our suppliers, job applicants, and visitors to our website.
2. What is personal information
2.1 Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether true or not and whether recorded in a material form or not.
2.2 Sensitive information is a type of personal information that includes information about a person's health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, membership of professional or trade associations, criminal record and biometric information. We collect sensitive information only where it is reasonably necessary for our functions and either you have consented or we are required or authorised by law to collect it.
3. The kinds of personal information we collect
Depending on the services we provide and your relationship with us, the personal information we collect and hold may include:
identity and contact details, such as your name, position, email address, postal address and phone number;
identity verification information collected to meet our anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and "know your customer" obligations, such as date of birth, identification documents (for example passport or driver licence details) and evidence of beneficial ownership;
tax and financial information, such as tax file numbers, Australian Business Numbers, income, financial statements, bank account details and payment details;
employment and payroll information where we provide payroll, bookkeeping, finance function or employer of record services, such as salary, superannuation details, bank account details, leave records and emergency contacts;
information about company officers and beneficial owners that we are required to collect, lodge or maintain with government registers;
records of our dealings with you, including correspondence, instructions, notes and the services we have provided; and
technical information collected when you use our website (see clause 7).
4. Tax file numbers and government identifiers
4.1 As a registered tax agent, we collect and handle tax file numbers in connection with the tax services we provide. We handle tax file numbers in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015. We do not use or disclose tax file numbers except as authorised by taxation, personal assistance or superannuation law.
4.2 We do not adopt a government related identifier (such as a tax file number or ABN) as our own identifier of you, and we do not use or disclose it except as permitted by law.
5. How we collect personal information
5.1 We collect personal information in a range of ways, including:
directly from you, when you contact us, complete a form, engage our services, correspond with us by email, phone or messaging channels such as WhatsApp, or apply for a role with us;
from people authorised to act for you, such as your directors, officers, employees or other advisers;
from third parties, such as your other professional advisers, financial institutions, identity verification providers, and government agencies;
from publicly available sources, such as the registers maintained by ASIC and the Australian Business Register; and
automatically, when you use our website (see clause 7).
5.2 Where it is reasonable and practicable, we collect personal information directly from you. Where we collect your information from a third party, we take reasonable steps to ensure you are made aware of the matters in this policy.
5.3 If you provide us with personal information about another individual, you must ensure you are entitled to do so and that the individual is aware of this policy.
6. Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for purposes connected with our business, including to:
provide our accounting, tax, corporate secretarial, bookkeeping, payroll, finance function, employer of record, advisory and related services;
establish and administer companies, branches and registrations, and prepare and lodge documents with government agencies such as the ATO and ASIC;
verify identity and meet our obligations under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing law;
communicate with you, respond to your enquiries and manage our relationship with you;
process payments and manage billing;
meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations, including under the taxation laws, the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth) and the standards of our professional bodies;
consider and manage applications for employment;
improve our website and services; and
send you information about our services (see clause 11).
7. Cookies, analytics and our website
7.1 When you visit our website, we may collect information such as your IP address, device and browser type, the date and time of your visit, the pages you view and the documents you download.
7.2 We use cookies and similar technologies, including analytics tools such as Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics, to understand how our website is used and to improve it. You can set your browser to refuse cookies, although some parts of the website may not work properly if you do.
7.3 Some of these tools are provided by third parties who may collect information directly from your device under their own privacy policies.
8. Who we disclose personal information to
We may disclose personal information to:
our related entities within the ABN Australia group;
our staff and contractors, including members of our offshore delivery team, who assist us in providing our services (see clause 9);
our service providers, including providers of software, cloud hosting, customer relationship management, document collection, accounting and communications platforms;
government agencies and regulators, such as the ATO, ASIC, AUSTRAC and state revenue offices, where required or authorised;
financial institutions, identity verification providers and other organisations involved in delivering the services you have asked us to provide;
your other advisers and representatives, where you have authorised us to do so;
our professional advisers and insurers; and
any person where we are required or authorised by law to do so, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
9. Sending information overseas
9.1 We operate an onshore and offshore delivery model. Some of the personal information we hold is accessed by or disclosed to members of our delivery team and contractors located in Australia, the UK, or the Philippines.
9.2 We also use software and cloud service providers that may store or process personal information in countries including the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, and other locations.
9.3 Before disclosing personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient handles it consistently with the APPs, including through contractual confidentiality and data protection obligations.
10. How we hold and protect your information
10.1 We hold personal information in electronic and, where relevant, physical form. We take reasonable steps, including appropriate technical and organisational measures, to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include access controls, secure systems, and confidentiality obligations on our staff and contractors.
10.2 No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
10.3 If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm, we will respond in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act, including notifying affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) where required.
11. Direct marketing
11.1 We may use your contact details to send you information about our services, insights and updates that we think may be of interest to you. We do this in accordance with the Privacy Act and the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).
11.2 You can opt out of our marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe function in our emails or by contacting us using the details in clause 17. We will action your request within a reasonable time.
12. Automated decision-making and artificial intelligence
12.1 We use technology, including automated tools and artificial intelligence, to help us operate our website and deliver our services more efficiently, for example to triage enquiries and assist our team in preparing communications and documents.
12.2 We do not make decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you using solely automated means without meaningful human involvement. Where we use personal information in automated decision-making in a way that significantly affects you, we will provide information about that use in this policy in accordance with the Privacy Act.
13. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as we are required to keep it under law, including the record-keeping requirements of the taxation laws, the Corporations Act and anti-money laundering law. When we no longer need it, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
14. Accessing and correcting your information
14.1 You can ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. To make a request, contact us using the details in clause 17.
14.2 We will respond to your request within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity first. There is no charge to make a request, although we may charge a reasonable cost for giving access in some cases.
14.3 If we refuse your request, we will tell you why in writing and explain how you can complain about that decision, except where it would be unreasonable to do so.
15. Making a complaint
15.1 If you have a concern or complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the details in clause 17. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to resolve it promptly and fairly.
15.2 If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
Website: https://www.oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is the one published on our website, and the "last updated" date at the top shows when it was last changed. We recommend you review it periodically.
17. How to contact us
If you have any questions about this policy, or want to access or correct your information or make a complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer, ABN Australia Accounting Services Pty Ltd
232 Unley Road, Unley SA 5061
Email: contact@abnaustralia.com.au
Website: https://abnaustralia.com.au/contact