Bentley Reid & Co (UK) Limited – EU Data Privacy Notice

July 2023

Introduction

The Data Protection Act 2018 (‘DPA 2018’) and the General Data Protection Regulation  (‘GDPR’), as it now applied to the United Kingdom impose certain legal obligations in connection with the processing of personal data.

Bentley Reid & Co. (UK) Limited is a data controller within the meaning of the GDPR and we are a Data Controller and process Personal Data (as such terms are defined under GDPR). The firm’s contact details are as follows:

Registered office address: 29 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9 BU

Telephone number: +44 (0) 20 7222 8081

Email address: uk@bentleyreid.co.uk

Firm representatives: Rupert Bentley

References to GDPR in this privacy notice are to the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), as it forms part of domestic law in the United Kingdom by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (including as further amended or modified by the laws of the United Kingdom or of a part of the United Kingdom from time to time); reference to ‘personal data’ is as defined under GDPR.

We may amend this privacy notice from time to time. If we do so, we will supply you with and/or otherwise make available to you a copy of the amended 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 provide professional services to you as our client;
• to fulfil our obligations under relevant laws in force from time to time (e.g. the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as amended (‘MLR 2017’));
• to comply with professional obligations to which we are subject as a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation or The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland;
• to use in the investigation and/or defence of potential complaints, disciplinary proceedings and legal proceedings;
• to enable us to invoice you for our services and investigate/address any attendant fee disputes that may have arisen;
• to identify changes in law or tax planning opportunities that may have an impact on you, and to advise you at our discretion of those; and
• to contact you about our services that we feel may be of interest to you.

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, including the provision of professional services under that contract;
• The processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject (e.g. MLR 2017); and
• The processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests which we pursue, which are equivalent to the purposes listed above.

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. We will not request more information than we believe is required.

Categories and source of personal data collected

• Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (including name, date of birth, email address, phone number, postal address, nationality, place of birth, tax residence status, tax domicile status, national insurance number, unique taxpayer reference etc);
• Tax documents and information (including tax returns, tax identification numbers, bank account statements, details of income, expenditure, gains, losses and any other transactional and financial information required to provide the professional services you have requested); and
• Answers to our client acceptance questions which relate to our respective legal obligations under the MLR 2017.

We do not routinely process special category data (relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex life or sexual orientation). However, we may be able to infer or deduce certain special category  data based on the information we use to provide the professional services to you, certain special category data may come to light as a result of our discussions with you or third parties with whom you request that we correspond (e.g. if we are included in discussions or correspondence with life insurance brokers regarding your health), or in certain circumstances certain special category data may be required in the performance of the professional services you have requested (e.g. if you advise us that you wish to make a claim for a tax relief only available to disabled persons, if you qualify for special tax treatment in other jurisdictions due to your race, religion or ethnicity). If you provide any special category data to us, you must provide your explicit consent (orally or in writing) to our processing of any such special category data for the purpose of providing the professional services to you, and you may remove your consent at any time in writing to us.

Information is obtained either from you, your representatives (e.g. family office representatives) or from a third party where you have directed or permitted us to contact them in this regard, or from publicly accessible sources which we may consult either as part of complying with our legal obligations under MLR 2017 or otherwise in the course of providing the professional services you have requested.

If you are acting in your capacity of Power of Attorney or otherwise acting on someone else’s behalf, we also process personal data relating to that person. You warrant that you have authority to provide such personal data to us.

Persons / organisations to whom we may give personal data

We may share your personal data with:

• HMRC;
• any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond;
• subcontractors;
• professional indemnity insurers;
• our professional bodies the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; and/or
• the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (‘OPBAS’) in relation to practice assurance and/or the requirements of MLR 2017 (or any similar legislation).

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; and/or
• the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’).

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 to act.

How we store your personal data

Your personal data will be securely stored on cloud based IT systems and software hosted by third parties, including Microsoft OneDrive.

Retention of personal data

Your personal data will be retained in compliance with privacy laws and regulations and will not be retained for longer than required.

You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your tax affairs, and these are required by law to be retained by you as follows:

Individuals, trustees and partnerships:

• with trading or rental income: 5 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:

• 6 years after the end of the accounting period.

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 documents and records relating to you as follows:

• Where we enter into a contractual arrangement with you, our policy is to retain your information for 7 years after your relationship with us ends, after which it will be deleted or destroyed, unless you inform us that you require the return of any specific document or a longer retention period.
• Where you decide not to enter into a contractual arrangement with us, we will retain your details for a period of 7 years after you provide it to us, after which it will be deleted or destroyed, unless you inform us that you require the return of any specific document or a longer retention period.

Our contractual terms provide for the deletion or destruction of documents as noted above and therefore agreement to the contractual terms is taken as agreement to the retention of records for the above period, and to their deletion or 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.

Security

We are committed to making sure your personal data is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have technical and organisational measures in place to safeguard and secure your personal data. All personnel are obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal data and comply with data privacy law in the UK.

Subcontractors

In the event that we subcontract professional services to other firms, we may transfer your personal data to such firms under the terms and conditions of a subcontractor agreement between Bentley Reid & Co. (UK) Limited and those firms, to the extent required to facilitate the performance of those professional services. It is a condition of that subcontractor agreement that the subcontractor adheres to the same standards set by Bentley Reid & Co (UK) Limited in respect of the confidentiality of your personal data and compliance with data privacy law in the UK.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

Your right of access

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 Jonathan Grigg, or otherwise ‘The Data Protection Officer’.

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 or your tax reference number; and
• what type of information you want to know.

If you do not have a national insurance number, you might instead send us a copy of:

• the back page of your passport or a copy of your driving licence; and
• a recent utility bill.

The 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 (unless it is clear to us that the subject access right is being used vexatiously).

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.

Your 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.

Your 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.

Your right to restriction of processing and to object to processing

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.

Your 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; and
• 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 professional services to you; and
• 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, if you think we have not complied with the GDPR or DPA 2018 in some way, or if you are otherwise concerned about an alleged breach of privacy law or any other regulation, you can complain to us. We will investigate your complaint and provide information about how it will be handled and resolved. Please send any complaints to operations@bentleyreid.com.

If you are not happy with our response or how we have resolved your complaint, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the ICO.

The ICO’s address is:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk