Privacy Policy
1. Who we are
Linx Accounting Services Limited (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a company registered in England and Wales, company number 11742116, with its correspondence address at 124-128 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX.
We are an ACCA-licensed accountancy practice. We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZC094764.
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your personal data, contact us at info@linxaccounting.com or by post at the address above.
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains how we handle personal data when you:
- Submit an enquiry through an advertisement or form on Facebook or Instagram;
- Contact us by WhatsApp, email or telephone about a potential engagement;
- Become a client of the practice.
3. The personal data we collect
When you submit an enquiry form through our Facebook or Instagram advertising, we collect:
- Your name;
- Your telephone or WhatsApp number;
- Your email address;
- The type of correspondence you have received from HMRC;
- Whether the matter concerns a limited company, sole trade, partnership, or your personal tax position;
- An approximate band for your annual turnover or income;
- The response deadline that applies to your matter.
We ask for these details so we can identify what your correspondence actually is, tell you what deadline applies, and give you an accurate fee quotation.
We do not ask for, and you should not send us, bank statements, identity documents, Unique Taxpayer References or tax records at the enquiry stage. If you engage us, those are collected later through a secure channel.
When you message us on WhatsApp, we receive the content of your messages, including any images you choose to send, together with your WhatsApp display name and number.
If you become a client, we collect the further information necessary to carry out the engagement, including financial records, identification documents required under anti-money-laundering regulations, and correspondence with HMRC on your behalf.
4. Why we use your data, and our lawful basis
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Respond to your enquiry, identify your HMRC correspondence and provide a quotation | Legitimate interests — responding to someone who has actively asked us to |
| Contact you by WhatsApp, telephone or email about the enquiry you submitted | Consent, which you give when you submit the form |
| Carry out an engagement once you become a client | Performance of a contract |
| Verify identity and carry out anti-money-laundering checks | Legal obligation |
| Keep records of advice given and work performed | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
| Send you information about our other services | Consent — you can withdraw it at any time |
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by replying “STOP” to any WhatsApp message or by emailing us. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did lawfully before you withdrew it.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interest in responding to your enquiry is outweighed by your rights, and concluded it is not, because you contacted us and expect a reply.
5. Who we share your data with
We do not sell your personal data. We never will. We share it only with:
- HubSpot — our client relationship management system, which stores your contact details and the status of your enquiry. Our HubSpot account is hosted in the European Union. Where any data is processed outside the UK, transfers are covered by appropriate safeguards.
- Microsoft (SharePoint and Outlook) — our document storage and email systems.
- Meta Platforms — where you submit a form through a Facebook or Instagram advertisement, or contact us on WhatsApp, Meta processes that data as described in its own privacy policy. We also send Meta limited information about whether an enquiry progressed, so we can measure which advertisements produce genuine enquiries. That information is transmitted in a hashed, pseudonymised form.
- HMRC — only where you have engaged us and authorised us to act as your agent.
- Professional advisers and our regulator (ACCA), where we are required to disclose.
We have written data-processing terms in place with each of these providers.
6. International transfers
Some of the providers above process data outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision, as appropriate.
7. How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not become engagements: 12 months from your last contact with us, after which we delete them.
- Client records: at least 6 years after the engagement ends, to meet HMRC and ACCA record-keeping requirements.
- Anti-money-laundering records: 5 years from the end of the business relationship, as the regulations require.
- WhatsApp conversations: 12 months for non-clients; for clients, the duration of the engagement plus the periods above.
8. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to: be told what we hold about you and get a copy of it; have inaccurate data corrected; ask us to delete data where there is no good reason for us to keep it; object to or restrict how we use it; ask us to transfer it to another provider; and withdraw consent at any time.
To exercise any of these, email info@linxaccounting.com. We will respond within one month.
Where we are legally required to keep records — for example under anti-money-laundering regulations — we may not be able to delete data on request, and we will explain why if that applies.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you came to us first so we can put it right.
9. Security
We hold your data on access-controlled systems with encryption in transit and at rest, and we restrict access to those in the practice who need it. No system is perfectly secure, but we take the protection of client data seriously and review our arrangements annually.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. Where changes are significant we will tell affected clients directly.
