Privacy Policy

This policy explains how United Square Pty Ltd (ABN 82 618 171 010), trading as USQ Accountants (“USQ”, “we”, “us”), handles personal information. We are a Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand practice, and our tax agents are registered with the Tax Practitioners Board.

We handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015, the Code of Professional Conduct in the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (Cth), and our professional and legal obligations as accountants.

Depending on the work we do for you, we may collect:

• identity and contact details: name, date of birth, address, email, phone and mobile;
• government identifiers: tax file number (TFN), ABN, ACN, director ID and, where we must verify your identity, details from identity documents such as a passport or driver licence;
• financial information: income, expenses, assets, bank account details, superannuation and investment details;
• business information: records, bookkeeping data, payroll and employee details;
• information about related people, such as your spouse, dependants, business partners, directors, trustees, beneficiaries and employees;
• correspondence with us, and details of the services we provide and fees we charge;
• technical information when you use our website or client portal, such as IP address, browser and pages visited.

We don't generally need sensitive information (such as health information). If a service requires it — for example, a medical expense or disability-related tax matter — we collect it only with your consent and only as much as the work needs.

We collect personal information:

• directly from you — in meetings, by phone, email or SMS, through forms on our website and through our client portal;
• from the Australian Taxation Office, ASIC, the Australian Business Register and other government agencies, through the online services available to us as your tax agent;
• from your employer, bank, super fund, previous accountant or other advisers, with your authority;
• from our business clients about their employees — for example, when an employee completes a payroll onboarding form on their employer's link;
• from public sources such as company and business name registers.

If someone gives us information about you (for example, a spouse or employer), we ask them to let you know and to point you to this policy.

As a registered tax agent we are authorised to collect TFNs to prepare and lodge returns and to act for you with the ATO. Quoting your TFN is not compulsory and it isn't an offence not to give it, but without it we can't add you to our ATO client list or lodge on your behalf.

We use TFNs only for tax, superannuation and related purposes permitted by law. Stored TFNs are kept separately from other records, are masked wherever they are displayed, and only senior staff can view them in full. We never use a TFN to identify you for any other purpose, and we don't disclose it except as the law allows.

We use personal information to:

• provide our services: tax returns, BAS and IAS, bookkeeping, payroll, company secretarial and advisory work;
• verify your identity and meet our legal obligations, including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws;
• communicate with you about your affairs, deadlines and our services;
• prepare quotes, proposals and invoices, and collect fees;
• run our client portal, keep our systems secure and improve our services;
• meet professional standards, including quality reviews by our professional body.

We may tell you about services we think are relevant to you. You can ask us to stop at any time, and every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. We never sell personal information.

We disclose personal information only as needed for the purposes above, to:

• the ATO, ASIC, the Tax Practitioners Board, AUSTRAC and other government bodies, as required to do the work or by law;
• people you authorise, such as your bank, lender, financial adviser, lawyer or another accountant;
• service providers who help us run the practice — for example tax lodgement software, accounting software (such as QuickBooks and Xero), proposal and billing software, email, SMS, cloud hosting and document storage — who may use the information only to provide their service to us;
• our insurers and professional advisers, and our professional body for quality reviews;
• anyone else where you consent or the law requires or authorises it.

Some of our software and cloud providers store or process data outside Australia, including in the United States and other countries where their data centres are located. We choose reputable providers and take reasonable steps so they handle personal information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles. We don't otherwise send your information overseas unless you ask us to (for example, to an adviser in another country).

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, including:

• encrypted connections for our website, forms and client portal;
• role-based access, so staff see only what their work requires;
• TFNs and bank account numbers stored separately and masked on screen;
• sign-in controls and audit logs on our systems;
• confidentiality obligations for all staff.

We keep records for as long as the law and professional standards require — generally at least five years for tax records and seven years for identity verification records — and then destroy or de-identify them securely.

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to keep you signed in to the client portal and to understand how the site is used, through aggregated visitor statistics. You can block cookies in your browser, but parts of the client portal may not work. Information you send through a form on our website goes directly to our secure systems and is seen only by USQ staff.

You can ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it. Clients can update their contact details at any time in the client portal. We'll respond within 30 days. In limited cases the law lets us refuse access; if so, we'll tell you why in writing.

If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, and tell you what you can do to protect yourself.

If you have a question or a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, contact our Privacy Officer:

We'll acknowledge your complaint promptly and aim to resolve it within 30 days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page.