This privacy policy ("the Policy") is about how Ampersand and its owner Barry Wolfenden ("we", "our") collect, use, and disclose your personal information during the course of our business. The Policy is in addition to any professional obligations under CPA Ontario rules as well as our legal obligations under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Note that we only collect, use, or disclose information during the course of our business in providing professional services to clients like you. We reserve the right to change the terms of the Policy at any time, and any changes will be effective immediately unless stated otherwise.
Personal information ("Your Data") is information about an identifiable individual recorded in any form and includes information like: ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, and religion; education, medical, criminal, employment or financial history; address and telephone number; and numerical identifiers like Social Insurance Numbers and Social Security Numbers. Note it does not include the name, title, business address, or business telephone number of the employee of an organization.
As mentioned above, we collect, use, and disclose personal information while adhering to all applicable laws. Additionally, we use different physical, electronic, and administrative measures to ensure that we keep Your Data secure. These measures include: data encryption for information stored offline; password protection to secure any devices or software that have access to Your Data; two-factor authentication ("2FA") where possible, favouring the use of authenticator apps over Short Messaging Service (SMS); device-level security measures like firewalls and virus scanning; connection-level security measures like SSL and commercial VPN; and controls about who can access what data and when.
We use Your Data to provide you with services. Common examples include: preparing your tax returns; working with the Canada Revenue Agency ("the CRA") as part of resolving a tax issue; verifying our identity as your representative when contacting the CRA; understanding what services you need in a given situation; meeting any legal or regulatory requirements; and communicating with other professionals whose services you have contracted. We also may use your data to understand your needs better, e.g., by contacting you to receive feedback on our services or to tell you about services that may be relevant to you. Lastly, we use your data as part of our internal administration, primarily for workflow organization but also for business analytics like how to better understand the profile of our clients or how they use our website.
We will hold Your Data for the longest of the following: (1) the time required for us to fully delivery the services you have contracted us for; (2) the retention period required of us by law or professional standards; (3) the end of the period in which litigation, audit, or investigation may arise regarding services related to Your Data; (4) as needed based on our own retention policies or practices, the length of which varies depending on the nature of the information. Note that where Your Data is in electronic form, it will be included in any relevant backups.
In some jurisdictions, we must set out the legal grounds on which we use Your Data. We use Your Data based in our legitimate interests in: delivering information and services to you, managing our business and the interests of clients like you, improving our business and its services, satisfying our duties under law or regulation, and performing our obligations under any contract we make with you. Where no other condition applies, we will rely instead on you agreeing to a specific use of Your Data. In places where we are legally required to obtain your consent to send you marketing information, we will only send these materials after obtaining your consent.
Even with the security measures we have in place to protect Your Data, the transmission of data over the Internet (including by e-mail, SMS, or social media) is never completely secure. We do our best to protect Your Data cannot absolutely guarantee the security of any data transmitted to or by us.
If you have any questions about this policy or are unhappy with the way we handled Your Data, please send your concerns to barry@ampersandtax.ca. We will look into the question or issue and reply in no more than 20 working days.
Last revised on March 25, 2024.
