Privacy Policy

Overview

This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) sets out how Birchstone Tax Law (“Company”) collects, stores, uses, protects, shares and discloses your personal information. It applies to this website and all related websites, applications, services and tools (together “the Website”). By visiting or using the Website you agree to the collection, storage, usage and disclosure of your personal information by the Company in the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

From time to time we will review our Privacy Policy. We will notify you about any changes to our Privacy Policy at any time by posting an updated version of the Privacy Policy on the Website.

The Australian Privacy Principles

The Company is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1998 (“Privacy Act”). The APPs establish minimum standards for the private sector in relation to the collection, handling, use, disclosure, management, access, correction and disposal of ‘personal information’ about natural persons. In summary, ‘personal information’ is information or an opinion relating to an individual which can be used to identify that individual.

How we collect personal information

The Company collects personal information in a number of ways, including:

(a) when you provide information directly to the Company through the Website, in person, by phone or in writing (whether by email, through surveys or any other electronic or other means);

(b) when you visit and/or use the Website, in which case the Company records information sent to us by your computer, mobile device or other device you are using to access the Website; and

(c) from third parties such as the Company’s Related Entities, service providers to the Company, operators of linked websites, applications and advertising on the Website.

In some circumstances, personal information is provided to us by third parties or other organisations conducting activities on your behalf. With your expressed or implied consent, your personal information may be used and disclosed to us this way.

What we collect

We may collect the following types of personal information in order to provide you with our services (“Services”):

(a) your name, phone number, mobile telephone number, email address, and other contact information;

(b) any other information provided by you to us including without limitation through use of the Website or Services;

(c) personal information from your interaction with the Website and its content, our Services and our advertising, including without limitation device identifiers, device type, geo-location information, connection information, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Website, mobile network information, time, date, referring URL, the type of operating system and browser, ad data, IP address and standard web log data; and

(d) any other information we consider may assist us in providing or marketing our Services.

We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy. The Website including related sites such as our Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn or other social media pages are not intentionally designed for or directed at children.

Automatic collection of your personal information

When you visit our Website, our Internet Service Provider automatically records the following information about you:

(a) your server address;

(b) the website you visited immediately prior to ours;

(c) your domain name;

(d) date and time of your visit to our Website;

(e) pages you accessed and the information or documents you downloaded;

(f) type of browser you used; and

(g) any other information we request our Internet Service Provider to record from time to time.

How personal information is used

Our principal purpose in collecting, using and storing your personal information is to provide the Services in a personalised, safe and efficient manner. You consent to us collecting, using, storing, sharing and disclosing your personal information to:

(a) conduct our business, generate content and provide customer support and payment services (including updates and improvements);

(b) provide, administer, market and manage the Services;

(c) research, develop and improve the Services;

(d) communicate with you;

(e) conduct surveys to determine use and satisfaction with the Services;

(f) detect, investigate and prevent potentially unlawful acts or omissions or acts or omissions with the potential to breach our Terms of Use, this Privacy Policy or any other policy;

(g) enforce our Terms of Use, this Privacy Policy or any other policy;

(h) verify information for accuracy or completeness (including by way of verification with third parties);

(i) comply with our legal obligations, a request by a governmental agency or regulatory authority or legally binding court order;

(j) combine or aggregate your personal information with information we collect from third parties and use it for the purposes set out this Privacy Policy;

(k) aggregate and/or make anonymous your personal information, so that it cannot be used, whether in combination with other information or otherwise, to identify you;

(l) resolve disputes and to identify, test and resolve problems;

(m) notify you about the Website and updates to the Website from time to time;

(n) supply you with generalised, targeted or personalised marketing, advertising and promotional notices, offers and communications, and measure and improve our marketing, advertising and promotions based on your ad customisation preferences; or

(o) protect a person’s rights, property or safety.

If you access the Website from a shared device or a device of a third party (such as in an internet cafe), your personal information may also be available to other persons who access that device.

Disclosure of personal information

We may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes contained in this Privacy Policy, including without limitation to:

(a) our staff members;

(b) other companies, organisations and contractors and outsourced service providers who assist us to provide, or who perform the Services we provide to you, including:

(i) information technology service providers;
(ii) mailing houses;
(iii) market research organisations; and
(iv) specialist consultants;

(c) your authorised representatives;

(d) third parties to whom you expressly ask us to send, or consent to us sending, your personal information;

(e) government and regulatory authorities and other similar organisations, as required or authorised by law; and

(f) such entities that we propose to merge with or be acquired by.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that anyone to whom we disclose your personal information respects the confidentiality of the information and abides by the APPs or equivalent privacy laws.

Overseas Disclosure

Generally we are unlikely to disclose your information to entities based overseas, however in limited circumstances this may occur (such as if our servers are located overseas). Such disclosure will comply with the APPs.

Use of Cookies

We (or a third party providing services to the Company) may use cookies, pixel tags, “flash cookies”, or other local storage provided by your browser or associated applications (each a “Cookie” and together “Cookies”). A Cookie is a small file that may be placed on your computer when you visit the Website. Cookies are used on some parts of the Website. Most browsers now recognise when a cookie is offered and permit you to refuse or accept it. If you are not sure whether your browser has this capability, you should check with the software manufacturer, your company’s technology help desk or your internet service provider. If Cookies are disabled, the Company may not be able to provide you with the full range of our Services.

Cookies may collect and store your personal information. This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected via Cookies. You consent and acknowledge that we collect your personal information through Cookies.

Cookies may be used to provide you with the Services, including to identify you as a user of the Website, remember your preferences, customise and measure the effectiveness of the Website and our promotions, advertising and marketing, analyse your usage of the Website, and for security purposes.

You also may encounter Cookies used by third parties and placed on certain pages of the Website that we do not control and have not authorised (such as webpages created by another user). The Company is not responsible nor liable for the use of such Cookies.

The Website may also include links to third party websites (including links created by users or members) and applications and advertising delivered to the Website by third parties (“Linked Sites”). Organisations who operate Linked Sites may collect personal information including through the use of Cookies. The Company is not responsible nor liable for Linked Sites and recommends that you read the privacy policies of such Linked Sites before disclosing your personal information. For the avoidance of doubt Linked Sites are not subject to this Privacy Policy.

The Website is hosted by an online service provider which may change from time to time. Our service providers’ use of Cookies is not covered by our Privacy Policy.

Storage and Security

We store, protect and process your personal information by taking reasonable steps. The reasonable steps we take include protecting the information from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Where we no longer require your personal information for a permitted purpose under the APPs, we will take reasonable steps to destroy it.

Access to information

Subject to the Privacy Act, you may request to access the personal information we hold about you by emailing us at the address listed under “Contact Us” below. All requests for access will be processed within a reasonable time.

In certain instances we may not be required or able to provide you with access to your personal information. If this occurs we will give you reasons for our decision not to provide you with such access to your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act.

There is no application fee for making a request to access your personal information. However, we may charge an administrative fee for the provision of information in certain circumstances such as if you make repeated requests for information or where the information is held by a third party provider.

The Company endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. If you believe the personal information we hold is inaccurate, please let us know and generally we will amend it upon request. If we disagree with your request, we will only do so on reasonable grounds and we will let you know the reasons for the refusal.

Opting Out

You may opt out of receiving our marketing, advertising and promotional notices, offers and communications by emailing us at the email address listed under “Contact Us”.

Contact Us

If you receive communications purporting to be connected with us or our Services that you believe have been sent to you other than in accordance with this Privacy Policy, or in breach of any law, please contact us using our contact details on the Website.

If you have a question regarding this Privacy Policy or you would like to make a complaint, please contact us by email at using our contact details on the Website.