CompassTAX believes that protecting your privacy is important. Our Privacy Policy has been designed to meet your needs, as well as conform to The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act which is Federal legislation.

General

The rules of Professional Conduct and related Council Interpretations of the various Provincial Institutes of Chartered Accountants require that partners and staff maintain the confidentiality of client and former client information, as well as the confidentiality of Firm information, except in rare and very specific circumstances.

The Rules of Professional Conduct of the various Provincial Institutes of Chartered Accountants also require that partners and staff not use confidential information for personal advantage, for the advantage of a third party or to the disadvantage of a client, former client of the Firm, unless consent has been obtained form the client, former client or the firm.

Cookies

We may form time to time use certain information commonly called cookies on your computer to save you time as a Visitor to our web site. We do not collect information in this fashion. If you do not wish this convenience, your browser will likely enable you to reject cookies.

Personal Information

Personal information includes any factual or subjective information, recorded or not, about an identifiable individual. This included information in any form, such as:

• Age, name, ID numbers, income, ethnic origin, or blood type
• Opinions, evaluations, comments, social status, or disciplinary actions
• Employee files, credit records, loan records, medical records, existence of a dispute with a client, intentions (for example, to acquire goods or services, or change jobs)

Personal information does not include name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.

CompassTAX collects personal information only for the following reasons:

• To provide the products or services that you have requested and maintain commercial relations with you;
• To understand your needs and recommend products and services accordingly;
• To manage our business which includes partnership and employment matters;
• To meet legal and regulatory requirements.

We will not use your personal information for any other reason without your consent.

Sharing of information

We only share your information with third parties to assist in completing the above uses. Any third party’s use must adhere to our privacy policies or be allowed by the legislation. Examples would be an outside payroll service, an agent hired to perform a service for you, a collection agency, a law enforcement agency or emergency services.

Accountability

We have established a Privacy Officer who is part of senior management to ensure our policies are in force. We inform and train staff on privacy issues.

Identify the Purposes

We identify the purpose for collecting information before collecting it.

Obtain Consent

We will obtain consent before collection of information.

Limit Collection

We will only collect the information we need for the stated purpose.

Limit Use, Disclosure and Retention

We use information only for the purpose of collection unless we receive consent or are required by law. We have policies for the safe destruction of the information.

Be accurate

We will use our best efforts to keep your information up to date. We have policies to safeguard your information against unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.

Be Open

Our clients and employees are informed of our policies and practices for managing personal information.

Give Individuals Access

We will give individuals reasonable access to their information and correct any personal information if its accuracy and completeness is challenged and found to be deficient. There are limited exceptions to this which are set out in the legislation.

Provide Recourse

We will investigate all complaints – they can be addressed to:
 
Kathy Terpstra
Practice Manager
CompassTAX
Suite 600, 1333 8 Street SW
Calgary, AB   T2R 1M6
Or email to kathy@compasstax.ca
 
If we do not resolve the issue to your satisfaction you may contact:
 
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada
112 Kent St
Ottawa, Ont., K1A 1H3