Privacy Copyright and Disclaimer

Privacy Policy – The Tax Institute

1. Application of Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how The Tax Institute ABN 45 008 392 372 (TTI,we, us or our) complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and any other applicable privacy laws in Australia.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we handle personal information to comply with our obligations.

2. Collection of personal information

What kinds of personal information do we collect, use and hold?

The kinds of personal information that we collect, use and hold include names, contact details, date of birth, educational qualifications, employment details and history, sensitive information such as information about membership of professional or trade organisations, criminal record information, information relating to ethnic origin and language spoken and health information as well as other information that is relevant to our functions and activities.

How do we collect personal information?

We usually collect personal information directly from individuals.

In some instances, we may collect personal information about individuals from third parties such as the individual's sponsoring employer, the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) or publicly available resources. 

When you provide us with personal information about other individuals, you should make them aware of this Privacy Policy and obtain their consent to you providing their details to us.

We may collect your personal information when you communicate with us, such as when you: 

• make inquiries about us or our services or contact us for any other reason so that we can process, deal with and respond to your queries or other issues, including any complaints; or
• submit an application to enrol in any of our courses or for membership of TTI; or
• register for a TTI seminar or conference or attend any our social or networking activities; or 
• make an application for a password on the TTI website, www.taxinstitute.com.au (Website); or
• use our Website; or
• subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form or survey, enter or participate in any promotions; or
• call our call centre. Calls may be recorded by us for quality review purposes.

What happens if you do not provide your personal information to us?

If you do not provide personal information that we request in connection with our activities, we may not be able to provide our products or services to you. For instance, if you do not provide all of the information requested in our course enrolment forms, we will not be able to assess your course enrolment application. 

Why do we collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information? 

We collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information as necessary for purposes directly related to our functions and activities, including to:

• provide our services and information about our services to members and non-members;
  
• register delegates to seminars;
• to provide information to government bodies as requested by them;
• register new members and update existing member and non-member records;
• promote forthcoming TTI events and membership of TTI; 
• promote products and services of TTI or its business partners;
• administer the Website, develop and improve the content available on the Website and customise the content and layout of the Website for members;
• notify members of updates to the Website and administrative matters; and
• send relevant information, advertisements, special offers and other marketing information to individuals on our mailing lists.

Do we use cookies or other web tracking systems?

We use cookies on the Website. A cookie is a small amount of information stored in a text file which is transferred to and stored on the hard drive of the user's computer. A cookie is a file that only stores information. It is not a program file that launches any action on the user's computer.

We use cookies because they:

• help us to keep track of users' preferences;
  
• save users from having to identify themselves each time they visit the Website;
• facilitate the use of an electronic shopping basket so that the users are only required to enter their payment details when they have finished shopping;
• allow us to monitor users' use of the Website; 
• enable us to engage in digital marketing, such as via social media or internet search engines; and
• assist us in enhancing the content of the Website.

When you click on some advertisements on the Website a cookie from the advertisement may be placed on the hard drive of your computer. It is not technically possible for TTI to control this. You should contact the advertiser if you have any concern about how this information may be used.

You may disable cookies through your browser, however, you may not be able to utilise all services on the Website if cookies are disabled.

3. Disclosure of your personal information

General disclosure

We may disclose personal information to third parties such as to:.

• students' sponsoring employers (with respect to student records and grades achieved); 
  
• Government bodies, such as Tertiary Education and Quality Standards Agency (TESQA).
• TPB; 
• TTI's alliance and business partners and marketing services providers;
• third parties who provide services and assistance relating to seminars, conferences and courses to TTI
• nominated third parties used to provide administrative and other services to us;
• third party payment processors;
• professional services firms providing services to us such as legal, accountancy or marketing services as well as data hosting and technology firms.

We will only disclose your personal information:

• with your consent; or 
  
• for a purpose which you would reasonably expect; or 
• as required or permitted by law; or 
• in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We will not disclose your personal information to our business partners where requested by you.

Do we disclose personal information overseas? 

We may disclose personal information to overseas recipients in countries such as the United States of America and India.

4. Unsubscribing from marketing materials 

If at any time you do not wish to continue to receive particular information from us or one of our business partners, you may contact TTI at membership@taxinstitute.com.au to request that your name be removed from a mailing list for a publication or other marketing materials.

5. Dealing with us anonymously or using a pseudonym

You may deal with us on an anonymous basis or by using a pseudonym when making inquiries through our Website, or when you make general inquiries by telephone and do not require a further response from us. However, we may need certain contact details from you to respond to inquiries.

Generally, we will require your personal information in order to transact with you.

6. Security and integrity of personal information 

We respect each individual user's right to privacy.

We will use all reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity of your personal information. We have established audit procedures to assist in keeping personal information of members up to date. 

Please notify us of any changes to your details.

We use industry standard encryption technologies to safeguard the confidentiality of personal information that we hold. We keep these arrangements under review to ensure that we are doing all that is reasonably and technically feasible to protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information.

Once personal information is no longer required by us for the purposes for which it was collected or held or otherwise in accordance with the APPs, we will take all steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that it is either destroyed or de-identified.  

7. Access, correction and removal of your personal information 

You may seek to access or correct your personal information at any time by contacting the Privacy Officer by email to membership@taxinstitute.com.auor by mail to the 'Privacy Officer, c/- The Tax Institute, Level 37, 100 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060.

If we do not agree to provide you with access to your personal information or to amend or annotate the information we hold about you, you may seek a review of our decision. 

If we do not agree to make the requested changes to your personal information, you may make a statement about the requested changes and we will attach it to your record. 

8. Complaints 

You can send written complaints about a breach of the APPs in relation to your personal information by email to privacy@taxinstitute.com.auor by mail to the 'Privacy Officer, The Tax Institute, Level 37, 100 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060.

Complaints will be reviewed by our Privacy Officer and a response will usually be provided within 30 days of receipt of the complaint.

If you believe that your complaint has not been satisfactorily addressed by us, after following the procedure set out above, you can make a complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC's contact details are here 

For more information about making a complaint, contact us at privacy@taxinstitute.com.au.

9. Third party websites

This Privacy Policy relates to all aspects of activities undertaken by TTI including its Website, but does not extend to websites of third parties which are linked to, or referred to on, TTI's Website. 

You should be aware that, if you click on a website link or an advertisement which takes you to another website, you may enter a website that does not offer similar privacy protection. You should check the privacy policies of these other websites and should not provide any personal information unless you feel comfortable with the level of protection on that website.

10. Amendments

We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time. Amendments to this Privacy Policy will be posted on our Website and will be effective when posted. Please check our Privacy Policy regularly for updates and amendments.

*As amended 7 March 2017.

Copyright

The Tax Institute
(ABN 45 008 392 372 (PRV14016))
("TTI")

The Tax Institute is a Recognised Tax Agent Association (RTAA) under the Tax Agent Services Regulations 2009. 

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Disclaimer

The Tax Institute
ABN 45 008 392 372
("TTI")

The materials and publications available for purchase and/or downloading from this website are meant for general educational purposes only and do not purport to contain all relevant information. The views contained therein are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TTI.

Recipients rely on the information in the materials and publications at their own risk. Recipients should not rely on the information as advice for any particular matter, but should make their own assessment and evaluation, undertake investigation and enquiries and seek advice to enable them to make any decision concerning their own interests.

TTI expressly disclaims all and any liability to any recipient whatsoever in respect of anything done by any such recipient in reliance on any of the materials and publications.

To the extent that the law permits, TTI will not be liable in any way (whether in negligence or otherwise) for any loss or damage which may be suffered by a recipient in connection with the contents of or any omission from content contained in the materials and publications.