Who We Are

Monument US Tax Preparation (“MonumentTax”) collects, uses, and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of relevant activities, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

• names of persons who are clients and their dependents, address details and other categories of personal data such as date of birth, social security numbers, income documentation, and any other data you provide us with or that we are required to collect in order to prepare and process your US federal and/or state tax return.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

• Comply with the requirements of the IRS in the preparation and processing of your US federal and/or state tax return

Who we share your personal information with

We will share personal information solely with the IRS and/or state departments of revenue as part of the processing of your US federal and/or state tax return.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

The provision of personal data (eg name, address, date of birth, social security numbers, etc.) is required from you to enable us to provide US tax preparation services and comply with the IRS and/or state departments of revenue. We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us.

How long your personal information will be kept

• We will hold your personal data for 3 years (the period required by the IRS).

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

We rely on UK law and regulations, as well as IRS and/or state departments of revenue requirement, as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data. Our legitimate interests are the provision of US tax preparation services.

How we protect your information

Sharing sensitive information

As of March 2021 we have implemented a new file-sharing and client management portal, TaxDome. With your consent, we will create an account for you and you can securely upload all of your documents using this portal. When complete, your returns will also be available to download via TaxDome.

Storing your personal information

Your uploaded documents and PDF copies of your returns will be saved on TaxDome for a period of 3 years from the date or preparation or your return due date (whichever is later), after which they will be deleted. We are obliged to retain a copy of your federal tax returns for this period, but you may delete your own uploaded documents at any time after your return has been filed if you do not wish to keep copies on the portal. A local copy of your returns will also be stored using Drake Software.

We advise keeping your own copies of all returns, receipts, and other records for at least 3 years past the date of your return being accepted by the IRS and/or state department of revenue.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who are directly involved in the preparation or processing of your US tax returns. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

• fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information
• access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
• require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold
• require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
• receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
• object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
• object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you
• object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
• otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• email, call or write to us
• let us have enough information to identify you,
• let us have proof of your identity and address (e.g., a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
• let us know the information to which your request relates.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 28 January 2019 and last updated on 24 November 2023.

We may update or change this privacy notice periodically, and when we do we will inform you via our website www.monumenttax.co.uk.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you. If you wish to contact us, please send an email to info@monumenttax.co.uk.