Privacy policy
Last updated: 1 September 2026
The short version. We collect what we need to identify your HMRC correspondence and act for you, and nothing else. We do not sell your data. We do not track you around the internet unless you agree to it. At the enquiry stage we do not want your bank statements, identity documents or tax records — only the letter.
1. Who we are
Linx Tax Defence is a trading name of Linx Accounting Services Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, company number 11742116, registered office 124-128 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX.
We are licensed and regulated by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, licence number 4859891. We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZC094764.
Questions about this policy, or about anything we hold on you: [email protected], or by post at the address above.
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains how we handle personal data when you:
- visit this website;
- contact us by WhatsApp, telephone or email about a possible engagement;
- respond to an advertisement we have placed;
- become a client of the practice.
3. What we collect, and when
When you visit this website
This site sets no analytics cookies and runs no analytics software. We do not build a profile of you, and we cannot tell who you are from a visit alone.
Our hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes technical information such as your IP address in order to serve the pages and to protect the site from attack. That is a necessary part of delivering any website.
If you agree to advertising cookies through the banner, we load the Meta Pixel. Section 10 and our cookie policy explain that in full. If you do not agree, nothing is loaded.
When you contact us about an HMRC matter
By WhatsApp, telephone or email, we receive whatever you choose to send: typically your name, your contact details, an image of your HMRC letter, and what you tell us about your situation. On WhatsApp we also receive your display name and number.
We ask for this so we can identify what your correspondence actually is, tell you what deadline applies, and give you an accurate fee quotation.
Please do not send us bank statements, identity documents, your Unique Taxpayer Reference or tax records at the enquiry stage. We do not need them to identify a letter. If you engage us, we collect those later through a secure channel.
If you respond to one of our advertisements
Where we run advertising that carries an enquiry form, the form asks for your name and contact details, the type of correspondence you have received from HMRC, whether the matter concerns a company, a sole trade, a partnership or your personal tax position, an approximate band for your turnover or income, and the response deadline that applies. The advertising platform passes those answers to us.
If you become a client
We then collect what the engagement requires: financial records, the documents needed for identity and anti-money-laundering checks, and correspondence with HMRC conducted on your behalf.
4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Answer your enquiry, identify your correspondence and quote a fee | Legitimate interests — you contacted us and expect a reply |
| Reply to you by WhatsApp, telephone or email | Legitimate interests, or consent where you gave it on an enquiry form |
| Act for you once you engage us | Performance of a contract |
| Identity and anti-money-laundering checks | Legal obligation |
| Keep records of advice given and work performed | Legal obligation, and our legitimate interest in defending our work |
| Measure which advertisements produce genuine enquiries | Consent, given through the cookie banner |
| Tell you about our other services | Consent — you can withdraw it at any time |
Where we rely on consent you can withdraw it whenever you like: reply “STOP” to any WhatsApp message, email us, or use for advertising cookies. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did lawfully beforehand.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed our interest in responding against your rights and concluded it does not override them, because you approached us and are expecting an answer.
5. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal data, and we never will. We share it only with:
- Cloudflare — hosts this website and delivers its pages.
- Microsoft — our email and document storage (Outlook and SharePoint).
- HubSpot — our client relationship management system, which holds your contact details and the status of your enquiry. Our HubSpot account is hosted in the European Union.
- Meta Platforms — where you contact us on WhatsApp, or submit a form through one of our advertisements, Meta processes that data under its own privacy policy. Where we measure which advertisements produce genuine enquiries, any information we send Meta is hashed and pseudonymised first.
- HMRC — only where you have engaged us and authorised us to act as your agent.
- Our regulator (ACCA), our insurers and our professional advisers — where we are required or entitled to disclose.
We have written data-processing terms in place with each of these providers.
6. Transfers outside the UK
Some of those providers process data outside the United Kingdom. Where they do, we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision, as appropriate to that provider.
7. How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not become engagements: 12 months from your last contact with us, then deleted.
- WhatsApp conversations with non-clients: 12 months.
- Client records: at least 6 years after the engagement ends, to meet HMRC and ACCA record-keeping requirements.
- Anti-money-laundering records: 5 years from the end of the business relationship, as the regulations require.
8. Your rights
You have the right to:
- be told what we hold about you, and get a copy of it;
- have anything inaccurate corrected;
- have data deleted where there is no good reason for us to keep it;
- object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use it;
- ask us to transfer it to another provider;
- withdraw consent at any time.
Email [email protected] to exercise any of these. We will respond within one month.
Where the law requires us to keep records — anti-money-laundering material in particular — we may not be able to delete on request. If that applies we will tell you which obligation prevents it.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you came to us first so we can put it right.
9. Security
We hold your data on access-controlled systems, encrypted in transit and at rest, and restrict access to those in the practice who need it for your matter. No system is perfectly secure, but we take the protection of client data seriously and review our arrangements annually.
This is also why we ask you not to send financial documents or identity papers at the enquiry stage: the fewer sensitive documents in transit before there is a reason for them, the better.
10. Cookies
This site sets no non-essential cookies unless you agree. Our cookie policy sets out exactly what is set, by whom, and how to change your mind — and you can reopen the choice at any time using .
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we start using a new system that handles your data, we update this policy before that system goes live rather than afterwards. Where a change materially affects clients, we tell them directly.