Privacy Policy

Our Commitment To Your Privacy

Protecting your information is important to us. We strive to do business in a manner that justifies you choosing Appreciate Financial Solutions. We are committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth).

This Privacy Policy explains the types of information we may collect from and about you or your business, how we may use or disclose that information, and how we protect that information.

This Privacy Policy also sets forth our general practices and principles that apply to information we collect through the following products and services:

Our online and software tax preparation products and services
Our website
Our mobile applications that incorporate this Privacy Policy

If you have any questions relating to this Privacy Policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Special Note to Parents: Because of the nature of the services we provide, we do not knowingly market our services to children, nor do we collect information from children. Our website does not contain any material that would knowingly be inappropriate to children.

Who This Privacy Policy Covers?

This policy applies to personal and business information we collect when we provide our tax and lending services and other products and services to customers and former customers of Appreciate Financial Solutions.

This policy does not apply to our affiliates. These companies may be subject to different regulations and may have different operating practices. If you are doing business with these companies, you should consult their respective privacy policies.

What Information Do We Collect And How Do We Use It?

When we arrange lending or tax returns on your behalf, we ask you for the information we need to advise you about your tax and lending needs. We provide any information that the lenders, to whom we apply on your behalf, require to enable them to complete their assessment or the ATO requires us to disclose to them. This may include your personal information, or information about your spouse, your dependents, your business, and other individuals, such as employees as part of providing business services, when you use our services.

This information includes, but is not limited to:

Contact Information (e.g., name, phone number, address, and email address)
Tax File Numbers and other government identification numbers
Dates of Birth
Financial Information (e.g., income, revenue, assets, credits, deductions, expenses and bank account information)
Payment Data (e.g., checking, debit and credit card account numbers, balances and payment history)
Geo-Location Information
Website, Mobile Application, and Email Usage Data
Login Information
Demographic Information.

We also use your information to enable us to manage your ongoing requirements, e.g. refinancing, and our relationship with you, e.g. invoicing, client surveys etc. We may do so by mail or electronically unless you tell us that you do not wish to receive electronic communications.

We may occasionally notify you about new services and special offers, events or articles we think will be of interest to you. We may send you regular updates by email or by post on tax or lending matters. If you would rather not receive this information, please email or write to us.

We may also use your information internally to help us improve our services and help resolve any problems.

What If You Don’t Provide Some Information To Us?

We can only provide personalised tax and lending advice if we have all the relevant information outlined above. In addition to the information outlined above we will also need the goals you and your family are looking to achieve over the next 2 years and 10 years. All the information collected is how we personalise the advice to suit your needs.

How Do We Collect Your Information And From What Sources?

We collect information directly from you. We collect information you voluntarily provide as part of using or requesting our services. This information includes information you provide as part of preparing your loan application, lodgement of your tax return, authenticating your identity, or applying for or purchasing a product or service. If you choose not to provide certain information we request, we may be unable to serve you as our products, services, tools or calculators may rely upon this information.

Our website may make chat rooms, forums, message boards, and/or news groups available. Please remember that any information disclosed in these areas becomes public information, and you should exercise caution when disclosing personal information in these applications.

We collect information when you use our services. We collect certain information and usage data whenever you interact with us, whether in our offices, online, through a mobile application, or when you view an email. This data may include websites you visit, what you click on, and when you performed those actions. These activities may be performed by us or a service provider acting on our behalf.

We utilise certain web and wireless technologies to collect this information. These technologies include cookies and web beacons. Please see “Types of Web and Wireless Technologies (including Cookies) We Use” for an in-depth discussion of these technologies and how to opt-out.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or state taxing authorities may require we collect certain personal and system information in connection with preparing or electronically filing your tax return. This may include your name, tax file number, IP addresses, and unique device identifiers.

We collect information from other companies and government entities. In accordance with their privacy notices, our affiliates, our business partners, and non-affiliated third-parties (including the ATO and credit reporting agencies) may share certain information about you with us.

We also collect information when you request services or information from us or companies with whom we have a business relationship, enter contests or sweepstakes, or complete surveys or polls.

To improve the security of our services, to protect your identity, and to protect your information, we may verify your personal information by matching the information you provide against other publicly available information that we obtain from identification verification companies.

How Do We Hold And Protect Your Information?

We strive to maintain the reliability, accuracy, completeness and currency of the personal information we hold and to protect its privacy and security. We keep personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to comply with any applicable legal or ethical reporting or document retention requirements

We hold the information we collect from you on our online servers backed with high level encryption by third party companies.

We ensure that your information is safe by having a security code to enter when accessing the devices that can access the software where your information is held and having our third party account password protected to ensure only authorised personnel can access your sensitive data.

This information may be held by us in electronic form on our secure servers and may also be held in paper form. We may use cloud storage or other types of networked or electronic storage to store the information we hold about you. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries via an internet connection, it is not always practicable to know in which country your information may be held. If your information is stored in this way, disclosures may occur in countries other than those listed.

Overseas organisations may be required to disclose information we share with them under a foreign law. We are not responsible for such disclosure.

How We May Use Your Information

We use your information to provide you the products and services you request. We may also use your information, as permitted by law, to service and report on your account and to offer you relevant information, products, or services. These activities may be performed by us or a service provider acting on our behalf.

Offer You Products and Services. We may use your information to contact you about products and services offered by us or our affiliate companies. This may include delivery of our or our affiliate’s newsletters or publications.
Mobile Devices. When you use a mobile device, we may ask your permission to dial a phone number, access your camera or photo library, access the internet, access your calendar, push notifications to you, read and write to internal and external storage, wake/lock your mobile device, and authorise in-app purchases.
Security Enhancements. We may use publicly available information to verify your personal information in order to improve the security of our services, protect your identity, and protect your information.
Unique Identifiers. We may assign you a global unique identifier (GUID) when you use our services. The GUID is a unique alphanumeric combination. The GUID allows us to match your information, which may include personal information, with data collected through our other products and services. Generally, we use this information to help us better understand your use of our products and services.
Calculators and Tools. When you use our calculators and other tools, we may collect non-identifiable data, such as the number of people that use a certain tool. We may also set cookies or clear gifs based upon your use so that you do not have to re-enter your information in a later visit and to help us customise offers and tools to your particular interests. For our calculators and other tools that require registration or ask for your contact information, we may contact you directly with relevant services and offers.
Contest/Promotions and Surveys. We may elect to administer contests and online surveys where we will ask you for contact information, such as your e-mail address and demographic information. This information is used to verify your identity, determine your eligibility for special programs or services that we may offer and complete our transactions with you.

How We May Disclose Your Information

We may disclose your information as described below:

Affiliates. As permitted by law, we may provide information we collect to our affiliates. Our affiliates may use this information to assist us in providing you with the products or services you have requested, or to provide or market additional products and services to you.
Business Partners. We work closely with a variety of business partners. We may offer products jointly with our business partners. You will be able to recognise when a business partner is associated with your transaction when its logo appears or is shown with our logo. We may share information that is related to such transactions with that business partner (unless you have asked us not to in writing).
Service Providers. Where permitted by applicable law, we may disclose your personal information to service providers who perform business functions on our behalf, services such as data processing and analysis, contest supervision, direct mail or email production, technical support, data storage, courier services, and debt collection. We may also share your personal information, and a record of any transactions you conduct on our websites or offline with us with a third-party advertising partner and its service providers in order to deliver you advertising tailored to your interests when you visit certain other websites. Data shared in this way is made pseudonymous. We require all service providers to have written contracts with us that specify appropriate use of your personal information, require them to safeguard your personal information, and prohibit them from making unauthorised or unlawful use of your personal information.
Joint Marketing Arrangements. Where permitted by law, we may provide information we collect to joint marketers with whom we have a marketing arrangement. We require all joint marketers to have written contracts with us that specify appropriate use of your personal information, require them to safeguard your personal information, and prohibit them from making unauthorised or unlawful use of your personal information. If a federal or state law requires us to give you the right to opt-out prior to any disclosure of your personal information for joint marketing, we will not disclose your personal information for such purposes without providing such opt-out or obtaining your consent to such disclosure.
Communications with the ATO and State Taxing Authorities. The ATO and state taxing authorities may require or request we disclose certain personal and system information in order to process or electronically file your tax return. This information may include, but is not limited to, your name, tax file number, IP addresses, unique device identifiers, bank account numbers, and tax return preparation user activity metrics (e.g., time to complete the tax return).
Persons Who Acquire Our Assets or Business. If we sell or transfer any of our business or assets, certain information about our clients may be a part of that sale or transfer. In the event such sale or transfer results in a material change to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you. The notification procedure will be the same as the procedure we use to notify you of a change to this Privacy Policy as described below.
As Required or Permitted by Law. We may disclose your information to affiliated or non-affiliated third-parties when we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is required or permitted by law. This may occur in connection with a court order, legal process, or other judicial, administrative or investigative proceeding that produces a request for information from us. We may disclose your information to proper federal, state, or local officials in order, and to the extent necessary, to inform the official of activities that may constitute, or may have constituted, a violation of any criminal law or to assist the official in investigating or prosecuting a violation of criminal law. As permitted by law, we may disclose your information to the ATO for the prevention of refund fraud and potential cyber security threats.
Aggregate Data. We may disclose aggregate information compiled using information that does not identify you individually or personally. This may include, for example, the total number of visitors from a particular state or the average user age.

We will not use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than as set out in this policy or otherwise notified to you at the time of collection.

If you do not want us to use your personal information for marketing purposes as set out above, please let us know either when we collect your personal information or by contacting us to opt out of marketing activities (see Opting-Out section).

What Types Of Web And Wireless Technologies (including Cookies) We Use?

To remember you and to personalise your experience with features and advertisements, we use cookies and other technologies that help us know your usage patterns, track your preferences, and analyse how you use our services. We may receive reports on an individual or aggregate basis based on these technologies. You may opt-out of some of these technologies.

Cookies. We utilise a software technology called "cookies." Cookies allow us to customise our websites for you by placing small files on your computer or mobile device as you visit various components of our websites.
Local Storage Objects (LSOs) and HTML5. We provide certain features on our site or display advertising based upon your web browsing activity using LSOs (such as HTML5) to store content, information, and preferences. Your browser may offer LSO management tools.
Clear GIFs or Web Beacons. We employ a software technology called clear gifs (also known as pixel tags or web beacons), that help us better manage content on our websites by allowing us to understand usage patterns, fix issues, and improve the products and services offered to you on our websites. We may use clear gifs in our emails to let us know which emails have been opened by recipients. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. These activities may be performed by us or a service provider acting on our behalf.
Log Files. Like most websites, JBG Tax uses log files. Information collected in log files may include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, unique device IDs, browser type, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks. We utilise this information to diagnose problems, analyse trends, administer the site or mobile application, track user's movement in the aggregate, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. When you use certain online tax services, IP addresses and unique device IDs may be tied to personally identifiable information to enable users to file or transmit tax returns to the ATO.
Mobile Device Information. We may record data from your mobile device such as Apple IDFA, general characteristics of your device and other device IDs.

Web Browser “Do Not Track” Signals

We treat the data of everyone who comes to our website in accordance with this Privacy Policy, whatever their “do not track” setting. While we do not respond to web browser “do not track” signals, we give you choices about receiving promotional offers from us or third-parties. You can exercise your choices as described in this Privacy Policy.

How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We keep your information for as long as needed or as required by law. We retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. We may retain or use your information as necessary to comply with our policies, legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

It is our policy that if you start, but do not complete, a tax return, we will generally keep the tax return information you provide until the end of the third tax season following the date you start the tax return, after which it will be deleted from our system.

Disclosure Of Personal Information Overseas

We may hold or process your information on servers located overseas for filtering, hosting or storage purposes, reporting and analytical purposes and for system development testing purposes. If we do this, we make sure that such organisations have the appropriate data handling and security arrangements in place to ensure compliance with this Privacy Policy. While these entities are subject to confidentiality or privacy obligations, they may not always follow the particular requirements of Australian privacy laws.

Where your information is sent overseas it is likely to be to one of the following countries:

United States

Singapore

Serbia

Philippines

Will We Disclose The Information We Collect To Anyone?

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to others. We may need to provide your information to contractors who supply services to us, e.g. to handle mailings on our behalf or to other companies in the event of a corporate sale, merger, reorganisation, dissolution or similar event. However, we will do our best to ensure that they protect your information in the same way that we do.

We may provide your information to others if we are required to do so by law or under some unusual other circumstances which the Privacy Act permits.

How Can You Check, Update Or Change The Information We Are Holding?

Upon receipt of your written request and enough information to allow us to identify the information, we will disclose to you the personal information we hold about you. We will also correct, amend or delete any personal information that we agree is inaccurate.

If you wish to access or correct your personal information please write to Joshua Ganino, who is our director, by email at hello@appreciatefs.com.au.

We do not charge for receiving a request for access to personal information or for complying with a correction request.

Your Consent

By asking us to assist with your tax and lending needs, you consent to the collection and use of the information you have provided to us for the purposes described above.

Dealing With Breaches

In the unlikely event of a data breach we will deal with them in an appropriate and timely manner. There may be internal and external actions that need to be taken. In taking any action, we will be guided by these steps as suggested by the OAIC on responding to a breach, whether it is actual or suspected:

Step 1: Contain the Breach and do a preliminary assessment

Step 2: Evaluate the risks associated with the Breach

Step 3: Notification

Step 4: Prevent future Breaches

A copy of the OAIC’s “Data Breach Notification - a guide to handling personal information security breaches” can be accessed at here

Tell Us What You Think

We welcome your questions and comments about privacy. If you have any concerns or complaints, please contact Joshua Ganino, who is our director, by email at hello@appreciatefs.com.au.