Transparency of personal information-handling practices and the protection of personal information is the focal point of an organization that operates in an industry which requires the collection, use, and/or disclosure of personal information. These are the fundamental values and principles that Lucas CPA Professional Corporation ("Lucas CPA”) take very seriously. The personal information-handling practices is also important to individuals who provide their personal information to organizations, especially in an industry that requires the collection of confidential financial information.
Lucas CPA’s privacy practices and commitments are designed to be in compliance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s federal private sector privacy law, and the 10 fair information principles. According to PIPEDA, "personal information" is defined as “information about an identifiable individual”.
Accountability and openness regarding privacy practices enhances transparency and creates trust with clients. Our privacy policy is updated regularly and is subject to change at any time without notification.
Accountability
Our organization is responsible for the compliance of all 10 principles of schedule 1 of PIPEDA. Lucas CPA appointed an individual (Privacy Officer) who provides expert privacy guidance and support with compliance in applicable privacy law. Lucas CPA’s Privacy Officer also provides professional consultation services for the development, implementation, and improvement of the personal information-handling practices and privacy policy.
Identifying Purposes
Lucas CPA collects, uses, and discloses your personal information for purposes relating to the filing of taxes and accounting records.
Consent
Lucas CPA will make every reasonable effort to obtain explicit and/or informed consent from the individual for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information with exception to circumstances where we are compelled to disclose personal information by law. Such disclosures will only be made in compliance with PIPEDA.
Limiting Collection
Personal information that is collected by Lucas CPA is limited to that of which is necessary to fulfill the identified purposes of collection. Personal Information is collected directly from the individual.
Limiting Use, Disclosure
Lucas CPA limits the use and disclosure of personal information to the identified purposes of collection. Express consent from the individual will be obtained if any use or disclosure of their personal information falls outside the scope of the identified purposes. The only exception to this limitation is when disclosures are required by law.
Retention and disposal of personal information
Any personal information in the custody of Lucas CPA will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfill the identified purposes and as required by applicable law.
For example, record retention requirements are outlined in the Income Tax Act as follows:
More general information on the retention of records is available from the Canada Revenue Agency in Information Circular 78-10R entitled Books and Records Retention/Destruction.
When the retention time periods have been fulfilled, personal information in the custody of Lucas CPA will be safely disposed of.
Safeguards
Lucas CPA takes steps to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, collection, use, and disclosure.. Lucas Tax implements adequate safeguards such as multi-factor authentication, restricted access control, routine back-up of electronic records, access control, firewall, virus and threat protection. We would note that the transmission of data through electronic means is not 100% secure. As such, we make no assurances as to the security of any information you submit electronically through third-party vendors.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
Lucas CPA reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We recommend that you review this policy periodically so that you are aware of any changes. Your continued use of our website following the posting of any changes to this policy constitutes your acceptance of these changes. The date on which this Privacy Policy was last amended appears at the bottom.
Accuracy, Openness, Individual Access, & Challenging Compliance
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or complaints relating to our privacy policy or personal information-handling practices and/or if you would like to request for access, correction, or deletion of your personal information, you may wish to contact our Privacy Officer at the following:
Abbas Fawzi
Privacy Officer
321-1769 ST. LAURENT BLVD
OTTAWA, ON K1G 3V4
Email: [email protected]
Last updated: January 18, 2022