The Department is registered as a ‘Controller’ under the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 as we collect and process personal information about you. We process and hold your information in order to provide public services and meet our statutory obligations. This notice explains how we use and share your information. Information may be collected on a paper or online form, by telephone, email, or by a member of our staff, or in some cases, by another States department.
We will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our services and feedback from service users, as well as to comply with changes in the law.
What information do we collect about you
We collect the following types of information about you:
- name
- address
- telephone number
- email
- bank account details
- Social Security Number
- date of birth
- gender
- employment details
- financial data
- payroll reference
- details of children
- business activities
- place of birth
- Taxpayer Identification Number(s)
- jurisdiction(s) of tax residence
Why do we collect information about you
We need to collect and hold information about you, in order to:
- stay in touch with you
- verify you are who you say you are
- investigate your complaints
- answer your query
- handle your application
- provide you with information you need
- meet our statutory obligations
- carry out the service you have requested and to monitor and improve our performance in responding to your service request
- to ensure we meet our legal obligations
- where necessary for our law enforcement functions
- to prevent and detect crime
- to process financial transactions including payments and grants
- to allow the statistical analysis of data so we can plan the provision of services and assist in the development of policy
- to allow us to comply with international agreements regarding the exchange of tax information and
- to monitor and enforce compliance with tax reporting obligations by financial institutions that report to us
How will we use the information about you
We will use the information you provide in a manner that conforms to the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.
We will endeavour to keep your information accurate and up to date and not keep it for longer than is necessary. In some instances the law sets the length of time information has to be kept. Ask to see our retention schedules for more detail about how long we retain your information.
We may not be able to provide you with a service unless we have enough information or your permission to use that information.
We will not pass any personal data on to anyone outside of the States of Jersey, other than those who either process information on our behalf, or because of a legal requirement, and we will only do so, where possible, after we have ensured that sufficient steps have been taken by the recipient to protect your personal data.
We will not disclose any information that you provide ‘in confidence’, to anyone else without your permission, except in the few situations where disclosure is required by law, or where we have good reason to believe that failing to share the information would put someone else at risk. You will be told about this unless there are exceptional reasons not to do so.
When we need to transfer your information outside of Jersey we will only do so if we have a legal basis, or failing that we will seek your consent and only if we are reassured that your information is still secure when transferred.
Transferring information to countries within the European Economic Area (EEA) is seen as relatively safe because these countries have strong data protection laws in place. There is a list of countries outside of the EEA that are also deemed safe.
If we need to transfer your information outside of the EEA or to a country which is not on the list of safe countries, we will take extra steps to keep your information safe.
Data Sharing
We may need to pass your information to other States of Jersey (SOJ) departments or organisations to fulfil your request for a service. These departments and organisations are obliged to keep your details securely, and only use your information for the purposes of processing your service request.
We may disclose information to other departments where it is necessary, either to comply with a legal obligation, or where permitted under other legislation. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:
- where the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime
- for the purposes of meeting statutory obligations
- to prevent risk of harm to an individual
At no time will your information be passed to organisations for marketing or sales purposes or for any commercial use without your prior express consent.
Publication of your information
We may need to publish your information on our website and/or in the Jersey Gazette for the following reasons:
- Where we are required to provide statistical information about a group of people; although your data will be anonymised to protect your identity.
- Where you have responded to a public consultation, although your comments will be anonymised to protect your identity.
- We will not publish any of your sensitive personal information unless there is a requirement for us to do so in order to carry out our statutory functions.
- In the interests of demonstrating a fair and transparent decision making process, for example publishing pseudonymised information on the States of Jersey Freedom of Information Disclosure Log.
Emails
If you email us we may keep a record of your email address and a copy of the email for record keeping purposes.
For security reasons we will not include any confidential information about you in any email we send to you. We would also suggest that you keep the amount of confidential information you send to us via email to a minimum or use our secure online services where possible or correspond with us by post.
We will not share your email address or your email contents unless is it necessary for us to do so; either to fulfil your request for a service; to comply with a legal obligation, where permitted under other legislation or to comply with an international agreement for the exchange of tax information.
Telephone calls
Some Telephone calls made to and from the following Revenue Jersey teams are recorded for monitoring and training purposes:
- Personal Tax
- GST
- Employer Customers
- Corporate Income Tax
- Pensions
- Risk & Intelligence
If you leave a message on our voicemail systems your message will be kept until we are able to return your call or make a note of your message. File notes of when and why you called may be taken for record keeping purposes. We will not pass on the content of your telephone calls, unless it is necessary for us to do so. This can be to:
- fulfil your request for a service
- comply with a legal obligation, or where permitted under other legislation, comply with an international agreement for exchange of tax information
Your rights
You can ask us to stop processing your information
You have the right to request that we stop processing your personal data in relation to any of our services. However, this may cause delays or prevent us delivering a service to you. Where possible we will seek to comply with your request but we may be required to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement or an international tax agreement.
You can withdraw your consent to the processing of your information
In the few instances when you have given your consent to process your information, you have the right to withdraw your consent to the further processing of your personal data. However, this may cause delays or prevent us delivering a service to you. We will always seek to comply with your request but we may be required to hold or process your information in order to comply with a legal requirement.
You can ask us to correct or amend your information
You have the right to challenge the accuracy of the information we hold about you and request that it is corrected where necessary. We will seek to ensure that corrections are made not only to the data that we hold but also any data held by other organisations/parties that process data on our behalf.
You request that the processing of your personal data is restricted
You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information. You can exercise this right in instances where you believe the information being processed is inaccurate, out of date, or there are no legitimate grounds for the processing. We will always seek to comply with your request but we may be required to continue to process your information in order to comply with a legal requirement or an international tax agreement.
You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you
You are legally entitled to request a list of, or a copy of any information that we hold about you.
However where our records are not held in a way that easily identifies you, for example a land registry, we may not be able to provide you with a copy of your information, although we will do everything we can to comply with your request. We may also not be able to provide you with information disclosed to us under an international tax agreement.
Complaints
If you have an enquiry or concern regarding the States of Jersey processing your personal data you can
contact the Central Data Protection Unit.
You can also complain to the
Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner about the way your information is being used.
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