Privacy Policy

Who we are

This policy is issued by Centax Pty Ltd (ABN 17 001 162 910), trading as Frank Hong & Co and Chatswood Taxation Consultants ("we", "us", "the firm"). We are a Chatswood-based accounting practice and registered tax agents.

We respect your privacy and handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. This policy is available free on our website. We comply with Australian privacy law; we do not claim to comply with overseas laws such as the GDPR.

What we collect

We only collect what we reasonably need to do your accounting and tax work. Depending on the service, this may include:

• Your name, date of birth, and contact details
• Your tax file number and other ATO references
• Income, deductions, bank, investment and other financial details
• Employment, superannuation and business records (such as GST and BAS information)
• Identification documents, and limited details about your spouse or dependants where they affect your return

How and why we collect it

We usually collect information directly from you — when you contact us, become a client, or send us your records. Sometimes we collect it from others you've authorised us to deal with, such as the ATO, your employer, bank, super fund or previous accountant.

We collect and hold this information so we can prepare and lodge your tax returns and activity statements, prepare financial statements, give you accounting and tax advice, and meet our own legal and record-keeping obligations as registered tax agents. If you don't give us the information we need, we may not be able to do the work.

Your tax file number

We collect tax file numbers only as allowed under tax law, keep them secure, and use them only for your tax affairs. We never use your tax file number as a general way to identify you, and we don't share it except as part of lodging your return or where the law requires.

Who we share it with

We use your information only for the work you've engaged us to do, or for a related purpose you'd reasonably expect. We may share it with:

• The ATO and, where relevant, other government agencies such as ASIC
• People you've authorised us to deal with on your behalf
• Trusted service providers that run our secure systems (see "Service providers" below)
• Our own professional advisers, and anyone else where the law requires or authorises it

We do not sell your personal information. As registered tax agents we are also bound by the law and the Tax Practitioners Board Code of Professional Conduct, which means we keep your affairs confidential and will not disclose your information to anyone else without your permission unless we have a legal duty to do so.

Service providers

To deliver our services securely we use a small number of trusted, vetted providers — including cloud-based systems for online forms, document storage and practice management, secure email and messaging, and an electronic signing system. We limit each provider to only the information it needs and require all of them to protect your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles. Some store or process information overseas, including in the United States, where we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled to a standard consistent with Australian privacy law.

How we protect it

We take reasonable steps to keep your information safe — including secure systems and limiting access to the people who need it to do your work. If a data breach happens that is likely to cause you serious harm, we follow the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner where required.

AI-assisted tools

We use firm-approved artificial-intelligence-assisted tools to help our team summarise, draft, search and review client information for accounting, tax and administrative work. These tools operate under our confidentiality, access and security controls; we don't enter your information into publicly available consumer AI tools, and we don't allow it to be used to train public or provider AI models. Our staff review AI outputs, and we never make final tax positions, lodgements or decisions that affect you by automated means alone.

How long we keep it

We keep your information only as long as we need it for your work or to meet our legal obligations. Tax and financial records generally need to be kept for at least five years, and sometimes longer. When we no longer need information, we securely destroy or de-identify it.

Seeing and correcting your information

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct anything that's wrong or out of date. Just contact our Privacy Officer (details below). We'll respond within a reasonable time, and if we can't give access or make a correction, we'll explain why. Australian law gives you a right to access and correction; it doesn't include an absolute "right to be forgotten", and we may need to keep some records to meet our legal obligations.

Our website

If you use the contact form on this website, we collect your name, email, phone number and message so we can respond to you. The site also uses basic analytics cookies to understand how it's used, and spam protection to keep the form secure.

Making a complaint

If you're concerned about how we've handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer. We take complaints seriously: we'll acknowledge yours promptly and respond within a reasonable time, usually within 30 days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

Changes to this policy

We review this policy from time to time and at least once a year. If we update it, we'll publish the new version on this page with a new date.