Privacy Policy Te Kaupapa Matatapu
This policy explains how Town & Country Accountants - The Lakes (“TACA”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, and protects information you provide through this website. We comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and the 13 Information Privacy Principles.
This policy covers the website only. If you become a client, the financial information we hold for you in Xero, our accounting tools, and our internal systems is governed by the engagement letter you sign with us, plus the professional confidentiality standards of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. That information is treated to a higher standard than standard website data.
Who we are
Town & Country Accountants - The Lakes is a chartered accounting practice located at 69 Gargan Road, Tauriko, Tauranga 3110, New Zealand. You can reach us on 07 543 0872 or at officeadmin@tacalakes.co.nz.
What we collect
We only collect information you actively give us. That includes:
- Contact form submissions: your name, email address, optional business name, the package you are interested in, and your message.
- Anonymous analytics: page visits, device type, broad geographic region (city level), referring source. This is collected through Google Analytics 4.
- Local-only tool state: your bilingual language preference, GST calculator history, and tax deadline tracker selections are stored in your browser’s localStorage. None of this leaves your device.
We do not use cookies for tracking beyond what Google Analytics requires. We do not run advertising pixels or social retargeting.
How we use what we collect
Contact form submissions are used to respond to your enquiry. If you become a client, we may keep that initial conversation as part of your client record.
Analytics data is used to understand which pages are useful and where visitors get stuck. We never combine analytics with anything that could identify you as an individual.
Third parties we use
The website itself relies on three third-party services:
- Google Analytics 4 for anonymous traffic analytics. Google’s privacy policy.
- Web3Forms to deliver contact form submissions to our inbox without us running our own server. Web3Forms privacy policy.
- Cloudflare Pages as the hosting and content-delivery network. Cloudflare may log standard request metadata (IP, user agent, time) for security and performance.
If you become a client, we also use Xero for your accounting records. Xero stores data in Australia and New Zealand and is covered by its own privacy terms, which you can review at xero.com/nz/legal/privacy.
Data retention
Contact form messages are retained in our email system as long as is reasonably needed to respond and for the duration of any subsequent client relationship. Analytics data is retained for up to 26 months under default Google Analytics settings.
Client records held outside this website are retained per Inland Revenue and Chartered Accountants ANZ requirements, typically seven years.
Your rights
Under the Privacy Act 2020 you can:
- Ask what personal information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct anything that is wrong
- Ask us to delete information we are not legally required to keep
- Make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner if you believe we have breached your privacy
To make any of these requests, email officeadmin@tacalakes.co.nz. We will respond within 20 working days as required by the Act.
Cookies
The only cookies set by this website are those used by Google Analytics for anonymous traffic measurement. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all sites with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Changes to this policy
If we update this policy, the “Last updated” date at the top will change. Significant changes will be highlighted at the top of the page for at least 30 days.
Contact for privacy questions
For any privacy-related question, contact officeadmin@tacalakes.co.nz or call 07 543 0872. The Privacy Officer is Chelsea Jensen, Director.