Privacy Policy

Who We Are

This website is operated by AK Consulting (Yorkshire) Limited, trading as AK VAT Advisory (“we”, “us”, or “our”), company number 15715931, registered office Ground Floor Radley House, Richardshaw Road, Leeds, England, LS28 6LE. We are supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering purposes under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at hello@akvat.co.uk or on 0113 519 7322.

What Personal Data We Collect

We collect personal data in the following ways:

• Contact and enquiry forms — when you submit our contact form, we collect the name, email address, organisation, and message content you provide.
• Direct correspondence — if you email or call us directly, we hold the information contained in that correspondence, including your contact details and any details you share about your VAT position or query.
• Client and engagement data — if you engage us for advisory, retainer, or training services, we collect the information reasonably necessary to deliver that engagement, which may include financial and business information relevant to your VAT position.

We do not knowingly collect any special category data (such as health or financial account details) unless you volunteer it as part of a query, and only to the extent necessary to advise you.

How We Use Your Data

We use the personal data we collect to:

• Respond to enquiries and provide quotes for our services
• Deliver VAT advisory, retainer, and training services you have engaged us for
• Meet our own legal, accounting, and regulatory obligations (for example, record-keeping requirements)
• Maintain the security and proper functioning of this website

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling, and we do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

Our Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract — where processing is necessary to perform a service you have engaged us for
• Legitimate interests — to respond to enquiries and operate our business, in a way that does not override your rights and interests
• Legal obligation — where we are required to retain records for accounting, tax, or professional regulatory purposes

Sharing Your Data

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

• Service providers who process data on our behalf, such as Forminit, the third-party form processor used to handle contact form submissions on this website, and our email provider
• Professional advisers such as our accountant, where necessary for our own compliance
• Regulators or authorities such as HMRC, where we are legally required to disclose information

Any third party processing data on our behalf is required to do so only on our instructions and to keep it secure.

How Long We Keep Your Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected. Enquiry data that does not lead to an engagement is typically retained for a limited period and then deleted. Client engagement records are retained in line with our professional and statutory obligations, which for tax-related records is typically at least six years.

Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Request access to the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request erasure of your data, where applicable
• Request that we restrict or object to certain processing
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@akvat.co.uk. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's Privacy

This website and our services are directed at businesses and professionals. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. The “last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal data, please email hello@akvat.co.uk.