Research with small businesses and tax agents exploring their needs in relation to dealing with Corporation Tax requirements - Privacy notice

What is the research about?

This privacy notice sets out how your information will be used for research exploring the views and experiences of small businesses and tax agents in regard to complying with Corporation Tax requirements. Your views will help HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to gain a better understanding of the needs of small businesses and tax agents and how they can be supported to help ensure businesses pay the right amount of tax.

As part of this research, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), an independent social research organisation, will carry out interviews with small businesses and tax agents acting for small businesses who are registered to pay Corporation Tax.

What is the legal basis for processing my data?

For the purpose of data protection legislation, HMRC are the data controllers and NatCen are the data processers. This means HMRC is responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data from this study. For this study, the legal basis for processing data is ‘Public Task’.

Who will have access to my personal data?

Your data will be held securely by NatCen in line with the UK GDPR. Only the NatCen research team and the transcription partner that we work with will have access to personal data that you provide during the interview. All the information you provide will be held in strict confidence and held securely.

We are collaborating with several external organisations listed as approved suppliers by NatCen, all of whom adhere to NatCen’s information security policies. McGowan Transcriptions will provide the transcription services for NatCen. Additionally, DJS Research, a market research agency, will recruit some of the businesses taking part in this research. Sagacity Solutions, is also being used for telematching and adding additional contact information to the sample of businesses and tax agents supplied by HMRC.

How NatCen will use your information

Data will only be used for research purposes, and will be kept confidential at all times. NatCen will write up the findings in a report in a way that protects your anonymity and HMRC will not know who has taken part in the research. The report may include quotes of what you have said. The quotes will be labelled anonymously.

The findings of the research may be published externally. All personal information will be securely deleted at the end of the project.

You can withdraw from the study at any time prior to analysis of interviews. If you wish to do so, please contact the NatCen research team on the study email address or freephone number provided below.

HMRC have also requested to see a sample of anonymised transcripts for quality assurance purposes. Any information that may identify you would be removed from the transcript before it is shared with HMRC. You do not have to consent to your transcript being shared with HMRC. We will ask at the end of the interview whether you consent to sharing or not.

Storing your information

The data held by NatCen will be stored securely in the UK, in line with international best practice and NatCen’s ISO 27001, ISO 20252 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications. Data will not be stored in overseas servers. All personal data will be securely deleted once the project has been completed.

Requesting access to your personal data

You can request access to your personal data and for it to be deleted or updated by NatCen, as well as an explanation of how it has been used, at any time before it has been destroyed. Rights requests will be responded to within 30 days. Analysis produced from personal data is not personal data, and the process of removing identifiable information is not reversible. Individual rights requests apply to personal data only, and there may be some occasions where you will receive an explanation of why the request you've made cannot be complied with. If you would like to make a request about your data, please get in touch with the NatCen research team via the contact details provided below.

Who to contact if you have a query or a complaint?

To contact the research team at NatCen, please email corporationtax@natcen.ac.uk or call 0808 281 9513 free of charge.

If you have any questions about how your data will be used for this research, please contact HMRC’s Customer Research team at: customerresearchteam@hmrc.gov.uk with ‘Corporation Tax research’ as the subject.

You can also find more information on research at HMRC here and more information about HMRC’s role as the data holder in HMRC’s privacy notice here.

Under GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint about how information has been used or managed with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk.

Who are NatCen?

NatCen is an independent social research institute. We design, conduct, and analyse research studies in the fields of social and public policy. You can find out more about NatCen on www.natcen.ac.uk