Privacy notice

What is the research about?

This privacy notice sets out how your information will be used for research to better understand how sole traders and landlords are preparing for upcoming changes to Self Assessment. Your views will help inform HMRC communications and support for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The research involved depth interviews with businesses registered for Self Assessment.

As part of this research, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), an independent social research agency, is contacting sole traders and landlords by letter to inform them about the research and provide an opportunity to opt out of the study. Research interviews, analysis and reporting will be carried out by our research partner, Walnut. Walnut’s privacy notice can be found here.  

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?  

HMRC have provided NatCen with your contact details from their records of businesses that are registered for Self Assessment. This information will be held securely by NatCen in line with the UK GDPR. Only the research team at NatCen and at our research partner, Walnut, will have access to your contact details. Walnut is an approved supplier and adheres to NatCen’s information security policies.

How NatCen will use your information  

Data will only be used for research purposes and will be kept confidential at all times. Following the opt out process, your contact details will be securely shared with Walnut to conduct recruitment and interviewing. Walnut’s privacy notice can be found here. 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.

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 SAresearch@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 'MRD2026’ 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.