Privacy

Privacy policy

Tax Lawyers Pty Ltd (ACN 699 070 963, ABN 47 699 070 963) respects your privacy. We are an APP entity under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and do not rely on the small business exemption. The Australian Privacy Principles apply to how we handle personal information.

Information we collect

We may collect your name, contact details, appointment preferences and the information you choose to provide in an enquiry. Please do not send tax file numbers, passwords, banking details, identity documents or confidential records through the general enquiry tools.

Why we collect it

We use information to respond to enquiries, arrange consultations, deliver legal services where the firm later accepts an engagement, operate the website, maintain security and meet legal and professional obligations. An enquiry or booking does not create a lawyer-client relationship.

Storage, disclosure and retention

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it. Retention periods are:

  1. a general website enquiry, including a transcript of a conversation with Sophie, is kept for 30 days;
  2. a booking or callback request that is never confirmed is kept for 30 days;
  3. a confirmed booking or callback record is kept for 12 months;
  4. records connected with a matter the firm accepts, including the records we keep under our anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations, are kept for 7 years after the matter closes;
  5. trust account records are kept for 7 years.

Technical security logs are ordinarily retained separately, for up to 30 days.

We use contracted technology providers to run the website and deliver services, and may disclose information where the law requires it. Some providers process information outside Australia. The providers we use include:

  1. ClickSend, which sends SMS confirmations to the mobile number you provide;
  2. Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform and WhatsApp Business app, which carry WhatsApp booking messages and Client Portal notices, as described below;
  3. Neon, which hosts our booking and enquiry database;
  4. Upstash, which stores Sophie call records;
  5. Google Workspace, including Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Chat and Google’s OAuth service, which we use to create bookings, email your confirmation, give our staff internal notices about bookings and manage consultations;
  6. LiveKit, one of Sophie’s voice modes;
  7. Zoom, which we use for video meetings, including Zoom’s Meeting SDK being introduced so that some urgent meetings can run inside the website itself;
  8. OpenAI and Retell, described below under Conversations with Sophie and Hire Us Now;
  9. Vercel, which hosts the website.

The WhatsApp link on this site opens your own WhatsApp app so you can message us.

If you choose WhatsApp for a meeting, we may send booking confirmations and reminders to the WhatsApp number you give us. They come from our WhatsApp Business number, +61 474 893 329. Our staff send them by hand from our WhatsApp Business app.

In future, we may send these messages automatically through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API). We may also use it to tell you when your Client Portal has been updated.

WhatsApp messages are processed by Meta and may be processed outside Australia. You can tell us at any time to stop WhatsApp messages, using the contact details below.

Analytics and cookies

This website does not currently use analytics, and it sets no analytics cookie. We intend to add Google Analytics 4. When we do, it will be consent gated: it will set a cookie on your device only once you agree, you will be asked through a consent banner, and you will be able to change that choice at any time. We will update this policy when it is in place.

We use Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to monitor how the website appears in search results. Neither of those sets a cookie in your browser.

We do not use advertising pixels or tags. You can control cookies through your browser settings.

Your selected office

We remember your selected office or national page in your browser tab’s session storage so Home and booking links return there while you browse. This preference contains only that selection, not your precise location or enquiry details, and is not an advertising identifier.

Conversations with Sophie

Sophie is the firm’s AI assistant, helping with general enquiries and finding the right contact or consultation. She is not a lawyer and does not provide legal advice. Using Sophie does not create a lawyer-client relationship. You can use the telephone, email, booking or callback options without using Sophie.

When text Sophie is enabled, messages are processed by OpenAI. Voice Sophie uses Retell and its speech and language-model providers. Audio is sent for processing after you choose Start voice and grant microphone permission. You can mute your microphone or end the conversation at any time. The service is not a closed, offline or firm-only system.

The visible chat is held temporarily in your browser’s memory and clears when you close Sophie or change modes. Live captions clear when the voice session ends. A voice conversation with Sophie is transcribed. We do not retain the audio recording. The transcript is stored on a Google Drive account controlled by the firm, and may be reviewed by a person at the firm. We keep the transcript for 30 days, for safety, and then delete it. If it becomes part of the file for a matter the firm accepts, it is kept with that file. Confirmed booking and callback records are kept separately, under the retention periods set out above. This does not mean that all provider records are deleted when the display clears: provider retention, security and legal requirements may apply separately. See OpenAI’s business data privacy information and Retell’s privacy policy.

Keep your enquiry general. Do not provide tax file numbers, passwords, banking details, identity documents or confidential documents through Sophie. Arrange an appropriate private discussion with a lawyer for sensitive material. We do not guarantee absolute security or confidentiality for an online conversation.

Hire Us Now

If you use the Hire Us Now form, your description of the work you want us to do and the kind of matter you choose may be sent to OpenAI to draft the scope of work wording for your costs agreement, and the drafted wording may be sent to OpenAI again to check it. We send them with OpenAI’s option to store responses turned off. OpenAI does not use them to train its models, although it may keep them for a short time to check for misuse, as OpenAI’s business data privacy information explains.

Automated decision making

From 10 December 2026, new transparency obligations for automated decision making commence under the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth). We describe our own process here ahead of that date.

When the urgency feature is in use, our website records the date you tell us you were served or otherwise became aware of the matter. From that date, the website calculates a deadline by which a formal response or appearance is ordinarily required, and sets an urgency tier for your enquiry based on how close to, or how far past, that deadline you are. The tier affects how quickly the firm contacts you and how your enquiry is triaged internally. It does not decide the merits of your case, and it does not replace a lawyer’s judgement.

The personal information used in this process is the enquiry and contact details you provide, including any date you tell us. You can find out more about how we handle your information, or raise a concern, using the contact details below.

Access, correction and complaints

You can request access to or correction of personal information, or make a privacy complaint, by emailing contact@taxlawyers.com.au or calling 1300 764 050. We will respond within a reasonable period.

If you remain dissatisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or at oaic.gov.au.

If your complaint concerns the professional conduct of one of our lawyers, you may contact the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia on (08) 6211 3600 or at lpbwa.org.au, Level 6, 111 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000. The Legal Services and Complaints Committee handles complaints about legal practitioners; complaints are made through the Legal Practice Board’s published complaints page.

Deleting your information

You can ask us to delete personal information we hold about you, including information we receive through WhatsApp or our website, by emailing contact@taxlawyers.com.au or calling 1300 764 050. We will delete or de-identify it unless the law or our professional obligations require us to keep it, for example client file and trust records that we must keep for 7 years after the matter closes. If we cannot delete something, we will tell you why.

You can also ask us at any time to stop sending you WhatsApp or SMS messages.

Last updated: 13 October 2026.