Your Privacy Matters to Us
This is our privacy policy. Please read it carefully because it explains how we collect and use information about you. By taking any of the actions referred to in this privacy policy, you agree that we may collect and use your information in the ways described.
Who we are
#GoFile is a trading name of GOFILE Ltd., a limited company registered in England and Wales (registration number 13521210).
In this privacy statement references to “we”, “us” and “our” relate to #GoFile. References to “our Website” or “the Website” relate to gofile.co.uk
We are governed in the UK by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). Where applicable, the EU GDPR may also apply.
This privacy policy describes the information we hold on you, how we use the information you provide, and your rights under data protection law.
For personal data we use for our own purposes, GOFILE Ltd is the data controller. Where a customer uses #GoFile to process information about their clients, employees or other people, we normally act as a data processor on that customer's behalf. Our Data Processing Agreement applies to that processing.
How we collect information
We will collect information from you if you:
- register to use our website; this will include your contact information such as your name and email address. We may ask you to provide additional information about your business and preferences on a voluntary basis;
- provide additional voluntary information about your business and financial activities. This information may be needed for us to provide you with services via our website.
- complete online forms, write reviews, take part in surveys, write posts on any message boards, post any blogs, enter any competitions or prize draws, download information such as white papers or other publications, or participate in any other interactive areas that appear on our website or which we offer to you from time to time
- contact us offline for example by telephone, fax, email or post.
We also collect information about your visit to our website or use of our products or services using cookies or similar technologies
We may also collect technical information when you use our services, such as your IP address and details of your browser or device. Some of this information is required by HMRC when you use our software to make submissions to them.
Your information accuracy
If we hold any information about you which is incorrect or if there are any changes to your details please let us know so that we can keep our records accurate and up to date. If you would like to update your records or see a copy of the information that we hold about you, you can contact us at our Registered Office address above. You may also send a secure message to the support team, after logging into your account.
How we store information
As far as is practical and possible, your data is stored encrypted at rest. This means that even if data is stolen, it cannot be read by a third party. We use the very latest algorithms to ensure that your data is kept safe, even in the event of a breach.
How long we keep information
Information and data is only held as long as is necessary, and while we have a lawful reason to hold it, for example, while you have an active account or subscription with us, or for a reasonable period afterwards so that you can reactivate your account and access your previous records.
You have the right to close your account, and ask to have your data removed at any time. If you would like your data removed from our servers, please contact us, and this will normally be completed within 3 business days. We may retain information where we have a legal obligation or other lawful reason to do so.
If your account appears to be dormant – for example, where you have not accessed our service for over 3 years, and do not have an active subscription with us, we may contact you to confirm whether you still require our services. If we do not receive a reply, or you do not log into the service within 30 days, your account will be deactivated, and your data will be removed from our servers except where we have a legal obligation or other lawful reason to retain it.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR, depending on the circumstances, you have rights to access the personal data we hold about you, correct inaccurate information, ask us to delete or restrict the use of your information, and receive certain information you have provided to us in a portable format. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
You also have the right to object where we process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests. You can always object to your personal data being used for direct marketing.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us or send a secure message to the support team after logging into your account.
If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact us. We will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days, investigate it appropriately and communicate the outcome to you. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
What we use your information for
- We will use your information to provide any information and services that you have requested or any products that you have ordered. We may also ask you for feedback on your use of our products, services or our website. We may use your information for marketing purposes – with your consent – as described in the Marketing paragraph below. We may also use and analyse the information that we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our website and the products and services we offer.
Our lawful basis for using your information will depend on what we are using it for. We rely on performance of our contract with you where information is needed to provide the services you request; legal obligation where the law requires us to process or disclose information; our legitimate interests in operating, securing, supporting and improving our services and preventing fraud; and your consent where we send you marketing.
Some information is necessary for us to provide our services or make filings on your behalf. If you do not provide it, we may not be able to provide the relevant service.
Sharing your information
We may share your information with:
- third parties which supply services to us or which process information on our behalf (for example, payment providers such as Stripe). These third parties may have incidental access to your information, but access will be strictly limited to the minimum necessary.
- third parties that provide our services to you under their own name, through a partnership or license agreement with us.
- third parties where expressly requested by you. This may include, for example, submitting data to HMRC or Companies House on your behalf when you ask us to.
- third parties where required to by law.
- another organisation to whom we transfer our agreement with you.
- Google LLC – limited data about account registration and subscription events on our secure platform is shared with Google to measure advertising effectiveness. This may include a hashed version of your email address, used solely to match the event to an advertisement. It does not include your financial information or HMRC submissions. Google’s use of this data is governed by their own privacy policy.
- Trustpilot and REVIEWS.io – after a successful filing we may pass your name and email address to one of these independent review platforms so that it can email you an invitation to review #GoFile. We use one platform per customer, not both, and each invitation carries the platform’s own unsubscribe link. It does not include your financial information or HMRC submissions. Their use of this data is governed by their own privacy policies.
We may pass collective, anonymised information about the use of our website or our products or services to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.
Your data and HMRC
Whenever you submit data to the HMRC using our service, the data included in that submission is governed by their own Privacy Policy. You can review the HMRC Privacy Policy here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-act-dpa-information-hm-revenue-and-customs-hold-about-you/data-protection-act-dpa-information-hm-revenue-and-customs-hold-about-you
HMRC also requires software which connects to its systems to provide certain technical information to help prevent fraud. This may include information about your IP address, browser, device, screen and time zone. This information is covered by the HMRC Transaction Monitoring Privacy Notice. Please review this document here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transaction-monitoring-privacy-notice/transaction-monitoring-privacy-notice
Where you use our service to submit information to Companies House, that information is governed by Companies House's own privacy information. You can review its Personal Information Charter here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house/about/personal-information-charter
Marketing
We may use your information to contact you with details about our products and services which may be of interest to you. We will only use your email address to contact you in this way where we have received your explicit consent to do so. Your consent can be given or withdrawn by logging into your account, and changing the options in Settings > Your Preferences.
Cookies and Traffic Data
We use cookies across our websites. Cookies are small amounts of data sent to your web browser by a webserver. The cookies we use depend on which part of our service you are using.
Marketing website (gofile.co.uk)
Our marketing website does not use any advertising, tracking, or analytics cookies. We only use cookies that are strictly necessary for the website to function correctly:
Language preference – We store your chosen language in a small cookie so that the website displays in the correct language as you navigate between pages. This cookie is shared across gofile.co.uk subdomains so your preference carries over when you log in. It expires after 7 days.
Session cookies – When you submit our contact form, a temporary session cookie is used to prevent abuse. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.
Anti-spam (reCAPTCHA) – Our contact form uses Google reCAPTCHA v3 to protect against spam. This service may set its own cookies when you interact with the form. These cookies are strictly for security purposes. Google’s privacy policy applies to any data collected by reCAPTCHA: policies.google.com/privacy.
Embedded videos – Some pages contain videos embedded from YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube may set cookies if you choose to play a video.
Secure platform (secure.gofile.co.uk)
Our secure platform does not use any advertising, tracking, or analytics cookies either. The only cookies it uses are strictly necessary for the service to function and to keep your account secure:
Authentication and session cookies – These cookies keep your session secure and keep you logged in to your account. They are essential for the service to function and expire when your session ends or after a set period of inactivity.
Security – We and our infrastructure providers may set strictly necessary cookies to protect your account and our service against fraud and abuse, including Google reCAPTCHA and our content delivery network. Google’s privacy policy applies to any data collected by reCAPTCHA: policies.google.com/privacy.
Stripe may also set cookies on payment pages for security and fraud prevention.
We measure how effective our advertising is without setting cookies in your browser. When you register or subscribe, that event is reported to Google from our own servers, using the click identifier that was passed in the link you arrived from (see Attribution parameters below). Google’s privacy policy applies to information collected in this way: policies.google.com/privacy.
Attribution parameters
When you visit our marketing website from an advertisement, the link may contain parameters (such as a click identifier or campaign name) appended by the advertising platform. If you then navigate to our secure platform to create an account, these parameters are passed along in the URL so that we can understand which advertisements are effective. This does not involve cookies on the marketing website and no personally identifiable information is collected as part of this process.
How to disable cookies
You may be able to configure your browser to restrict cookies or block all cookies if you wish. However please note that this may prevent certain parts of our website, products or services, from working – you may not be able to log in to your account, for example. For more information about cookies and instructions on how to adjust your browser settings to accept, delete or reject cookies, see the Internet Advertising Bureau website www.youronlinechoices.co.uk.
Changes to our privacy policy
We may change our privacy policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected in this document.
Security and storage of information
We will keep your information secure by taking appropriate technical and organisational measures against its unauthorised or unlawful processing and against its accidental loss, destruction or damage. Unfortunately, the internet is not always secure therefore, although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data which is transmitted to our website or other products and services via an internet or similar connection and any transmission will be at your own risk. If we have given you (or you have chosen) a password to access certain areas of our website, product or service please keep this password safe.
Transfers outside of the UK
Personal data in the United Kingdom is protected by data protection laws but other countries do not necessarily protect your personal data in the same way. Our secure software, its main database, uploaded documents and backups are hosted in the United Kingdom. Our website and some email infrastructure are hosted in Ireland. Some of the third parties which supply services to us may process personal data outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we use safeguards required by UK data protection law, which may include UK adequacy regulations, the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or approved international data transfer agreements. Please contact us if you would like further information about the safeguards applying to a particular transfer.
Other sites
If you follow a link from our website, product or service to another site or service, this policy will no longer apply. We are not responsible for the information handling practices of third party sites or services and we encourage you to read the privacy policies appearing on those sites or services.
Partnerships and license agreements
If you access our service via a third party, for example through a licensed partner, we may share your data with them. If you access our service through a third party, use of and access to your data will be governed by their Privacy Policy in addition to our Privacy Policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will you sell my data, or use it for research etc.?
No, we do not use your data for purposes not disclosed in this document, and we do not sell your data. We only share it with third parties in the circumstances described in this policy.
Can you remove all my data?
If you want to remove your data, please contact support, and your data will be removed from our servers except where we have a legal obligation or other lawful reason to retain it.
If you have any further questions please contact us.
Further information
If you would like further information about data protection please visit the Information Commissioner's site at www.ico.gov.uk