Privacy

What we collect

This website and our services are operated by Julien Roy, operating as « Services TVQ Direct » / QST Direct. This policy explains, in plain terms, how we handle personal information under Québec’s Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.

When you email us at bonjour@tvqdirect.ca: your name, your email address and anything you choose to include in your message. Email is the only way to contact us; we have no web form.

When you become a client: your name and contact details; your business name and identifiers, such as your QST and GST/HST registration numbers; your registration and filing details; the sales data and categorised expense lists you send us; the returns we prepare; our correspondence; the procuration or authorization details needed to file for you, if you choose that option; and our billing records.

What we never collect: passwords, access codes or other login details for your online accounts with Revenu Québec or the CRA. We never hold your tax money. Please don’t send us sensitive information we haven’t asked for.

When you visit this website: the company that hosts it processes technical data, such as your IP address and browser details, to deliver pages and protect the site. This website sets no cookies and uses no analytics or advertising tools. See Cookie preferences.

We collect information directly from you. If you authorize us to act for you, we may also obtain information about your file from Revenu Québec or the CRA, within the limits of your procuration or authorization.

How we use it

We use your information only to answer your messages; to prepare and reconcile your returns and, if you choose that option, file them; to reply to Revenu Québec or CRA letters covered by your engagement; to invoice you and keep our business records; and to meet our legal obligations.

We don’t sell your information, and we don’t use it for advertising or profiling.

We share it only when needed: with Revenu Québec or the CRA when we file or reply for you under your authorization; with the service providers listed under “Where it is kept”, to run our service; or when the law requires or allows it. Any other use needs your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

Where it is kept

We use these service providers to run our service: Google (Gmail, our email inbox), Cloudflare (website hosting and email routing) and Porkbun (registration of our domain names). Each one gets only the information it needs.

Personal information may be stored or processed outside Québec, including in the United States, by our service providers: Google for email, Cloudflare for website hosting and email routing, and Porkbun for our domain names. Before entrusting personal information to them, we assessed the privacy factors, as section 17 of the Act requires, and we rely on written agreements with them. We review this assessment if a provider or the way we use it changes.

We protect your information with security measures suited to its sensitivity.

How long we keep it

We keep client files for 7 years after our engagement ends, then destroy them securely. Messages from people who don’t become clients are deleted after 12 months.

Your own records: Revenu Québec and the CRA generally require you to keep your records and supporting documents for six years after the end of the year they relate to. Copies kept in our file don’t replace your own records.

Cookies and analytics

This website sets no cookies, uses no analytics or advertising tools and makes no requests to other websites. If that changes, we’ll update this policy first, and any cookie or tool that isn’t strictly necessary will stay off until you consent to it. See Cookie preferences.

Your rights

You can ask us to confirm whether we hold personal information about you and to give you access to it; to correct information that is inaccurate, incomplete or ambiguous; to stop a use of your information you consented to, unless the law requires us to keep it; and to send you, or an organization you name, the computerized information we collected from you, in a structured, commonly used technological format.

Send your request by email to the person in charge named below. We reply in writing within 30 days. Access is free; a reasonable fee may be charged only for transcribing, reproducing or sending information, and we tell you the amount first. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on your request.

If we refuse your request, or don’t reply within 30 days, you can ask the Commission d’accès à l’information to examine the disagreement within 30 days of our refusal or of the end of that period.

Confidentiality incidents

If a confidentiality incident occurs, such as unauthorized access to personal information or its loss, we act quickly to reduce the risk of injury and to prevent a similar incident. If the incident presents a risk of serious injury, we promptly notify the Commission d’accès à l’information and the people concerned. We keep a register of all incidents.

How we govern your information

Julien Roy, who operates QST Direct, is the person in charge of the protection of personal information. He approves our privacy practices, handles requests and complaints, keeps the incident register and oversees how information is kept and destroyed.

Our rules: we collect only what we need for the purposes above; we keep information only as long as needed; only people who need it for their work can access it; we assess privacy factors before any new information system and before any communication outside Québec; and we destroy information securely.

When information crosses provincial or national borders in the course of commercial activity, the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act may also apply.

Questions and complaints

For any question or complaint about how we handle your personal information, email the person in charge named below at bonjour@tvqdirect.ca. We look into every complaint and reply in writing. Our postal address is given in your engagement letter, or by email on request.

You can also file a complaint with the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec (cai.gouv.qc.ca), anonymously if you prefer.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we post the new version on this page with its date and, if you’re a client, we tell you by email.