Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

RateCoach is a trading name of TaxRateHub. We provide free contractor tax calculators at taxratehub.co.uk. We are the data controller for any personal data collected through this website. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at hello@taxratehub.co.uk.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We collect data you voluntarily provide through two channels:

2.1 Feedback form

• Name — so we can address you personally in our response
• Email address — so we can reply to your enquiry
• Message content — the feedback, question, or request you submit

2.2 Lead generation forms

When you submit a request to be matched with a specialist (accountant, tax adviser, or HMRC dispute resolution expert), we collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number — so the specialist can contact you directly
• Location (city or county) — to match you with a local specialist
• Tax scenario details — the nature of your enquiry (e.g. CIS refund, CGT on property sale, R&D claim, HMRC investigation)
• Additional notes — any further information you choose to provide about your situation

We do not collect or store any financial data, tax calculations, or calculator inputs you enter on the calculators. All calculator calculations happen entirely in your browser and are not transmitted to our servers.

When you visit the site, your browser may also share your IP address with third-party services we use (see section 6 for details).

3. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data under the following lawful bases as defined by UK GDPR:

• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) — When you submit a lead generation form, you explicitly consent to us sharing your personal data with the third-party specialist firms described in section 5. This consent is obtained at the point of submission via a clear opt-in statement. You can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us (see section 8).
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — We use feedback form data to respond to your enquiries, improve our calculators, and understand how contractors use our tools. We consider that you have a reasonable expectation that we will read and respond to your message when you send it to us.

4. How We Use Your Data

We use the data you provide for the following purposes:

• Lead matching and referral: When you submit a lead generation form, we use your data to match you with an appropriate third-party specialist (accountant, tax adviser, or HMRC dispute resolution expert) and to pass your contact details and scenario information to that specialist so they can contact you directly.
• Responding to enquiries: We use feedback form data to respond to your questions or support requests.
• Service improvement: We use anonymised and aggregated data to improve the accuracy and usefulness of our calculators and to understand which services contractors are looking for.
• Quality monitoring: We may follow up with you to confirm whether you were successfully matched with a specialist and whether the service met your expectations.

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or automated decision-making. We do not sell your data to third parties. We only share your data with the specific specialist firm you are matched with.

5. Lead Generation & Third-Party Matching

RateCoach operates a lead generation service. When you submit a lead form on any of our specialist service pages (CIS tax refund, CGT for landlords, R&D tax credits, or HMRC investigation help), your personal data is shared with one or more vetted third-party firms so they can contact you about your enquiry.

5.1 Who we share your data with

We share your lead data with the following categories of third-party service providers (data controllers in their own right):

• Accountancy firms — Chartered and certified accountants who specialise in contractor tax, CIS refunds, limited company tax, and Self Assessment.
• Tax advisory firms — Specialist tax advisers who handle Capital Gains Tax planning, R&D tax credit claims, and complex tax structuring.
• HMRC dispute resolution specialists — Tax investigation defence experts and dispute resolution professionals who represent clients during HMRC enquiries.
• Umbrella companies — Firms that provide umbrella employment services for contractors (where you have specifically requested an umbrella comparison).

All third-party firms are UK-based and are required to comply with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We do not share your data with firms outside the UK without your explicit consent.

5.2 What data is shared in a lead

When we pass your lead to a specialist firm, we share:

• Your full name
• Email address
• Phone number (if provided)
• Location (city or county)
• The nature of your tax enquiry (e.g. "CIS refund", "CGT on property sale")
• Any additional notes you submitted

We do not share financial figures, tax reference numbers, UTR numbers, or NI numbers unless you explicitly include them in your message.

5.3 What happens after your lead is passed

Once your lead is passed to a third-party firm:

• That firm becomes an independent data controller for the data we have shared with them.
• They will contact you directly (usually by phone or email) to discuss your enquiry.
• They will handle any further personal data you provide to them in accordance with their own privacy policy.
• You should review their privacy policy before engaging their services.
• We are not responsible for how third-party firms handle your data after the lead has been passed.

5.4 Affiliate and referral relationships

Some of the third-party firms we refer leads to operate affiliate or referral arrangements with us. This means we may receive a referral fee or commission if you engage their services. This does not affect which firm we match you with — we match based on your stated needs and location. The affiliate disclosure is displayed on every lead generation page.

6. Service Providers (Data Processors)

We also share data with essential service providers who process it on our behalf:

• Web3Forms — Our form submission provider. When you submit a form, your data is sent to Web3Forms' API and forwarded to us by email. Web3Forms processes data in accordance with their privacy policy and does not use your data for their own purposes.
• Google Fonts — This site uses Google Fonts for typography. When you visit the site, your browser requests font files from Google's servers, which may log your IP address. Google processes this data in accordance with Google's privacy policy.

We do not share your data with any other third parties except where required by law.

7. Data Retention

We retain the personal data you submit for the following periods:

• Lead records (name, email, phone, scenario, notes): 24 months from the date of submission. This allows us to follow up on the quality of the match and to comply with any affiliate or referral reporting requirements. After this period, the data is permanently deleted.
• Feedback form records (name, email, message): 12 months from the date of submission. After this period, the data is permanently deleted.
• Website logs: We do not maintain server-side access logs. Any logs generated by hosting infrastructure are retained for no longer than 30 days.

We do not store any financial records, contract details, or calculator inputs through this website.

8. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights regarding your personal data. You can exercise any of these rights by contacting us at hello@taxratehub.co.uk.

1. Right of access — You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
2. Right to rectification — You can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
3. Right to erasure — You can ask us to delete your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it. Note that if your lead has already been passed to a third-party firm, we cannot delete the data they hold — you will need to contact them directly.
4. Right to restrict processing — You can ask us to suspend the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
5. Right to data portability — You can request a copy of your data in a machine-readable format and have it transferred to another controller.
6. Right to object — You can object to our processing of your data where we rely on legitimate interests as the legal basis. You can also withdraw your consent to lead sharing at any time.
7. Rights relating to automated decision-making — We do not use automated decision-making or profiling. Lead matching is done manually based on your stated needs and location.

We will respond to your request within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

9. International Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and processed in countries outside the UK when it passes through third-party services:

• Web3Forms processes form submissions through infrastructure that may be located outside the UK. Web3Forms is based in India and complies with UK GDPR requirements through Standard Contractual Clauses.
• Google Fonts may serve font files from Google's global CDN, which could involve data transfer to Google's servers in the United States. This transfer is governed by Google's adherence to UK-approved data transfer mechanisms.

Lead data is only shared with UK-based specialist firms. We do not transfer lead data outside the UK.

10. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data:

• All data transmitted via our feedback form is sent over HTTPS (TLS-encrypted connections)
• We do not store any financial or sensitive personal data on our servers
• We limit access to any personal data we receive to only those who need it to respond to your enquiry

11. Complaints

If you believe we have not handled your personal data in accordance with UK data protection law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK's independent data protection authority:

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Helpline: 0303 123 1113

We encourage you to contact us first so we can resolve any concerns directly.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your data.

This policy was last updated on 28 June 2026.