QuickBooks in the EU and GDPR

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25 May 2018. It's a new privacy law that regulates the processing of personal data relating to individuals in the European Union.

GDPR strengthens the rights that individuals have regarding their personal data, and seeks to unify data protection laws across Europe.

We want our QuickBooks customers in the EU to know that we’re preparing for the changes with new tools and features.

The lowdown on GDPR

What is GDPR?

GDPR is a new EU data protection law that gives more protection to your personal data, and how you can control it. It provides a single set of data protection rules that apply to all companies operating in the EU, and takes effect in each EU member state on 25 May 2018.

What does GDPR regulate?

GDPR will regulate the processing of personal data about EU individuals. This means the collection, storage, transfer or use of data, including the tracking of online activities. It doesn’t matter where the companies processing the personal data are based - if the information relates to an EU individual, it will be subject to the new law.

Under GDPR, 'personal data' means any data that relates to an identified or identifiable individual, which includes things like your name, your home address, or a government-issued identification number. It does not include non-personal data, such a company registration number, a general corporate email alias (e.g. info@company.com) or anonymised data.

How will GDPR change privacy law?

To put it simply, GDPR increases the privacy rights of individuals in the EU. It also increases the obligations of organisations who deal with their data.

Some of the key changes include:

Right of Access: you may have the right to access what personal data we have about you.
Right to Deletion: in certain circumstances, you may have a right to ask that we delete personal data.
Right of Portability: you own the data you put into our products and services, and this allows you to take a copy with you.
Right to Object to Processing: in certain circumstances, you may ask us to stop processing your personal data or stop sending you marketing communications.
Right of Rectification: you may have the right to ask us to ensure your data is accurate or complete.
Right to Withdraw Consent: for certain processing activities, we may ask for your consent. You have the right to not provide your consent or withdraw it at any time.

Are there penalties for companies who don’t comply?

Yes, and they’re significant. Under GDPR, authorities can fine organisations up to €20 million or 4% of a company’s annual global revenue, whichever is greater.

Where can I learn more about GDPR?

There’s more information about GDPR available from the Information Commissioner’s Office or the official EU GDPR website.

What GDPR means for QuickBooks

We're reviewing our procedures and investing in our infrastructure to help you take advantage of the changes under GDPR.

If you're in the EU and using one of our European products, you may be able to:

Ask for a copy of the personal data we’ve collected about you.
Ask for a copy of the personal data you provided for our products and services.
Request that we stop sending you direct marketing messages.
Ask that we stop using your personal data for certain purposes, or for a period of time.
Ask that we amend or delete your personal data.
If we ask for consent to process your personal data, you can later withdraw your consent.

What GDPR means for your business

Every business is unique, and your requirements under GDPR may differ from other businesses - including Intuit’s obligations.

There are many resources available to help you determine how the new changes may affect your business. This includes the official EU GDPR website, and information published by regulators in the individual EU Member States.

Our commitment to honour your trust

Our mission is to power prosperity around the world by unlocking the power of data. When you provide us with your data, we know you put your trust in us. While we’re working to meet our specific GDPR requirements, our Data Stewardship Principles have successfully served small businesses, accountants and the self-employed for many years.

With GDPR, we’ll continue to work to earn your trust.

We’ll keep you in the loop

Meeting our privacy and data security goals is important to us. And as we build new tools that support GDPR, we’ll share information about features and functionality once they’re available.

In the meantime, here are some useful resources:

Want to know more?

QuickBooks in the EU and GDPR

The lowdown on GDPR

What GDPR means for QuickBooks

What GDPR means for your business

Our commitment to honour your trust

We’ll keep you in the loop

Want to know more?

Read our privacy statement

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