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TradeMate

Privacy policy

TradeMate keeps your records on your own PC. This policy explains what it stores there, what it sends to HMRC when you file a VAT return, and the little that Block itself ever sees.

In short

  • Your sales, expenses, customers and suppliers are stored on your PC only. Block does not receive, sync or back them up.
  • TradeMate has no analytics, tracking or advertising, and uses no third-party services. The only service it connects to is HMRC.
  • When you file a VAT return, TradeMate sends HMRC your return and the fraud prevention information HMRC requires from all software. That goes from your PC straight to HMRC.
  • You sign in to HMRC in your own web browser. TradeMate never sees your HMRC password.

Who we are

TradeMate is made by Block Software Ltd (“Block”, “we”), a software company in the United Kingdom.

You can reach us about anything in this policy at hello@blocksoftware.uk.

Because TradeMate’s records never reach us, Block is not the controller or a processor of the data you keep in it. You are responsible for the records you keep, including the names and details of your own customers and suppliers. HMRC is the controller of the information it receives from you, as described in HMRC’s privacy notice. Block is the controller only for the information described under Data Block holds.

Data kept on your PC

TradeMate stores everything in your Windows user profile, in the folder %AppData%\TradeMate. That folder holds:

  • Your records: VAT periods, sales and expense entries, invoice numbers, amounts, VAT rates, expense categories, and the customers and suppliers you add, with any references and notes you give them.
  • Your HMRC connection settings, including your VAT registration number and whether TradeMate is connected to HMRC’s live or test service.
  • Your HMRC sign-in token, encrypted, as described under Signing in to HMRC.
  • The device ID used in HMRC’s fraud prevention information.
  • Filing receipts: when HMRC accepts a return, the processing date and reference HMRC gives back.

Reports you export to Excel are saved wherever you choose to save them, and are yours to look after from then on.

Data sent to HMRC

TradeMate connects to HMRC only when you ask it to: when you connect your HMRC account, and when you file a return. It then sends:

  • your VAT registration number, to look up which returns HMRC is expecting from you;
  • the nine figures on your VAT return and the period it covers, when you choose to submit it; and
  • the fraud prevention information described below, with every request.

Your individual sales and expense entries, and your customers’ and suppliers’ details, are not sent to HMRC. Only the return totals are. Submitting a return is a legal declaration to HMRC, and TradeMate asks you to confirm it before anything is sent.

Fraud prevention data

HMRC requires all software that files tax returns through Making Tax Digital to send information about the device and connection being used, so that it can detect and prevent fraud against taxpayers. This is a condition of connecting to HMRC at all. TradeMate sends the following, directly from your PC to HMRC, with each request:

Connection method
That TradeMate is desktop software connecting to HMRC directly.
Device ID
A random identifier TradeMate creates once and stores on your PC. It is not derived from your hardware or from anything about you.
User ID
The name of the Windows account you are signed in as.
Local IP addresses
The IP addresses of your PC on your own network, and the time they were read.
MAC addresses
The hardware addresses of your PC’s network adapters.
Time zone
Your PC’s offset from UTC.
Device details
Your Windows version, and your PC’s manufacturer and model.
Screen and window
Your screen resolution, scaling and colour depth, and the size of the TradeMate window.
Software version
The name and version of TradeMate.

HMRC can also see the public IP address of your internet connection, as any website you visit can. None of this information is sent to Block. How HMRC uses it is set out in HMRC’s privacy notice.

Signing in to HMRC

To let TradeMate file returns for you, you sign in on HMRC’s own website, in your normal web browser, and grant TradeMate permission to read and submit your VAT information. TradeMate never sees or stores your HMRC user ID or password.

HMRC then gives TradeMate a sign-in token, which lets it act on your behalf for a limited time. TradeMate stores that token encrypted with Windows Data Protection, so it can only be read while you are signed in to the same Windows account on the same PC. Signing out of HMRC in TradeMate, or changing your VAT registration number, deletes it. You can also withdraw TradeMate’s permission at any time from your HMRC online account.

Data Block holds

TradeMate itself sends Block nothing. We only hold personal data about you if you contact us, for example to ask for help or report a problem. Then we hold your name, your email address and what you tell us, and we use it only to reply and to help you. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in answering you. We keep that correspondence for as long as we are helping you and for up to two years afterwards, and then delete it.

If you send us a copy of your TradeMate data to help diagnose a problem, we use it only for that and delete it once the problem is resolved. Please do not send it unless we ask for it.

This website has no analytics, and no tracking or advertising cookies.

Keeping it secure

  • All connections to HMRC use HTTPS.
  • Your HMRC sign-in token is encrypted, and is deleted when you sign out.
  • TradeMate keeps no logs of your data, tokens or tax references.

Your records are protected by your Windows account. Anyone who can sign in to your Windows account can open TradeMate and see them. We recommend a password or PIN on your Windows account, turning on Windows device encryption or BitLocker where your PC supports it, and keeping your own backups of the %AppData%\TradeMate folder.

If we ever learn of a security problem in TradeMate that could affect your data, we will tell affected users and HMRC promptly, and in any case within 72 hours.

Deleting your data

You can delete individual entries in TradeMate at any time. Uninstalling TradeMate does not remove your records, so that reinstalling it does not lose them. To delete everything, sign out of HMRC in TradeMate, close it, and delete the %AppData%\TradeMate folder. Remember that HMRC expects you to keep VAT records for at least six years.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have rights over personal data held about you, including the right to see it, correct it and have it deleted. For anything Block holds about you, write to hello@blocksoftware.uk and we will respond within one month. For information held by HMRC, contact HMRC as described in its privacy notice.

If you are unhappy with how your data has been handled, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

If what TradeMate collects or sends changes, we will update this policy before releasing that version and change the date at the top. A change that sends anything new outside your PC will be described in TradeMate itself before you use it.