Data Retention Policy
Version 1.2 — Effective 2 October 2026 | Owner: Anum Pty Ltd (ABN 80 697 129 525) | Linked from Privacy Policy § 7 — Data retention
Anum Pty Ltd is a small business operator under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), so the Act does not currently require us to follow the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). We apply them by choice. Where this page cites an APP, it is the standard we apply, not a claim that the APP binds us by law.
Summary
- Summed retains tax records for 5 years, in line with ATO and ASIC minimum requirements for small business records.
- Personal information no longer needed for that purpose is destroyed or de-identified, following APP 11.2.
- You can export the data Summed holds about you at any time. Following APP 12, access requests are answered within 30 days.
- Before a record reaches the end of its retention window, Summed sends reminder emails at 90, 30, 14, 7 and 1 day(s) out.
- When an account is closed, personal profile fields are anonymised on a 30-day grace period. Tax records stay under retention holds for the remainder of their statutory window, then are destroyed automatically.
Retention matrix
| Data class | Retention period | Basis (law, or standard we apply) |
|---|---|---|
| Income-tax records — transactions, invoices, expense records, receipts, BAS working papers | 5 years from record creation or transaction completion, whichever is later | ITAA 1936 s 262A(4)(a) |
| GST / indirect-tax records — tax invoices, GST components of transactions | 5 years from transaction completion | TAA 1953 Sch 1 s 382-5 |
| Books of a Pty Ltd customer, where Summed is the books of record | 7 years from transaction completion | Corporations Act 2001 s 286(2) |
| Account profile (name, email, business details) while linked to records still inside their retention window | Retained as long as the longest-linked record | Privacy Act APP 11.2(d) |
| Account profile after all linked records have expired | Destroyed or anonymised | Privacy Act APP 11.2 |
| Audit / security logs | 13 months | Privacy Act APP 11.1 (reasonableness) |
| Marketing consent and opt-out records | 2 years after you opt out, then deleted | Spam Act 2003 (Cth) ss 16(2) and 16(5) |
| Personal information no longer needed for any stated purpose | Destroyed or anonymised promptly | Privacy Act APP 11.2 |
We keep a record of when you gave or withdrew permission, and delete it 2 years after you opt out.
Legal holds that pause the retention clock
Retention clocks pause while any of the following apply to your records:
- An active ATO audit, amendment, or extended review period under ITAA s 170.
- An ASIC investigation or regulatory inquiry.
- A Fair Work Ombudsman inspection.
- Current or anticipated litigation involving the records.
- A court or tribunal order to preserve records.
You will be notified in-app and by email if a legal hold is placed on your data.
Access and export
Go to Settings → Your Data → Export. Available scopes:
- Full export — transactions, invoices, receipts (PDF and original images), staff records, settings, reports. Delivered as a ZIP with CSVs, PDFs and original files.
- Tax only — transactions, receipts, BAS working papers.
- Profile only — your account details.
Exports are generated asynchronously (usually under 10 minutes; up to 24 hours for very large accounts) and delivered by email with a secure download link. Links expire after 7 days; a new one can be requested at any time.
Following APP 12 of the Privacy Act, Summed provides access to personal information within a reasonable period (OAIC benchmark: 30 days). The self-serve export satisfies this for most requests; email support if you need something more specific.
Retention preferences
- Non-statutory data (marketing preferences, saved filters, dashboard customisations) can be reset or destroyed on request.
- Statutory tax records are destroyed automatically once the retention window closes. You are notified before it happens.
- On account closure, the profile is anonymised after a 30-day grace period. Only the minimum identifiers required to keep linked tax records meaningful are retained, and only for as long as those tax records remain inside their retention window.
Closing an account
Go to Settings → Account → Close Account. You will see exactly what will happen:
- Anonymised after 30-day grace period — your name, your login email address and your password are overwritten. The account record itself stays in place, so the records we still hold stay linked to it, and it can no longer be logged into. During the grace period you can email support to restore the account.
- Kept with your closed account, then deleted — your marketing permission settings and the record of when you gave or withdrew them. These are deleted 2 years after you opted out. They are not used to contact you.
- Kept for as long as your records are kept — your business settings. These include your business name, business phone number, invoice email address, logo, industry type, the bank or PayID details that appear on your invoices, and your saved import category rules. We keep them because the invoices and other records we are holding need them to display correctly. They are not used to contact you. You can download them in a full export before you close your account, and you can ask us to delete them by emailing support.
- Retained until each record's retention window closes — tax records, under retention hold. You cannot be re-contacted; these records cannot be used for any other purpose.
- Destroyed when each record's retention window closes — every destruction is logged. Proof of destruction is available on request, including after closure.
Pre-destruction reminders
Reminder emails fire at T-90, T-30, T-14, T-7 and T-1 days before any record reaches its retention cutoff. Each reminder identifies what is about to be destroyed and includes a one-click export link.
These reminders can be muted in Settings → Notifications. Once a record is destroyed, it cannot be recovered.
Data breaches
The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme (Privacy Act Part IIIC) does not currently apply to Summed, because Anum Pty Ltd is a small business operator. Summed follows its process anyway and will:
- Assess any suspected breach within 30 days (target: 14).
- Notify the OAIC and affected individuals as soon as practicable after forming a reasonable belief that the breach is likely to result in serious harm.
Complaints
If you believe Summed has mishandled your personal information:
- Email support@summed.com.au and mark it for the attention of the Privacy Officer. 30-day response commitment.
- Complain to the OAIC at oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints.
Changelog
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 22 April 2026 | Initial publication |
| 1.1 | 14 September 2026 | Corrected the description of Summed's legal status: the APPs and the Notifiable Data Breaches process are applied by choice. Removed a statement about incident response rehearsals. No retention period changed. |
| 1.2 | 2 October 2026 | Corrected what happens to marketing preferences when an account is closed: they are kept with the closed account and deleted 2 years after opt-out, not anonymised after 30 days. Also corrected what happens to saved settings when an account is closed: business settings are kept for as long as the records that need them, not anonymised after 30 days. Added an explicit deletion verb to the marketing-consent retention row and corrected its citation to Spam Act 2003 (Cth) ss 16(2) and 16(5). No retention period changed; the saved-settings entry describes existing behaviour. |
Questions: support@summed.com.au