Privacy Policy

1. Who we are and what this covers

PayLens provides Australian pay, tax and compensation calculators, budgeting tools and reference guides at paylens.com.au. In this policy, PayLens, we and us refer to the entity operating that service, and you refers to anyone who visits the site or holds a PayLens account.

We are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This policy is the notice required under Australian Privacy Principle 1, and it applies to the website, the calculators, any PayLens account and any email we send you.

Personal information has the meaning given in the Privacy Act: information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not it is true and whether or not it is recorded in a material form.

2. What we collect

We collect different categories of information depending on how you use PayLens. You can use every calculator without providing anything that identifies you.

We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act, including health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, and you should not provide it to us.

3. How we use it

Under Australian Privacy Principle 6 we use personal information only for the purpose we collected it for, for a directly related purpose you would reasonably expect, or where you have consented.

• To produce the calculations, comparisons and projections you ask for.
• To create and administer your account, and to save and retrieve your own data.
• To keep the service secure, prevent fraud and abuse, and diagnose faults.
• To improve accuracy and usability, using aggregated and de-identified information wherever that is sufficient.
• To send service messages, such as security notices, rule changes that affect your saved calculations, and billing confirmations.
• To send optional updates about Australian rate and threshold changes, where you have opted in.
• To comply with our legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

We do not sell personal information. We do not disclose it to data brokers, and we do not use the financial details you enter to target advertising to you.

4. Connecting bank or payroll data

Some PayLens budgeting features can import transaction data. Connecting an external account is always optional, always initiated by you, and can be disconnected at any time from your account settings.

Where data is shared under the Consumer Data Right, the additional protections of that regime apply, including that consent must be express, limited in scope, time-limited and withdrawable. You can review or withdraw a consent at any time, and withdrawing it stops any further collection.

We never ask for your internet banking password. If anything presenting itself as PayLens asks you for banking credentials, treat it as a scam and report it to Scamwatch.

5. When we disclose information

We disclose personal information only in the following circumstances.

• Service providers. Hosting, database, email delivery, payment processing, error monitoring and support providers, bound by contract to use the information only to provide their service to us.
• With your consent. Where you ask us to share something, for example by exporting a report to a third party.
• Legal requirement. Where disclosure is required or authorised by Australian law, a court order, or an enforcement body exercising a lawful power.
• Business transfer. In connection with a sale, merger or restructure, where the recipient remains bound by this policy or one no less protective. We will tell you before your information is transferred.

Some service providers store data outside Australia, including in the United States and the European Union. Where that occurs we take reasonable steps under Australian Privacy Principle 8 to ensure the recipient handles the information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

6. Security, retention and data breaches

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Those steps include encryption in transit, encryption at rest for stored financial data, hashed passwords, access controls limiting staff access to what a role requires, and logging of administrative access.

No system is perfectly secure. If an eligible data breach occurs we will comply with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme in Part IIIC of the Privacy Act, which requires us to notify affected individuals and the Australian Information Commissioner where the breach is likely to result in serious harm.

We keep personal information only while it is needed for the purposes described here, or for as long as a law requires. Closing your account deletes your saved calculations, budgets and profile data within 30 days, other than records we must retain for legal or accounting purposes. Information we no longer need is destroyed or de-identified.

7. Cookies, analytics and advertising

We use strictly necessary cookies to keep you signed in and to maintain security. These cannot be switched off without breaking the service.

We use analytics to understand which pages are used and where the service is slow or failing. Analytics data is aggregated and is not used to build a profile of you as an individual. You can control cookies through your browser settings, and blocking analytics cookies does not affect calculator results.

Where advertising appears on PayLens pages it is contextual, based on the page you are reading rather than on your personal financial information. We do not pass the figures you enter into a calculator to any advertising network.

8. Email and direct marketing

Service messages, including security alerts, account confirmations and material changes to rules affecting your saved calculations, are part of holding an account and cannot be opted out of while the account is open. Everything else is optional and requires your consent. Every marketing email carries a working unsubscribe link and we act on unsubscribes promptly, consistent with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

9. Accessing and correcting your information

Under Australian Privacy Principles 12 and 13 you may ask for access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

Most of it is available directly in your account settings, where you can view, edit, export and delete your data without contacting us. For anything else, email privacy@paylens.com.au. We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request.

You may also use PayLens anonymously or under a pseudonym wherever that is lawful and practicable, as Australian Privacy Principle 2 requires. In practice every calculator works without an account.

10. Children

PayLens is intended for people aged 16 and over. We do not knowingly create accounts for children under 16. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Complaints

If you think we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles, email privacy@paylens.com.au with the details. We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 business days and give you a written response within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with our response you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992. The OAIC generally expects you to raise the matter with us first.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the service or the law changes. The effective date at the top of the page always reflects the current version. Where a change materially affects how we handle your personal information we will notify account holders by email before it takes effect, rather than relying on this page alone.

13. Contact us