Chartered Certified Accountants
Tax Investigation and Disclosure Specialists
- 020 8499 8065
- [email protected]
Terms & Conditions
1. Applicable Law
Our engagement letters and our standard terms and conditions of business are governed by, and should be construed in accordance with, the law of England and Wales.
Each party agrees that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning our engagement letter and any matter arising from it.
Each party irrevocably waives any right to object to any action being brought in those Courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an appropriate forum, or to claim that those Courts to not have jurisdiction.
2. Client Identification
As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify our clients for the purposes of the UK anti-money laundering legislation. We may request from you, and retain, such information and documentation as we require for these purposes and/or make searches of appropriate databases.
3. Client Money
We will not hold money on your behalf unless specifically identified as client money at the outset. Any such client funds will be held in a specific client bank account. Fees paid by you in advance for professional work to be performed and clearly identifiable as such shall not be regarded as client monies.
4. Complaints
We are committed to providing you with a high quality service that is both efficient and effective. However, should there be any cause for complaint in relation to any aspect of our service, please contact Sean Davern. We agree to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do everything reasonable to put it right. If you are still not satisfied you can refer your complaint to our professional body, the ACCA.
5. Confidentiality
Communication between us is confidential and we shall take all reasonable steps to keep confidential your information except where we are required to disclose it by law, by regulatory bodies, by our insurers or as part of an external peer review.
Unless we are authorised by you to disclose information on your behalf, this undertaking will apply during and after this engagement.
We may, on occasions, subcontract work on your affairs to other tax, accounting or administrative professionals. The subcontractors will be bound by our client confidentiality terms.
6. Conflicts of Interest
We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you or in our relationship with you and another client.
Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services.
If there is a conflict of interest that is capable of being addressed successfully by the adoption of suitable safeguards to protect your interests then we will adopt those safeguards. Where possible, this will be done on the basis of your informed consent.
We reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours, subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to above.
7. Data Protection
We confirm that we will comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 when processing personal data about you.
We shall be considered an independent data controller in relation to your personal data. We will comply with all requirements and obligations applicable to us under the data protection legislation in respect of your personal data.
We shall only process your personal data: (i) in order to provide our services to you and perform any other obligations in accordance with our engagement with you; (ii) in order to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations; and (iii) where is it necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests and those interests are not overridden by the data subjects’ own privacy rights. Our privacy notice (available at www.AccountsTaxGroup.Co.Uk) contains further details as to how we may process client data.
We shall maintain commercially reasonable and appropriate security measures, including administrative, physical and technical safeguards, to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of the client personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal data.
8. Electronic and Other Communication
Unless you instruct us otherwise we may, where appropriate, communicate with you and with third parties via email or by other electronic means. The recipient is responsible for virus checking emails and any attachments.
With electronic communication there is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties. We use virus-scanning software to reduce the risk of viruses and similar damaging items being transmitted through emails or electronic storage devices.
However, electronic communication is not totally secure and we cannot be held responsible for damage or loss caused by viruses nor for communications which are corrupted or altered after despatch. Nor can we accept any liability for problems or accidental errors relating to this means of communication, especially in relation to commercially sensitive material. These are risks you must bear in return for greater efficiency and lower costs. If you do not wish to accept these risks please let us know and we will communicate by paper mail, other than where electronic submission is mandatory.
Any communication by us with you sent through the post is deemed to arrive at your postal address two working days after the day that the document was sent.
9. Fees and Payment Terms
Our fees may depend not only upon the time spent on your affairs but also on the level of skill and responsibility and the importance and value of the advice that we provide, as well as the level of risk.
If we provide you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, then the estimate will not be contractually binding unless we explicitly state that that will be the case.
If we indicate a fixed fee for the provision of specific services or an indicative range of fees for a particular assignment and it becomes apparent to us, due to unforeseen circumstances, that a fee quote is inadequate, we reserve the right to notify you of a revised figure or range and to seek your agreement thereto.
In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by HMRC. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. Other than where such insurance was arranged through us you will need to advise us of any such insurance cover that you have. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.
Unless otherwise agreed, our invoices will be billed at appropriate intervals during the course of the year and will be payable on presentation. Our fees are exclusive of VAT, which will be added where it is chargeable. Any disbursements we incur on your behalf and expenses incurred in the course of carrying out our work for you will be added to our invoices where appropriate.
Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary our fees do not include the costs of any third party, counsel or other professional fees.
It is our normal practice to ask clients to pay monthly standing order and to periodically adjust the monthly payment by reference to actual billings.
We reserve the right to charge interest on late paid invoices at the rate of 3% above National Westminster Bank base rates, effective from the date of our invoice, under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. We also reserve the right to suspend our services or to cease to act for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees is unduly delayed. We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so.
If you do not accept that an invoiced fee is fair and reasonable you must notify us within 7 days of receipt, failing which you will be deemed to have accepted that payment is due.
If a client company, trust or other entity is unable or unwilling to settle our fees we reserve the right to seek payment from the individual (or parent company) giving us instructions on behalf of the client and you agree that we shall be entitled to enforce any sums due against the Group Company or individual nominated to act for you.
10. Implementation
We will only assist with implementation of our advice if specifically instructed and agreed in writing.
11. Intellectual Property Rights
We will retain all copyright in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement save where the law specifically provides otherwise.
12. Interpretation
If any provision of this engagement letter or enclosed schedules is held to be void, then that provision will be deemed not to form part of this contract.
In the event of any conflict between these terms of business and the engagement letter the relevant provision in the engagement letter or schedules will take precedence.
13. Investment Advice
Investment business is regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
If, during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments, including insurances, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Services Authority or licensed by a Designated Professional Body as we are not.
14. Lien
Insofar as we are permitted to do so by law or professional guidelines, we reserve the right to exercise a lien over all funds, documents and records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.
15. Limitation of Liability
We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default.
We will not be liable if such losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities are due to the acts or omissions of any other person or due to the provision to us of incomplete, misleading or false information or if they are due to a failure to act on our advice.
We will not be liable to you for any delay or failure to perform our obligations under this engagement letter if they delay or failure is caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control.
We will not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or expense incurred or sustained if information material to the service we are providing is withheld or concealed from us or misrepresented to us. This applies equally to fraudulent acts, misrepresentation or wilful default on the part of any party to the transaction and their directors, officers, employees, agents or advisers.
This exclusion shall not apply where such misrepresentation, withholding or concealment is or should (in carrying out the procedures which we have agreed to perform with reasonable care and skill) have been evident to us without further enquiry.
You agree to indemnify us and our agents in respect of any claim (including any claim for negligence) arising out of any unauthorised disclosure by you or any person for whom you are responsible of our advice and opinions, whether in writing or otherwise. This indemnity will extend to the cost of defending any such claim, including payment at our usual rates for the time that we spend in defending it.
16. Limitation of Third Party Rights
The advice and information that we provide to you as part of our service is for your sole use and not for any third party to whom you may communicate it unless we have expressly agreed in the engagement letter that a specified third party may rely on our work.
We accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company, to whom the engagement letter is not addressed, for any advice, information or material produced as part of our work for you which you make available to them. A party to this agreement is the only person who has the right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of its terms.
17. Period of Engagement and Termination
Unless otherwise agreed in the engagement letter our work will begin when we receive your implicit or explicit acceptance of that letter. Except as stated in that letter, we will not be responsible for periods before that date.
Each of us may terminate this agreement by giving not less than 7 days notice in writing to the other party except where you fail to cooperate with us or we have reason to believe that you have provided us or HMRC with misleading information, in which case we may terminate this agreement immediately. Termination will be without prejudice to any rights that may have accrued to either of us prior to termination.
In the event of termination of this contract, we will endeavour to agree with you the arrangements for the completion of work in progress at that time, unless we are required for legal or regulatory reasons to cease work immediately. In that event, we shall not be required to carry out further work and shall not be responsible or liable for any consequences arising from termination.
18. Professional Rules and Statutory Obligations
We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of the ACCA and will accept instructions to act for you on this basis.
In particular you give us authority to correct errors made by HMRC where we become aware of them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage, or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.
19. Reliance on Advice
We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. Advice given orally is not intended to be relied upon unless confirmed in writing.
Therefore, if we provide oral advice (for example during the course of a meeting or a telephone conversation) and you wish to be able to rely on that advice, you must ask for the advice to be confirmed by us in writing.
20. Retention of Papers
You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your tax affairs. During the course of our work we may collect information from you and others relevant to your tax affairs. We will return any original documents to you if requested. Documents or records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained as follows:
- Individuals, trustees and partnerships – with trading or rental income: 6 years after the end of the tax year;
- Individuals, trustees and partnerships – otherwise: 24 months after the end of the tax year;
- Companies: 6 years from the end of the accounting period
We may destroy correspondence and other papers that we store, electronically or otherwise, which are more than 6 years old. You must tell us if you require the return or retention of any specific documents for a longer period.
21. Money Laundering
Our acceptance of the appointment is subject to your complying at all times with any legislation concerning the proceeds of crime and money laundering, including providing us with any necessary information or documents. We accept no liability to you or any other person for any loss howsoever arising occasioned by our taking any steps which in our absolute discretion we consider it necessary to take in order to comply with such legislation.
Accounts Tax Group Ltd
Suite 6, 186 St. Albans Road
Watford WD24 4AS
Company registration no. 13665733
ICO reference no. ZB280216
020 8499 8065
Firm ID. 5320769