STANDARD TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS
These terms and conditions should be read alongside the privacy notice
- Applicable law
Our services and our standard terms and conditions of business are governed by, and should be
construed in accordance with, the law and practice 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 this 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 inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have
jurisdiction. - Client identification and verification
As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify and verify our clients for the
purposes of the UK anti-money laundering legislation. Save in exceptional circumstances we
cannot start work until this requirement has been met. We may request from you, and retain, such
information and documentation as we require for these purposes and/or make searches of
appropriate databases including ID verification software. - 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 Joanne Benediktavicius. We agree to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and
do everything reasonable to try and resolve it. - Confidentiality
Communication between us is confidential. We shall take all reasonable steps not to disclose your
information except where we are required to and as set out in our privacy notice. Unless we are
authorised by you to disclose information on your behalf, this undertaking will apply during and
after this engagement. - Conflicts of interest
If there is a conflict of interest in our relationship with you or in our relationship with you and
another client that is capable of being addressed successfully by the adoption of suitable
safeguards to protect your interests, then we will adopt those safeguards.
Where conflicts are identified that cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then
we regret that we will be unable to provide further services. If this arises, we will inform you
promptly. 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. - Data protection
You acknowledge that we will act in accordance with the privacy notice we have supplied to you. - Disengagement
We reserve the right following termination for any reason to destroy any of your documents that
we have not been able to return to you after a period of six months unless other laws or regulations
require otherwise. - Electronic and other communication
As instructed, we will communicate with you and with any third parties you instruct us to 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 that 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 accept 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 hard copy, 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.
When accessing information held electronically by HMRC, we may have access to more
information than we need and will only access records reasonably required to carry out the
contract.
You are required to keep us up to date with accurate contact details at all times. This is important
to ensure that communications and documents are not sent to the incorrect address. - Fees and payment terms
Our fees are based on quotations sent out to you before you engage our services and are based
on current rates. There may be events that will either require either more work or costs that are
outside the scope of the quotation. In these events the additional work and costs will be discussed
and quoted to you before we commit to these on your behalf.
Credit terms will be set in advance of us being engaged to act for you and this will be confirmed
in a letter to you. We will carry out regular credit checks during the year, however if you want your
credit limit to be reviewed, we would invite you to request this. Our credit limits are based on
outsourced credit scoring specialist and in house qualified accountants review based on the best
information provided or available.
For approved credit accounts, payment of any amount is due within the credit terms as agreed
and communicated on engagement, as shown on invoice raised to you.
Should an account balance exceed the credit limit set, immediate payment(s) will be required to
reduce the balance below Your credit limit. Failure to keep within Your agreed credit limit could
result in the company withholding delivery and/or revoking your credit limit and terms.
For all other accounts, payment of any amounts by You is due immediately on issuance of invoice
to You.
The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, as amended, shall apply to all sums
due from the customer - Implementation
We will only assist with implementation of our advice if specifically instructed and agreed in writing. - 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. - Interpretation
If any provision of our services or standard terms and conditions is held to be void, then that
provision will be deemed not to form part of this contract and the remainder of this agreement
shall be interpreted as if such provision had never been inserted.
In the event of any conflict between these standard terms and conditions and the schedules of
services offered, the relevant provision in the service schedule will take precedence. - 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. - 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 directly caused by our negligence, fraud or wilful default.
Exclusion of liability for loss caused by others
We will not be liable if such losses, penalties, interest or additional tax liabilities are caused by
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 caused by a failure to act on our advice or a failure to provide
us with relevant information.
In particular, where we refer you to another firm whom you engage with directly, we accept no
responsibility in relation to their work and will not be liable for any loss caused by them.
Exclusion of liability in relation to circumstances beyond our control
We will not be liable to you for any delay or failure to perform our obligations if the delay or failure
is caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control.
Exclusion of liability relating to non-disclosure or misrepresentation
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 exclusion shall not apply where such misrepresentation, withholding or concealment is or
should (in carrying out the procedures that we have agreed to perform with reasonable care and
skill) have been evident to us without further enquiry beyond that which it would have been
reasonable for us to have carried out in the circumstances.
Indemnity for unauthorised disclosure
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 by 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. - Limitation of third-party rights
The advice and information 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 that you make
available to them. A party to this agreement is the only person who has the right to enforce any
of its terms and no rights or benefits are conferred on any third party under the Contracts (Rights
of Third Parties) Act 1999. - Period of engagement and termination
Unless otherwise agreed our work will begin when we receive your implicit or explicit acceptance
of our Terms & Conditions and quotation for services.
Each of us may terminate this agreement by giving not less than 21 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.
If you engage us for a one-off piece of work (for example advice on a one-off transaction) the
engagement ceases as soon as that work is completed. The date of completion of the work is
taken to be the termination date and we owe you no duties and we will not undertake further work
beyond that date.
Where recurring work is provided (for example ongoing compliance work) the engagement ceases
on the relevant date in relation to the termination as set out above. Unless immediate termination
applies, in practice this means that the relevant termination date is:
• 21 days after the date of notice of termination; or
• A later agreed date
We owe you no duties beyond the date of termination and will not undertake any further work. - Professional body rules
You are responsible for bringing to our attention any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in your
returns that you become aware of after the returns have been submitted in order that we may
assist you to make a voluntary disclosure.
In particular, you give us the 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. - 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. However, bear
in mind that advice is only valid at the date it is given. - 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.
When we cease to act for you we will seek to agree the position on access to records. Documents
and records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained as follows:
Individuals, trustees and partnerships
• with trading or rental income: five years and 10 months after the end of the tax year;
• otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year.
Companies, LLPs and other corporate entities
• six years from the end of the accounting period.
While certain documents may legally belong to you, we may destroy correspondence and other
papers that we store, electronically or otherwise, which are more than seven years old. This
includes your documents if they have not been reclaimed by you within the seven-year period.
You must tell us if you require the return of any specific document or their retention for a longer
period.