T4 Client Engagement General Terms & Conditions Agreement Engagement Agreements - General Terms & Conditions Engagement Agreements - General Terms & ConditionsOur Engagement "General Terms & Conditions" for agreement. Click to Startpress Enter Your Name Your Name First Name First Name Surname Surname Name of Your Business (if this Engagement agreement in being completed on behalf of the business) (leave blank if this agreement submission is in respect of your personal engagement with us) Your Email (a copy of the completed agreement will automatically be sent to this email address) Please enter your email address carefully, thank you. NEXT - Introduction to our Engagement General Terms & Conditions. BACKGROUND - PROFESSIONAL RULES AND PRACTICE GUIDELINES We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (tax.org.uk) and accept instructions to act for you on the basis that we will act in accordance with those guidelines. In particular, you give us the authority and agree to the following: 1) that we can correct errors made by HM Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) where we become aware of them. 2) We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations. These requirements are also available on the internet via the CIOT Professional Standards Member Rules at: https://www.tax.org.uk/ciot-professional-standards-member-rules NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - COMMENCEMENT - YOU NEED TO Professional guidelines recommend that "engagement agreements" are put in place between us and our clients. Our clients therefore need to: 1) Read and understand our engagement agreements 2) Agree to the terms of each engagement agreement 3) Agree a separate engagement for each relevant parts of our services. 4) Agree any revised terms 5) Ask if any aspect of an engagement agreement is not clear NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - COMMENCEMENT - WE WILL We endeavour to keep all engagement agreements: 1) as short as possible, 2) clear and simple to understand 3) available to you in your online account with us NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - CLIENT IDENTIFICATION As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify our clients for the purposes of UK anti-money laundering legislation. We may: 1) request from you, and retain, such information and documentation as we require for these purposes and, or 2) make searches of appropriate databases. If we are not able to obtain satisfactory evidence of your identity, we will not be able to proceed with the engagement. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - QUALITY CONTROL We have an ongoing commitment and strategy to provide a quality service. Our files and records may be subject to an independent quality control review for example by our professional institute(s) or regulatory bodies. Our reviewers would be bound by the same requirements for confidentiality as our principals and staff. If a client has any concerns about quality of service please immediately raise those concerns with a director as we take quality of service extremely seriously. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - CONFLICTS OF INTEREST You agree that we may reserve the right to act during this engagement for other clients whose interests are or may be adverse to yours, subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to below. We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest to which we are subject in relation to you. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we may be unable to provide any further services to you. 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 i) We will adopt those safeguards, and ii) Where possible this will be done on the basis of your informed consent. If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own or are in some way involved in the ownership and / or management of an entity, then A) it should be noted that the person agreeing our engagement agreement(s) is our client (for example, the company / LLP / charity / trust / pension scheme / club / partnership / sole trader or, in the case of a personal tax client, the individual), and B) We would not provide information or services to one party without the express knowledge and permission of all parties, Unless, C) Otherwise agreed by all parties, then, D) we will continue to supply information to the normal place for which we send correspondence for the attention of the management of the entity, But E) If conflicting advice, information or instructions are received from different members of management, then, F) we will refer the matter back to those charged with governance of the entity, and G) take no further action until they have agreed the action to be taken. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - INDIVIDUAL SERVICES We will only provide our services if: A) an engagement agreement is in place for that particular service, and,. B) The terms under which those services are provided have been agreed to. NOTE: We do not provide services relating to investment business advice, as defined by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If during the provision of professional services to you, you need investment advice, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or licensed by a Designated Professional Body, as we are not. However, we may be able to provide certain limited general investment advice or comment where it is complementary to, or arises out of, the professional services we are providing to you. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - CLIENT MONEY We do not, and will not, hold client money on your behalf. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - FEES & INVOICES Our fees and invoices are usually: 1) Agreed with clients in advance, exact, range or guide 2) With no backdated increases 3) Fixed in advance. until further notice 4) Payable within the terms statement on the invoice, e.g. on receipt, with 30 days etc., or as otherwise formally agreed in writing between us. 5) Increased annually broadly in line with inflation NOTE: Fees must be settled promptly otherwise we reserve the right to charge a late settlement charge of 5% of the invoice, including vat to cover the cost of our reminders and late paid fee costs. Clients must agree to keep ALL fees up to date as otherwise all work may need to cease until fees are up to date, or a payment plan is agreed and active. LATE FEES: In late paid fee cases ALL future work must be paid for in advance. Our fees are based upon the degree of responsibility and skill involved, the importance and value of the advice that we provide, the level of risk, and the time necessarily occupied on the work. 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 this will be the case. Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary our fees do not include the costs of any third party, counsel or other professional fees. Where requested we may indicate a fixed fee for the provision of specific services or an indicative range of fees for a particular assignment. It is not our practice to identify fixed fees for more than a year ahead as such fee quotes need to be reviewed in the light of events. If 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. Fees are charged separately for each of the main classes of work we perform for you and will be billed at appropriate intervals during the course of the year. 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. 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. Fees are due for payment within 30 days of the date on the invoice or as per the terms stated on each invoice if different. [It is our normal practice to issue ‘Applications for Payment’ when dealing with continuous or recurring work. The payment terms for ‘Applications for Payment’ are the same as for invoiced fees. A VAT invoice will be issued to you upon receipt of your payment.] All queries on fee accounts rendered by us must be raised in writing within 14 days of the account being issued. Any account received by you and not queried in writing within 30 days will be deemed to be accepted as a reasonable charge for the work done. We reserve the right to charge interest on overdue accounts at the current rate under the late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. We also reserve the right to terminate our engagement and cease acting for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees billed is unduly delayed. We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so. If a client company, LLP, trust, or other entity is unable or unwilling to settle our fees we reserve the right to seek payment from the individual (or parent entity) giving us instructions on behalf of the client and we shall be entitled to enforce any sums due against the group, entity or individual nominated to act for you. 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. In some circumstances commissions or other benefits may become payable to us, or to an associate of our firm, in respect of introductions to other professionals or transactions which we or the associate arrange for you. If this happens, you will be notified in writing of the amount, the terms of payment and receipt of any such commissions or benefits. The same applies where the payment is made to or the transactions are arranged by a person or business connected with ours. [The fees you would otherwise pay will [not] be reduced by the amount of the commissions or benefits.] [When we reduce the fees that we would otherwise charge by the amount of the commission retained, we will apply the HMRC concession which allows VAT to be calculated on the net fee after deduction of the commission.] [Your express written consent, which has been separately provided, to commission or other benefits being retained by us or [insert name] means we are not liable to account to you for these benefits. If you do not agree to this arrangement, we will only be able to retain any benefits if you give your full and informed consent on each occasion, having received full disclosure of the amounts involved.] If it becomes necessary for us to liaise with, or make a report to a regulator or public sector body, as a result of any statutory duty imposed upon us by legislation or other regulation, including after our engagement has ended, we reserve the right to charge for work undertaken in accordance with these reporting duties. If, for any reason it becomes necessary for us to withdraw from the engagement, our fees for work performed up to that date will be payable by you. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - PRIVACY, GDPR & DATA In this section, the following definitions shall apply: 1) "client personal data" means any personal data provided to us by you, or on your behalf, for the purpose of providing our services to you, pursuant to our engagement agreements with you; 2) "data protection legislation" means all applicable privacy and data protection legislation and regulations including PECR, GDPR and any applicable national laws, regulations and secondary legislation in the UK relating to the processing of personal data and the privacy of electronic communications, as amended, replaced or updated from time to time; 3) "controller", "data subject", "personal data", and "process" have the meanings given to them in the data protection legislation: 4) "GDPR" means the General Data Protection Act 2018 and any subsequent revisions or amendments; and 5) "PECR" means the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. We shall each be considered: a) an independent data controller in relation to the client personal data. b) each of us will comply with all requirements and obligations applicable to us under the data protection legislation in respect of the client personal data. You shall only disclose client personal data to us where: A) you have provided the necessary information to the relevant data subjects regarding its use, and B) you may use or refer to our privacy notice available at our website for this purpose); C) you have a lawful basis upon which to do so, which, in the absence of any other lawful basis, will be with the relevant data subject’s consent; and D) you have complied with the necessary requirements under the data protection legislation to enable you to do so. E) If require any further details regarding our treatment of personal data, please contact our Data Protection Point of Contact (see Privacy Policy on our website for contact details). We shall only process the client 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 it is 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 via our website, contains further details as to how we may process client personal data. iv) For the purpose of providing our services to you, pursuant to our engagement agreement(s), we may disclose the client personal data to, members of our firm’s network, our regulatory bodies, or other third parties (for example, our professional advisors or service providers). The third parties to whom we disclose such personal data may be located outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). We will only disclose client personal data to a third party (including a third party outside of the EEA) provided that the transfer is undertaken in compliance with the data protection legislation. v) We 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, the client personal data. In respect of the client personal data, provided that we are legally permitted to do so, we shall promptly notify you in the event that: vi) we receive a request, complaint or any adverse correspondence from or on behalf of a relevant data subject, to exercise their data subject rights under the data protection legislation or in respect of our processing of their personal data; vii) we are served with an information, enforcement or assessment notice (or any similar notices), or viii) receive any other material communication in respect of our processing of the client personal data from a supervisory authority as defined in the data protection legislation (for example in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Officer); or ix) we reasonably believe that there has been any incident which resulted in the accidental or unauthorised access to, or destruction, loss, unauthorised disclosure or alteration of, the client personal data. x) Upon reasonable request of the other, we will each co-operate with the other and take such reasonable commercial steps or provide such information as is necessary to enable each of us to comply with the data protection legislation in respect of the services provided to you in accordance with our engagement agreement(s) with you in relation to those services. We confirm that where you give us confidential information we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical or other professional pronouncements (such as by our insurers, or part of an external peer review) applicable to our engagement. We may, on occasions, subcontract work on your affairs to other tax or accounting professionals. The subcontractors will be bound by our client confidentiality terms. We reserve the right, for the purpose of promotional activity, training or for other business purpose, to mention that you are a client. As stated above, we will not disclose any confidential information. You hereby explicitly acknowledge and consent that we may make use of cloud computing services to store Personal Information and other data relating to you. We will use commercially reasonable security technologies (such as encryption, password protection and firewall protection) to protect this Personal Information and other data from unauthorised disclosure. However, you, acknowledge and agree that it is impossible for us to guarantee the security of the Personal Information and other data with absolute certainty and that the use of cloud computing services may therefore entail certain risks. We shall only be responsible if it has finally judicially been determined that we did not take commercially reasonable measures to protect the Personal Information and other data from unauthorised disclosure. You agree that it will be sufficient compliance with our duty of confidence for us to take such steps as we in good faith think fit to preserve confidential information both during and after the termination of this engagement. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - RECORDS RETENTION & ACCESS It is an HMRC legal requirement that taxpayers have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to their financial affairs. During the course of our work: 1) We will collect information from you and others relevant to your tax and financial affairs. 2) We usually only need copies of documents from you, which we will retain. 3) It is your legal responsibility to retain the original documents and records relevant to your affairs. 4) Generally be retained, by you, for six years from the end of the accounting period or tax year concerned. 5) Certain documents may legally belong to you, however, 6) We intend to destroy documents that we store, which are more than ten years old, 7) Other than documents which we consider to be of continued significance. 8) If you require retention of any documents for any longer period, you must notify us of that fact in writing. 9) We reserve the right to keep documents for longer than the 10 year period, where we are of the opinion that retention might be useful for either legal or practical reasons. 10) If you want our records we hold destroyed you will need to request that. 11) If some of your records are part of an achieved, consolidated backup, in conjunction with other clients records, and not easily deleted in isolation, we reserve the right to leave those records achieved until the that data backup is deleted or destroyed as a whole. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - ELECTRONIC AND OTHER COMMUNICATION Electronic communications are capable of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties and therefore, we do not accept any responsibility for changes made to such communications after their despatch. It may, therefore, be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an e-mail without obtaining other confirmation of it. As electronic communication is not totally secure, we do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of electronic communications and all risk connected with sending sensitive information relating to the entity are borne by you. If you do not agree to accept this risk, which will achieve greater efficiency and lower costs, you should notify us in writing that e-mail is not an acceptable means of communication, and we will communicate by paper mail, other than where electronic submission is mandatory. It is the responsibility of the recipient to carry out a virus check on any e-mails and attachments received. However, we do use virus-scanning software to reduce the risk of viruses and similar damaging items being transmitted through e-mails or electronic storage devices. Any communication by us with you sent through the United Kingdom postal system is deemed to arrive at your postal address two working days after the day that the document was sent. Where possible and practical we will endeavour to encrypt email and other communications and data for added security and protection of the information. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE (2009 Regs) In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009", our professional indemnity insurer is: [name of insurer], of [contact address]. The territorial coverage is worldwide excluding professional business carried out from an office in the United States of America or Canada and excludes any action for a claim bought in any court in the United States of America or Canada.’ NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - AUDITS (2009 Regs) In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009", we are not "auditors" and therefore do not provide audit services. If audit services were needed we will endeavour to provide a recommendation of an independent audit practitioner to our client. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - 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. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - OUR STAFF Our staff are assigned to you: 1) on the mutual understanding that 2) neither party will offer employment to, nor employ, the staff of the other 3) who have been involved during the assignment, or dealing with you, 4) within 12 months unless, 5) written consent has been obtained from either party. 6) If such consent is given either party reserves the right to bill an appropriate fee of 25% of annual current salary on appointment plus VAT. Our staff should be treated with respect at all times and failure to abide by this can lead to us terminating the engagement agreements with immediate effect. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - LIMITATION OF LIABILITY We will provide our professional services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence, wilful default or breach of contract. However, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities arising from the supply by you or others of incorrect or incomplete information, or yours or others’ failure to supply any appropriate information or your failure to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or any public sector body (such as HMRC). You agree to hold harmless and indemnify us, our principals, subcontractors and staff, to the fullest extent permitted by law, for any loss suffered by you arising from any misrepresentation (intentional or unintentional) supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services we provide to you against any of our principals or staff personally. 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. Our work is not, unless there is a legal or regulatory requirement, to be made available to third parties without our written permission and we will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - LIMITATION OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS A person who is not party to this Agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this Agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person, which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act. The advice, which we give you, is for your sole use and does not constitute advice to any third party to whom you may communicate it unless we have expressly agreed in the letter of engagement that a specified third party may rely on our work. We accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company to whom the letter of engagement is not addressed for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - APPLICABLE LAW These Terms of Business, in conjunction with any additional engagement agreement are governed by, and construed in accordance with, English law. Each party agrees that the Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning these Terms of Business in conjunction with any letter of engagement and any matter arising from it. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to an 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. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement ENGAGEMENT - GENERAL TERMS - INTERPRETATION If any provision of our letter of engagement or terms of business 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 letter of engagement or appendices, the relevant provision in the letter of engagement or schedules will take precedence. NEXT - Commencement and cessation of engagement Checkboxes General Terms - Part 1 Agreed General Terms - Part 2 Agreed Signature Clear How easy did you find this agreement to deal with? * 1 Star 2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars Your comments of feedback (if any) If you are human, leave this field blank. Agree & ContinueSubmit Use Shift+Tab to go back T4 Tax LimitedChartered Tax Advisers & Independent Certified Practising Accountants