The following standard terms & Conditions apply to all engagements accepted by the lowcosttaxaccountant.co.uk a trading name of Reliance Accountants & Tax Advisors Ltd. All work carried out is subject to these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing. We understand that you, the client, has read and agreed to the below, you understand that it is your responsibility for the following points

  1. Records keeping:

-Maintaining factual records of all receipts and payments of cash;

-Reconciling cash book balances and statements;

-Posting and balancing the purchase and sales ledgers;

-Extracting a detailed list of ledger balances;

-Prepare details of the annual stocktaking, suitably priced and extended in a form which will enable us to verify the prices readily by reference to supplier invoices;

-Prepare details of work-in-progress at the accounting date and make available to us the documents and other information from which the statement is compiled

-You understand and agree that it is your responsibility for the accuracy of the records.

-If you don’t provide us your all required documents at least 4 weeks before of year end accounts deadline, we would not able to make your accounts and performs the statutory requirements. In that case we will not liable any penalty incur to you or your company by HMRC or Company’s House. So it is your responsibility to provide us the required documents on time. We will remind you by phone, text and email to provide the necessary documents for accounts purpose and to fulfil any statutory requirements on behalf of you.

  1. Payment

There is no minimum contract however for cancellation you need to give us at least 30 days’ notice. All monthly payments are subject to 12 instalments in any packages. Any invoice due has to pay within 30 days. If you fail to pay within the time stipulated above, Lowcosttaxaccountant.co.uk shall be entitled to charge you interest at 5% above the base rate Bank of England. Such interest shall accrue daily and be compounded monthly. In addition Lowcosttaxaccountant.co.uk will terminate the contract if no payment is received within 45 days. All debts will be passed to third parties for recovery if money for services is outstanding. Annual payments for services, Payment of the price or fee must be made in full before use of the service can commence. 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. Where fees are paid monthly, we cannot commence any services whatsoever until first payment has been made.

Catch-up fees:

Please note where you pay us a monthly fixed fee for a “package” of services; this is based on estimation by us of annual costs pro-rated into 12 monthly payments.  If you join these services part-way through your financial/tax year, we reserve the right to charge you “catch-up” fees for annual services usually performed after we have received 12 full monthly payments. We will charge you for any unpaid direct debit: £30 and any insufficient postage of received items: £20

Other important terms about fees:

Should you terminate our agreement at any point during the year, there will be no refund of any monthly fees already paid and no further services will be provided by us (unless stated in the specific terms of your chosen package).

 

  1. Client Identification: As a money Laundering regulation we are required to identify our clients. We may request from you and retain such information and documentation as we need those for verification purpose.
  3. 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. Unless we are authorised by you to disclose information on your behalf this undertaking will apply during and after this engagement.
  4. Privacy Policy: We do not store credit card details nor do we share customer details with any 3rd

 

  1. 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 unless we are unable to do so because

  1. Date Protection:

We confirm that we will comply with the provisions of the data protection Act 1998 when processing personal data about you. We also follow the GDPR rules.

  1. Engagement Confirmation:

It could be a paper or Email where details services, prices and time periods will clearly mentioned agreed between us and clients.

  1. Disengagement:

Should we resign or be requested to resign we will normally a disengagement letter or an email to ensure that our respective responsibilities are clear.

  1. 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. Any communication by us with you sent through the post system is deemed to arrive at your postal address two working days after the day that the document was sent.

 

  1. Implementation

We will only assist with implementation of our advice if specifically instructed and agreed in writing.

  1. 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.

  1. Interpretation

If any provision of our “Terms of Engagement” (comprising the specific terms and the standard terms of business) 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 terms of business and the specific terms to your engagement, the relevant provision in the specific terms will take precedence.

  1. Limitation of Liability

 We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. We will provide these services for your benefit only.  Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by negligence or wilful default.

Exclusion of liability for loss caused by others

We will not be liable if such losses, penalties, surcharges, 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.

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 under these Terms of Engagement if the delay or failure is caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control.

Exclusion of liability relating to the discovery of fraud etc.

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 beyond that which it would have been reasonable for us to have carried out in the circumstances.

  1. Period of engagement and termination

 Unless otherwise agreed in the Terms of Engagement, our work will begin when we receive your implicit or explicit acceptance of that letter by post or any email confirmation from you.  Except as stated in that letter we will not be responsible for periods before that date.

Each of us may terminate our agreement by giving not less than 30 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 our 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. Should you terminate our agreement at any point during the year, there will be no refund of any monthly fees already paid and no further services will be provided by us .

 

  1.  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.

  1. Retention of papers

You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your financial affairs. During the course of our work we may collect information from you and others relevant to your tax and financial affairs. We will return any original documents to you if requested. 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 ten months after the end of the tax year;
  • Otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year;

Companies and Limited liability Partnerships:

  • six years from the end of the accounting period;

Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you, unless you tell us not to, we intend to destroy correspondence and other papers that are more than 7 years old, except documents we think may be of continuing significance. You must tell us if you wish us to keep any document for any longer period.

 

  1. Engagement letter:

Responsibilities

  • As directors of the company, you are required by statute to prepare the financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of its profit or loss for that period. In preparing those accounts you must:
  • Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
  • Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and
  • Prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is not appropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

As a sole trader, you are required by statute to prepare income and expenses and submit tax returns. In preparing those accounts you must:

  • Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
  • Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and
  • Prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is not appropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
  • It is your responsibility to keep proper accounting records, which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any particular time the financial position of the company. It is also your responsibility to safeguard the assets of the company and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention of and detection of fraud and other irregularities with an appropriate system of internal controls.

You are responsible for determining whether, in respect of the year concerned, the company meets the conditions for exemption from an audit set out in section 249A of the Companies Act 1985, and for determining whether, in respect of the year, the exemption is not available for any of the reasons set out in Section 249B of the Companies Act 1985.

You are also responsible for making available to us, as and when required, all the company’s accounting records and all other relevant records and related information, including minutes of management and shareholders’ meetings.

You will also be responsible for:

  • Maintaining records of all receipts and payments of cash;
  • Maintaining records of invoices issued and received;
  • Reconciling balances with the bank statements;
  • Preparing details of the following at the year-end:
  • stocks and work in progress;
  • fixed assets;
  • amounts owing to suppliers;
  • amounts owing by customers; and
  • Accruals and prepayments.

Our function as accountants is to act as agent on your behalf in preparing the accounts (financial statements) of your business for the accounting year agreed. This may involve completing the writing up of your books and records in so far as they are incomplete when presented to us, and preparing from the records the draft financial statements for your approval.

  • Our work will not be an audit of the accounts in accordance with Auditing Standards. Accordingly we shall not seek any independent evidence to support the entries in the accounting records, or to prove the existence, ownership or valuation of assets or completeness of income, liabilities or disclosure in the accounts.  Nor shall we assess the reasonableness of any estimates or judgements made in the preparation of the accounts.  Consequently our work will not provide any assurance that the accounting records are free from material misstatement, irregularities or error.
  • As part of our normal procedures we may request you to provide written confirmation of any oral information and explanations given to us during the course of our work.
  • We have a professional duty to compile accounts that conform with generally accepted accounting principles. The accounts of a limited company are required to comply with the disclosure requirements of the Companies Act 1985 and applicable Accounting Standards. Where we identify that the accounts do not conform to accept accounting principles or standards we will inform you and suggest amendments be put through the accounts before being published.  We have a professional responsibility not to allow our name to be associated with accounts that may be misleading.  In extreme cases, where this matter cannot be resolved, we will withdraw from the engagement and notify you in writing of the reasons.

Should you instruct us to carry out any alternative report it will be necessary for us to issue a separate letter of engagement.

If instructed and authorized by you, we would also operate PAYE scheme for your employees. For this purpose, you agree to provide us all the necessary details relating to your employees on regular timely basis.

We would also assist you in completion and submission of the Corporation Tax Returns/ Personal tax returns as required by the Inland Revenue. For this purpose, you agree to provide us all the necessary information relating to your Company’s affairs as needed for the accurate completion of these Tax Returns.

We would also assist you in preparation of quarterly VAT Returns if agreed. For this purpose, you agree to provide us complete details and documents as required on timely basis for accurate compilation of the VAT Returns

For the purpose of clearly describing the scope of this assignment, please note that Tax Investigation work (other than routine aspect enquiry) and VAT Investigation (other than routine VAT Inspection) is not covered by this assignment

  1. Our Service to You:

1.1   We will not be carrying out any audit work as part of this assignment and accordingly will not verify the assets and liabilities of the company, nor the items of expenditure and income.

1.2   To ensure that anyone reading the accounts is aware that we have not carried out an audit, we will attach to the accounts a report stating this fact.

1.3   The intended users of the report are the directors. The report will be addressed to the directors.

1.4   Once we have issued our report we have no further direct responsibility in relation to the accounts for that financial year.  However, we expect that you will inform us of any material event occurring between the date of our report and that of the annual general meeting that may affect the accounts.

 

  1. Limitation of Liability

1.1 The advice which we give to you is for your sole use and does not constitute advice to any third party to whom you may communicate it.

1.2 We will provide the professional services outlined in this letter with reasonable care and skill.  However, 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 from the failure by you or others to supply any appropriate information or your failure to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or the tax authorities.

  1. Data Protection Act 1998 & Money laundering regulations 2007

1.1 To enable us to discharge the services agreed under this engagement, and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance, we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you.  You have a right of access, under data protection legislation, to the personal data that we hold about you.

1.2 In accordance with the Proceeds of Crime Act and Money Laundering Regulations 2007, you agree to waive your right to confidentiality to the extent of any report made, document provided or information disclosed to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

You also acknowledge that we are required to report directly to NCIS without prior reference to you or your representatives if during the course of undertaking any assignment the person undertaking the role of Money Laundering Reporting Officer becomes suspicious