Terms and conditions

FINANCIAL AND OTHER SERVICES

If during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments, pensions, protection policies or other financial products we may refer you to select and quality vetted third parties which are authorised by the Financial Services Authority, as we are not. In these circumstances we may receive commissions or other benefits for introductions to other professionals or transactions we arrange for you. In such cases we will notify you in writing of the amount, the terms of payment and receipt of any such commissions or benefits. You agree that we can retain the commission or other benefits without being liable to account to you for any such amounts.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

We reserve the right during our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or are or may be adverse to yours. We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting your business.

CONFIDENTIALITY

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 statements relevant to our engagement. To enable us to discharge the services agreed under our engagement, and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, benchmarking, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance, we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you, the business its officers and employees. We confirm when processing data on your behalf we will comply with the relevant provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998.

In common with all accountancy practices the company is required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 to have identification procedures for all new clients maintain records of identification evidence, and report in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations.

COMPLAINTS

We wish to provide a high quality of service at all times. If at any time you would like to discuss with us how we could improve our service, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving please let us know by contacting Abhai Rajguru. We will look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do all we can to explain the position to you. If we have given you a less than satisfactory service we undertake to do everything reasonable to put it right. If you are still not satisfied you may of course refer the matter to our Institute.

THIRD PARTIES

Only someone who is a party to this agreement has the right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any of its terms. This clause does not affect any right or remedy that exists independently of the Act. The advice we give you is for your sole use and is confidential to you and will not constitute advice for any third party to whom you may communicate it. We will accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work that is made available to them.

COMMUNICATION

We will communicate with you or any person who is a director of the company or partner in the business at the time. This includes any marketing communications. That person will represent the business and will be responsible for keeping all other directors or partners informed as he/she feels appropriate. We will not be responsible for disseminating information to all directors or partners. We may communicate with you by email. As with other means of delivery this carries with it the risk of inadvertent misdirection, interception or non-delivery.

The recipient is responsible for carrying out a virus check on attachments. Internet communications may be corrupted, and, we accept no responsibility for changes to such communications after their despatch. We do not accept responsibility for any errors or problems that may arise through the use of the internet and you must accept all risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information relating to the company. If you do not accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that email is not acceptable to you.

OUR CHARGES

Our fees are agreed and fixed in advance of any service being performed. Fees are collected up front and are on a 'pay as you go' basis unless agreed otherwise. If either you or we decide to terminate the provision of a service then direct debit payments will also be terminated. The fees are not tied to any accounting, tax or service period. If there is ongoing work which you wish us to complete you must continue making your payments until such time as our services are no longer required. If we need to do work outside the responsibilities relating to services being paid for as above, we will advise you in advance as this will involve additional fees to be invoiced. Invoiced fees are payable 7 days from the date of the invoice.

Our fees are agreed on the basis you shall be solely responsible for data entry into the accounting software, except to the extent this can only be undertaken by us.

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 if payment of any fees billed is unduly delayed or a direct debit is cancelled without notification.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

We will provide services as outlined in this letter with reasonable care and skill. However, to the fullest extent permitted by law, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities where you or others supply incorrect or incomplete information, or fail to supply any appropriate information or where you fail to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or the tax authorities.

You will not hold us responsible, 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.

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.

Our liability will be limited to that part of any loss suffered which is proportional to our responsibility and in any event subject to the fees charged or the limit of our Professional Indemnity Insurance whichever is the lower amount.

FORCE MAJEURE

Neither party shall be liable in damages or have the right to terminate for any delay or default in performing hereunder if such delay or default is caused by conditions beyond its control including, but not limited to Acts of God, Government restrictions (including the denial or cancellation of any export or other necessary license), wars, insurrections and/or any other cause beyond the reasonable control of the party whose performance is affected.

ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACT

We reserve the right to transfer this contract to a third party of our choice.

TERMINATION

We may terminate, without notice or liability, in the following circumstances:
a. You fail to make any payment due under when it becomes due;
b. You cease or threaten to cease to carry on business;
c. You go into liquidation or an administrative receiver or receiver and manager or administrator is appointed. You enter into a voluntary arrangement with creditors or suffer any similar insolvency process or process which affords you protection from creditors.

Each of the parties shall have the right to terminate upon giving 30 days written notice of termination to the other (the "Defaulting Party") upon the occurrence of any of the following events at any time during this agreement:

a. The Defaulting Party commits a material breach which in the case of a breach capable of remedy has not been remedied within 30 days of the receipt by it of a notice identifying the breach and requiring its remedy.

Each of the parties may terminate this agreement for any or no reason subject to 30 days prior written notice to the other. In the event that termination occurs during a Year, we will reimburse you the pro-rated amount calculated as follows: (Annual fee less Xero subscription fee) multiplied by the number of complete months remaining following notice period divided by twelve months).

For the purpose of this agreement "Year" means any period of twelve calendar month with the first Year commencing on the start of the engagement and ending twelve months thereafter.

GOVERNING LAW

Our engagement with you is governed by, and interpreted in accordance with, English law. The Courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning our terms and conditions and terms of business and any matter arising from or under them. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inconvenient forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.

Xero terms of use

The Xero terms of use would apply in addition to the Alexander Rosse terms and conditions set out herein. The Xero terms of use can be found at http://www.xero.com/terms/.

FORM 64-8

Please sign and return the HM Revenue & Customs form 64-8 which authorises HM Revenue & Customs to send us copies of formal notices. In practice, HM Revenue & Customs will treat this as authority to correspond with us, in which case they will not correspond with you except to the extent that they are formally required to do so. However, this authority does not apply to all HM Revenue & Customs' correspondence and, even where it does; HM Revenue & Customs sometimes overlook it. You should therefore always send us the originals or copies of all communications you receive from HM Revenue & Customs.

ACCOUNTING AND TAX RESPONSIBILITIES

ACCOUNTING - Your responsibilities

You have undertaken to make available to us, as and when required, all the accounting records and related financial information which we need to do our work. We will accept information provided to us electronically and by exception, via post. You will provide us with all information and explanations relevant to the purpose and compilation of the financial information and you will disclose to us of all relevant information in full. You are responsible for ensuring that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, financial information is accurate and complete. You are also responsible for ensuring that the activities of the business are conducted honestly and for safeguarding the assets of the business and for taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

Our responsibilities as accountants

You have asked us to help you prepare the financial information e.g. profit and loss account to enable profits/losses to be calculated to meet the requirements of section 42 of the Finance Act 1998, as amended by the Finance Act 2002 and that provide sufficient and relevant information to complete a tax return. We will compile the financial information for your approval based on the accounting records that you maintain and the information and explanations that you give us.

Our work will not be an audit of the financial information in accordance with International Standards of Auditing (UK and Ireland). So we will not be able to provide any assurance that the accounting records or the financial information are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud, other irregularities or error nor to identify weaknesses in internal controls.

We have a professional duty to compile financial information that conforms to the generally accepted accounting principles selected by you as being appropriate for the purpose for which the information is prepared. The accounting basis on which the information has been compiled, its purpose and limitations will be disclosed in an accounting policy note to the financial information and will be referred to in our accountants' report.

We also have a professional responsibility not to allow our name to be associated with financial information which we believe may be misleading. Therefore, although we are not required to search for such matters, should we become aware, for any reason, that the financial information may be misleading, we will discuss the matter with you with a view to agreeing appropriate adjustments and/or disclosures in the financial information. In circumstances where adjustments and/or disclosures that we consider appropriate are not made or where we are not provided with appropriate information, and as a result we consider that the financial information is misleading, we will withdraw from the engagement. As part of our normal procedures we may ask you to confirm in writing any information or explanations given to us orally during our work.

Form of the accountants' report

We will report to you, as appropriate, that in accordance with these terms and conditions we have not carried out an audit but have compiled the financial information from the accounting records and from the information and explanations supplied to us. The report should not be used for any purpose other than as set out in these terms and conditions.

TAX COMPLIANCE - Our responsibilities as tax agents and advisers

We will prepare the income and expenditure account of your business and the income tax computations based on it from your accounting records and other information and explanations you have provided. We will advise you on the adequacy of your records for this purpose. We will calculate your income tax and capital gains tax from the accounting records prepared by us and other information and explanations provided by you.

We will prepare your personal income tax and capital gains tax return with all supporting schedules and prepare your self assessment of tax. We will deal with the HM Revenue & Customs on your behalf regarding any amendments required to the return and amend the returns as necessary.

We will send you the tax return and supporting schedules for you to approve and sign, and by signing you will take responsibility for its content. We will then submit it on your behalf with the financial information and computations to HM Revenue & Customs. You authorise us to file the return electronically.

We will tell you the amounts of income tax and national insurance contributions to be paid and the dates by which you should make the payments, including payments on account and the balancing payment. If appropriate we will initiate repayment claims when tax and National Insurance contributions have been overpaid.

We will inform you of possible claims and elections arising from the tax return and from information you have supplied. If instructed by you, we will on your behalf make such claims and elections in the form and manner required by HM Revenue & Customs.

We will deal on your behalf with all communications relating to your tax return which HM Revenue & Customs sends us or which you pass to us. However, if HM Revenue & Customs chooses your tax return for enquiry this work may need to be done under a separate assignment, in which case we will seek further instructions from you.

We will observe the professional rules and practice guidelines of our professional Institute and accept instructions to act for you on the basis that we act in accordance with those guidelines. In particular you give us authority to correct HM Revenue & Customs' errors, even if doing so results in correction of an error made in your favour.

Your responsibilities for the provision of information for tax purposes

You are legally responsible for making correct returns by the due date and for payment of tax on time. Failure to meet the deadlines may result in automatic penalties, surcharges and/or interest.

To enable us to carry out our work you agree:

a. that all returns are to be made on the basis of full disclosure of all sources of income, charges, allowances and capital transactions;
b. to provide full information necessary for dealing with your affairs: we will rely on the information and documents being true, correct and complete;
c. to provide us with information in enough time for your tax return to be completed and submitted by the due date after the end of the tax year. To do this, we need to receive all relevant information by a date to be agreed with you;
d. that we can approach appropriate third parties for information that we consider necessary to deal with your affairs;
e. to forward to us on receipt copies of all HM Revenue & Customs' statements of account notices of assessment, letters and other communications so that we can deal with them on your behalf as may be necessary within the statutory time limits;
f.to take our insurance cover for tax investigation work which we will arrange on your behalf, unless otherwise notified; and
g. to keep us informed about significant changes in your circumstances if they are likely to affect your tax position.

RETENTION OF DOCUMENTS

During our work we will collect information from you and others acting on your behalf and will return any original documents to you following completion of the work. You should check the requirements of HM Revenue & Customs and other authorities but we recommend that you retain them for 6 years. Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you, unless you tell us not to, we intend to destroy correspondence and other papers once they have been scanned by us and stored digitally on our systems, except documents we think may be of continuing significance. You must tell us if you wish us to keep any original document.

Money Back Guarantee

The money back guarantee only applies to new clients.  The guarantee is only valid for the first year of engagement as a client of Alexander Rosse.