Current Terms of Business


TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS – 1 June 2022

 

            The following Terms of Business apply to all engagements accepted by HardingRedmans Limited.  All work is carried out under these terms except where changes are expressly agreed in writing.

 

1.0       Professional rules and practice guidelines

 

1.1       We will observe the bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of the Association of Accounting Technicians and accept instructions to provide services to you on the basis that we will act in accordance with them. 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.

 

1.2       In particular, you give us the authority to correct errors made by HMRC where we become aware of them. In addition, we will not undertake tax planning which breaches Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation. We will therefore comply with the general anti-abuse rule and the targeted anti-avoidance rule. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations. You can see copies of these requirements at our offices. The requirements are also available online at www.aat.org.uk.

 

1.3       The implications of professional body membership as it relates to GDPR are set out in the privacy notice, which should be read alongside these standard terms and conditions of business. 

 

2.0       Investment advice

 

2.1       Investment business is regulated by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments, 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 authorised to give such advice.

 

3.0       Referral to a Permitted Third Party (PTP)

 

3.1.      Should you require advice on investment business we can introduce you to a suitable PTP. We are unable to give advice as we are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

 

3.2       The PTP will issue you with his own terms and conditions letter, will be remunerated separately for their services and will take full responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. We will act as introducers but would be pleased to comment on, or explain any advice received and if required attend any meetings with you.

 

3.3       We will inform you when any introductory fee or commission is received and agree with you how this is to be dealt with at that time.  The income received by that firm in respect of advice given to you will be advised to you by the PTP directly.

 

4.0       Commissions or other benefits

 

4.1       In some circumstances we may receive commissions or other benefits for introductions to other professionals or transactions we arrange for you.  In this case we will notify you in writing of the amount, the terms of payment and receipt of any such commissions or benefits. 

 

5.0       Clients’ money regulations

 

5.1       We may, from time to time, hold money on your behalf.  The money will be held in trust in a client bank account, which is segregated from the firm's funds.  The account will be operated, and all funds dealt with, in accordance with the Clients' Money Regulations of the Association of Accounting Technicians.

 

5.2       All client monies will be held in an interest-bearing account.  To avoid excessive administration, interest will only be paid to you where the amount earned on the balances held on your behalf in any calendar year exceeds £25.00.  If the total sum of money held on your behalf is enough to give rise to a significant amount of interest or is likely to do so, then we will put the money in a designated interest-bearing client bank account and pay the interest to you.  Subject to any tax legislation, interest will be paid gross.

 

6.0       Money Laundering Reporting

 

6.1       The provision of audit, accountancy or tax services is a business in the regulated sector under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and, as such, directors and staff in firms are required to report all knowledge or suspicion, or reasonable grounds to know or suspect, that a criminal offence giving rise to any direct or indirect benefit from criminal conduct has been committed, regardless of whether that offence has been committed by their client or a third party.  If as part of our normal accountancy or tax work we have knowledge or suspicion, or have reasonable grounds to know or suspect, that such offences have been committed, we are required to make a report to the National Crime Agency (NCA).  In such circumstances it is not our practice to discuss such reports with you because of the restrictions imposed by the tipping off provisions to the anti-money laundering legislation.

 

7.0       Retention of records and Papers

 

7.1       During our work we will collect information from you and others acting on your behalf and will return any original documents to you following preparation of your Tax Return.  You should retain them for six years from the 31 January following the end of the tax year.  You should retain them for longer if HM Revenue & Customs enquire into your Tax Return.

 

7.2       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 seven 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.

 

7.3       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.

 

7.4       When we cease to act for you we will seek to agree the position on access to cloud-accounting records to ensure continuity of service. This may require you to enter direct engagements with the software providers and pay for that service separately. 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.

 

7.5       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.

 

7.6       You should retain documents that are sent to you by us as set out in the privacy notice, which should be read alongside these terms and conditions.

 

8.0       Conflicts of interest and independence

 

8.1       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, subject to 9 below.  We confirm that we will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting you.

 

9.0       Confidentiality

 

9.1       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. 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. We may, on occasions, subcontract work on your affairs to other tax or accounting professionals. The subcontractors will be bound by our client confidentiality and security terms.

 

 

10.0     Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations

 

10.1     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, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance, we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you.  We confirm when processing data on your behalf we will comply with the relevant provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations. You acknowledge that we will act in accordance with the privacy notice we have supplied to you.

 

11.0     Client Identification

 

11.1     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.

 

12.0     Quality control

 

12.1     As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, our files are periodically reviewed by an independent regulatory or quality control body.  These reviewers are highly experienced and professional people and, of course, are bound by the same rules for confidentiality as our principal and staff.

 

13.0     Help us give you the best service

 

13.1     We wish to always provide a high quality of service.  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 M A Haigh.

 

13.2     We will investigate 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 Association.

 

14.0     Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999

 

14.1     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.

 

14.2     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.

 

15.0     Fees

 

15.1     Our fees are computed by reference to time spent on your affairs by principal and staff, and on the levels of skill and responsibility involved.  Our fees will be billed at appropriate intervals throughout the year and will be due within 14 days of the date of the fee invoice.  Please settle our fee invoices promptly.  You will appreciate that if a fee invoice remains unpaid, we may decline to carry out any further work on your behalf, at which point the full value of work in progress will be billed.  We reserve the right to charge interest at 2% per month on any balance remaining unpaid after 14 days.  If you have any queries on fee invoices, please raise them promptly.

 

15.3     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.

 

15.2     If we need to do work outside the responsibilities outlined in our engagement letter, we will advise you in advance.  This will involve additional fees.

 

16.0     Professional Indemnity Insurance

 

16.1     In accordance with our professional body rules, we are required to hold professional indemnity insurance. Details about the insurer and coverage can be found at our offices or by request from us.

 

17.0     Applicable law

 

17.1     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 engagement letter 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.

 

18.0     Alternate arrangements

 

18.1     Please note that we have arrangements in place for an alternate to deal with matters in the event of permanent incapacity or illness. This provides protection to you if we cannot act on your behalf, and in signing the letter of engagement you agree to the alternate having access to all of the information we hold in order to make initial contact with you and agree the work to be undertaken during the period of incapacity. You can choose to appoint another agent at that stage if you wish.

19.0       Disengagement

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

 

19.2     Should we have no contact with you for a period of 2 years or more, we may issue to your last known address a disengagement letter and thereafter cease to act.

 

19.3     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.

20.0       Electronic and other communication

20.1     As instructed, we will communicate with you and with any third parties you instruct us to as set out in our privacy notice via email or by other electronic means. The recipient is responsible for virus-checking emails and any attachments.

 

20.2     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.

 

20.3     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.

 

20.4     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.

 

20.5     You are required to keep us up to date with accurate contact details at all times. This is important to ensure that communications and papers are not sent to the incorrect address.

 

21.0     Implementation

 

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

 

22.0      Intellectual property rights

 

22.1     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

 

23.0      Internal disputes within a client

23.1     If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own or are in some way involved in the ownership and management of a business client, it should be noted that where our client is the business, we would not provide information or services to one party without the express knowledge and permission of all parties. Unless otherwise agreed by all parties we will continue to supply information to the registered office/normal place of business for the attention of the directors/proprietors. If conflicting advice, information or instructions are received from different directors/principals in the business, we will refer the matter back to the board of directors/the partnership/the LLP and take no further action until the board/partnership/LLP has agreed the action to be taken.

24.0      Period of engagement and termination

24.1     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.

 

24.2     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.

 

24.3     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.

 

24.4     If you engage us for a one-off piece of work (for example advice on a one-off transaction or preparation of a tax return for one year only) 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.

 

24.5     Where recurring work is provided (for example ongoing compliance work such as the completion of annual tax returns) 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

 

24.6     We owe you no duties beyond the date of termination and will not undertake any further work.

 


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