Terms and Conditions
These terms and conditions sets out the basis on which we, Advance Returns Limited, are to provide services to you. It also sets out our and your respective responsibilities and obligations.
Scope of Services we will provide to you
Self-Assessment and/or Tax Refund
We will prepare the documentation to enable the preparation and submission by us on your behalf.
Upfront Tax Refund
This means we will pay to you your anticipated Tax Refund – we will refer to this as an ‘Upfront Refund’.
To be eligible you need to be registered for self-assessment. You must provide to us ALL information requested by us and cooperate fully. Information includes your income and expenditure for the appropriate financial year. Where appropriate, we will pay to you after deduction of our fees, your expected tax rebate. Thereafter, ALL monies received by us from HMRC on your behalf will belong to us.
Our Responsibilities
Where an Upfront Refund service is provided, upon being accepted as your tax Agent by HMRC and receiving all appropriate information, we will endeavour to pay an Upfront Refund to you within 3 full working days (weekdays, not including public holidays) of submitting your application to HMRC.
IMPORTANT: All information provided by you MUST be accurate, correct and to the best of your knowledge. We do NOT audit your accounts or information.
Please remember any information submitted to us will be submitted to HMRC and must be truthful and accurate. You are liable to HMRC for any liabilities.
We reserve the right to cease to act for you immediately without giving to you any reasons for this decision.
We’ll deal with all enquires related to your upfront refund and return.
We will not make any payments to you if we believe that the information you is provided is incorrect and/or HMRC may not pay a refund or reduced refund.
Your Responsibilities:
You must DISCLOSE before, during and/or after the submission of a Tax Return:
- ALL of your earnings including but not exhaustive PAYE, CIS, Self Employment, benefits.
- ALL Monies owed to HMRC.
- And provide accurate correct and true information of ALL of your earnings, business expenditure, pre-existing, prior or current tax liabilities of your expenditure for your business.
- And provide full accounting records to support all your claims.
- And cooperate at all times with us and HMRC.
You MUST:
- Repay any Upfront Refund, our fees, plus all related costs, interest and penalties when deemed appropriate by us.
Fees
Our fees for our Self-Assessment and Tax Rebate Service is a maximum of 20% plus VAT of the anticipated upfront refund (before the deduction of any HMRC fines, debts or penalties) or a minimum of 349 + VAT. Effect of completing this document.
Effect of completing this document
By completing this document you agree that you accept these terms AND irrevocably instruct HMRC to release, assign and repay all income tax for the year of the submitted assessment year. You agree to repay to us any tax refund sent to you directly by HMRC.
Data Protection
We confirm that we will comply with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) / UK Data Protection Bill / Act 2018 when processing personal data about you. In order to carry out the services listed under our engagement letter and for related purposes such as updating and enhancing our client records, analysis for management purposes and statutory returns, legal and regulatory compliance and crime prevention we may obtain, process, use, retain and disclose personal data about you and your business. In light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) / UK Data Protection Bill / Act 2018, you therefore accept that your consent is not required for us to process personal data about you because:
- Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the Data Subject or to take steps to enter into a contract; and/or
- Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation; and/or
- Processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party.
Different laws require us to keep different data for different periods of time. A full list of our legal obligations regarding data retention is available upon request.
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. These are risks you must bear 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 paper mail, other than where electronic submission is mandatory.
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.
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 engagement letter 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 engagement letter or appendices, the relevant provision in the engagement letter or schedules will take precedence.
Investment Advice
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 [including insurances], we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Services Authority [or licensed by a Designated Professional Body], as we are not.
Lien
Insofar as we are permitted to 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 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 which 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.
Our promise
If you comply with these terms and conditions we promise that we will not reclaim from you any Tax Refund (including Upfront Tax Refund) as a result of any HMRC enquiry.
Agreement of terms
Any work undertaken by us relating to earlier periods than the last complete tax year (as at the time these terms were sent to you) needs to be assessed and separate quote for work to be completed to be agreed.
These terms supersedes any previous engagement terms for the period covered. These terms will remain effective until they are replaced. You or we may agree to vary or terminate our authority to act on your behalf at any time without penalty. Notice of variation or termination must be given in writing.
Other services
Only the services set out in these terms are provided to you.
If there is additional work/services that you require which is set out in these terms, please let us know and we will discuss with you whether they can be included in the scope of our work.
If we agree to provide additional services for you we will provide you with a new or amended engagement letter and/or schedules.
Limitation of liability
We will provide services as outlined in this letter with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or wilful default. 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 our directors and staff, 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. You have agreed that you will not bring any claim in connection with services we provide to you against any of our partners or employees personally.
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.
Communicating with you
We will only communicate with you and appropriate statutory organisations with respect to your affairs. Disclosure of information to other third parties will require your consent.
Applicable law
Our services and our standard terms and conditions of business are governed by, and should be 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 this engagement letter and any matter arising from it on any basis. 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
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.
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 complaints in relation to any aspect of our service please contact our Managing Director. We agree to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do everything reasonable to put it right. If you are still not satisfied, and the complaint relates to the conduct of one of our engaged regulated accountants, you can refer your complaint to their appropriate professional body.
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, by regulatory bodies, by our insurers or as part of an external peer review. 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 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.
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 of our confidentiality obligations. We have safeguards that can be implemented to protect the interests of different clients if a conflict arises. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services.
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 we will adopt those safeguards. We reserve the right to provide services for other clients whose interests are not the same as yours or are adverse to yours subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to above.
Period of engagement and termination
Unless otherwise agreed in our engagement letter, our work will begin when we receive implicit or explicit acceptance of that letter. Except as stated in that letter we will not be responsible for periods before that date.
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.
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.
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:
Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you, we may destroy correspondence and other papers that we store electronically or otherwise 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.
The Provision of Services Regulations 2009
We will provide details of our professional indemnity insurer upon request. 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 brought in any court in the United States or Canada.