Changes To Our Terms of Business

Revised wording:

“14 a – Where we are engaged to prepare vat returns and carry out basic bookkeeping we will do so from the records and information you provide to us.  You retain responsibility for the completeness of this information, and are responsible for reviewing and checking the submissions, returns and bookkeeping for accuracy and completeness. ”

“14c – The extent of the work we are to carry out and the information flows will be subject to specific agreement, between us.”

Previous wording:

“14 a – Where we are engaged to prepare vat returns and carry out basic bookkeeping we will do so from the records and information you provide to us.  You retain responsibility for the completeness of this information.”

“14 c – The extent of our responsibilities and yours will be subject to specific agreement, between us.”

The new wording is:

“14 g – In respect of Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax:

1 – You are responsible for MTD compliance, including selecting software for complying with MTD, and for registering with HMRC

2 – Where we provide software, eg FreeAgent or Bridging Software, it is on an agency business and we accept no responsibility for technical software failures.

3 – Except as agreed by us we do not accept responsibility for MTD compliance.  If you ask us to advise on MTD or check returns, we do so without liability unless (a) we have been engaged to prepare or process the underlying records pursuant to the wider provisions of this section or (b) we have specifically agreed to provide a MTD checking or submission service.”

Previous wording was:

“14 g – In respect of Making Tax Digital:

1 – You are responsible for selecting software for complying with MTD.

2 – Where we provide software, eg FreeAgent or Link Software, it is on an agency business and we accept no responsibility for technical software failures.

3 – Except as agreed by us we do not accept responsibility for MTD compliance.  If you ask us to advise on MTD or check returns, we do so without liability unless (a) we have been engaged to prepare or process the underlying records or (b) we have specifically agreed to provide a MTD checking or submission service.”

•    £250 – Director (minimum charge one hour) (was £200)
•    £125 – Manager Grade staff (was £100)
•    £50 – Senior technician grade staff (unchanged)
•    £25 – Junior technician grade staff (unchanged)

These rates are per hour and are all excluding VAT.

This is the first change to hourly rates since 2012, so 13 years.

This will only impact clients where we are undertaking advisory or project work.  Existing assignments in progress will not change.

Fixed fee agreements which cover the vast majority of our professional work, do not change.

The change is to remove the reference to the account being in debit.  This is because that causes confusion, and also may not be an accurate reflection of work carried out and not yet invoiced, typically where we perform ongoing services but only invoice quarterly or annually.

Previously it was a fixed £100+vat.  Now it is:

• £100 plus vat where the accountancy fee is £500 ex vat or lower
• 20% of the contracted accountancy fee where the fee is over £500 ex vat

Existing wording in 22a “if statutory deadlines are met then a supplementary fee of £100+vat from us will apply, which will be invoiced when the accounts are sent to you and subject to 14 day credit terms ”

New wording: “if statutory deadlines are met then a supplementary fee will apply, which will be invoiced when the accounts are sent to you and subject to 14 day credit terms.  The fee will be:

• £100 plus vat where the accountancy fee is £500 ex vat or lower
• 20% of the contracted accountancy fee where the fee is over £500 ex vat”

Clause 9c – Reference to entering Making Tax Digital for VAT removed, as all VAT registered businesses are now mandated to be in MTDfV

Clause 10f rewritten for clarity.  it read “For companies/LLPs we will file your accounts at Companies House, normally electronic abbreviated accounts which give the minimum disclosure for Companies House filing.  As these are a abbreviated version of the full accounts we will normally rely on your approval of the full accounts, rather than asking you to explicitly approve the abbreviated accounts.”

New wording “For companies/LLPs we will file your accounts at Companies House, normally electronically in iXbrl format, taking advantage of any disclosure exemptions available to file the minimum level of detail possible.  Unless specifically requested we will not send a copy of the Companies House accounts to you for approval, and will rely on your approval of the full accounts.”

Clause 11i – reference to “Data Request form / questionnaire” changed to “Self Assessment Questionnaire”

Clause 14g – wording “In respect of Making Tax Digital for VAT (MDTfV), being introduced in 2019:” changed to “In respect of Making Tax Digital” reflecting the wider MTD programme”.   In the sub-clauses references to MTDfV changed to MTD.

Clause 18D expanded to include reference to PSC register.  It now reads “Unless specifically engaged to do so, our responsibilities do not extend to the maintenance of statutory records including Register of People with Significant Control.”

Old wording “7b – Our quotations are normally fixed for two years, and are then subject to review in line with inflation.  Obviously they will also be subject to review if there is a major change in the nature or size of your business or the services you require.”

New wording “Our quotations are normally fixed for two years, and are then subject to review in line with inflation.  Obviously they will also be subject to review if there is a major change in the nature or size of your business or the services you require.  The inflationary review is at a rate set from time to time, by way of an indexation figure which applies to all clients.”

The Privacy and Cookie policy is not new and has been in place for some years, with an update for GDPR in 2018.   However it has been drawn to our attention it was not expressly linked into our Terms of Business.

Our fixed fee packages are priced to cover the typical service level a client needs. In any given year some clients will need more support or service, others less, and our fees balance this.

However occasionally a clients service needs, or the complexity of their requirements, will go beyond that anticipated. Rather than have a long list of exceptions or small print, we operate on a fair use basis. Where services cannot be accommodated in the fixed fee:

• • we will endeavour to let clients know at the start of the engagement, or if not as early as possible
  • we will avoid unreasonable suspension or withdraw of services at short notice.
  • we will avoid incurring any material additional charges for clients without authorisation.
  • we will work collaboratively with clients to resolve the issue, either by repricing, a service restriction, or by agreeing changes to record keeping and presentation.

This codifies existing practice, and does not change the fees we charge or our approach to professional work.  This paragraph was in our service schedules, but not our Terms of Business, so we are including it in Terms of Business for clarity.

New section 34 on IR35 Compliance, which reads:

• “a. We offer both formal IR35 contract reviews and informal advice on IR35 compliance.  Our advice is by nature of considered opinion, and by its nature cannot be definitive.  A definitive ruling on IR35 status in the event of a dispute would need to come from Tax Tribunals.
• “b. Decisions on IR35 status are your responsibility to make based on your own considered judgement.  We will not carry over advice we have given to preparation of your taxes, instead we will seek instructions from you.”
• This clarifies and records our current practice and is not a change in service.

• 30i Concerns security of logins that you give us
• 30j Concerns our reselling of systems eg Freeagent and that we are as agent/reseller not provider
• 30k Makes it clear that where a cloud accounting system is in use and we have logins, you must still go through year end/quarter end procedures, notably notifying us that year end/vat is ready to be processed.

Consequential amendment 9a.i and 9c

• Introduction of a summary of the terms of business
• Minor changes for readability