1. Applicable Law

Our engagement letter, the schedule of services and our standard terms and conditions of business are governed by and should be construed in accordance with Scottish law. Each party agrees that the courts of Scotland will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning this engagement letter and any matter arising from it. 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.

 

2. Client identification

In common with all accountancy and legal practices, the firm is required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 to:

• Maintain identification procedures for clients and beneficial owners of clients;
• Maintain records of identification evidence and the work undertaken for the client; and
• Report, in accordance with the relevant legislation and regulations.

 

The offence of money laundering includes concealing, converting, using or possessing the benefits of any activity that constitutes a criminal offence in the UK. It also includes involvement in any arrangement that facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of such a benefit.

 

This definition is very wide and would include such crimes as deliberate tax evasion, deliberate failure to inform the tax authorities of known underpayments or excessive repayments, fraudulent claiming of benefits or grants, or obtaining a contract through bribery. Clearly these examples are by no means exhaustive.

 

We are obliged by law to report any instances of money laundering to NCA without your knowledge or consent. In consequence, neither the firms’ principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.

 

We may use electronic checks as part of our identification procedures. We confirm that these electronic checks are not credit checks.

 

3. 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 complaint in relation to any aspect of our service please contact Tracey Kirkpatrick. We agree to investigate any complaint carefully and promptly and do everything reasonable to put it right.

 

4. 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. 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.

 

5. 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. 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. Where possible this will be done on the basis of your informed consent. We reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours subject of course to the obligations of confidentiality referred to above.

 

6. Data Protection

To enable us to discharge the services agreed in our engagement letters, comply with related legal and regulatory obligations and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records and analysis for management purposes, as a data controller, we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you / your business / company / partnership / its shareholders / members / officers and employees as described in our privacy notice. We confirm when processing data on your behalf that we will comply with the provisions of all relevant data protection legislation and regulation.

 

You are also an independent controller responsible for complying with data protection legislation and regulation in respect of the personal data you process and, accordingly where you disclose personal data to us you confirm that such disclosure is fair and lawful and otherwise does not contravene relevant requirements. Nothing within this engagement letter relieves you as a data controller of your own direct responsibilities and liabilities under data protection legislation and regulation.

 

Data protection legislation and regulation places obligations on you as a data controller where we act as a data processor to undertake the processing of personal data on your behalf, for instance where we operate a payroll service for you. We therefore confirm that we will at all times take appropriate measures to comply with relevant requirements when processing data on your behalf. In particular we confirm that we have adequate security measures in place and that we will comply with any obligations equivalent to those placed on you as a data controller.

 

Our privacy notice, which can be found on our website at https://www.tk-accountants.co.uk/gdpr statement/ explains how we process personal data in respect of the various services that we provide.

 

7. Disengagement

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

 

Should we have no contact with you for a period of twelve months or more we may issue to your last known address a disengagement letter and hence cease to act.

 

8. 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 dispatch. 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.

 

9. Fees and payment terms

Our fees are calculated based on time spent on your affairs, the levels of skill and responsibility involved the importance and value of the advice provided to you, and the level of risk. In addition, we may charge disbursements of travel, accommodation and other expenses incurred in dealing with your affairs. Unless otherwise agreed, our fees will be issued at appropriate intervals during the course of the year and will be due upon presentation.

 

If it is necessary for us to carry out work that is outside the scope of the engagement currently in place with you, we will advise you of this. Any additional work will result in additional fees being charged. We would therefore like to point out that it is in your interests to ensure that the information you provide us with is completed to the agreed stage.

 

If we give you an estimate of our fees for carrying out any specific work, then that estimate will not be contractually binding unless we have explicitly stated that will be the case.

 

If we agree a fixed fee with you for providing a specific range of services, this will be the subject of a separate agreement. This agreement will set out the period which the fixed fee relates to, and the services covered by it.

 

Where we have agreed that you will pay on an invoice rendered basis, invoices are payable in full (including disbursements) in accordance with the terms set out on the invoice. Any queries you have on our invoices must be notified to us within 21 days of receipt or we shall deem you to have accepted that payment is due.

 

Where we have agreed that you will pay us on a standing order basis, we will discuss with you separately the amount and frequency of payments. These standing orders will be applied to fees arising from work agreed in our letter of engagement for the current and ensuing years. Where a scheduled monthly payment is not made any fees invoiced to you that are outstanding at that time will immediately become due for payment in entirety.

Where we offer you the facility to pay your professional fees by instalments, we do not charge any interest or charges except for default charges. As these terms have been agreed after 18 March 2015 this instalment agreement is not a regulated credit agreement.

 

You may have an insurance policy or membership of a trade or professional body that entitles you to assistance with payment of our fees in some situations. A particular example would be assistance with an investigation by HM Revenue & Customs. Unless you arranged the insurance through us then you will need to advise us of any such cover you have. Please note that you remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.

 

We reserve the right to charge interest of 2% over base in the case of amounts outstanding for 30 days or more 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. However, it is not our intention to use these rights in a way that is unfair or unreasonable. We may accept settlement of fees by certain credit cards.

 

In the event that we cease to act for you then you agree to meet all reasonable costs of providing information to your new advisers. In particular you agree to meet these costs where we are required by law to provide information to a successor firm.

 

10. Implementation

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

 

11. 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.

 

12. Interpretation

If any provision of this engagement letter or enclosed schedules 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.

 

13. Internal disputes within a client

If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own or are in some way involved in the ownership and management of the business, it should be noted that our client is the business, and 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.

 

14. Investment advice (including insurance mediation services)

Investment business is regulated under 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.

 

15. 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.

 

16. Limitation of liability

We will provide our services with reasonable care and skill. Our liability to you is limited to losses, damages, costs and expenses caused by our negligence or willful 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 due to 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 due to 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 this engagement letter 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.

 

Indemnity for unauthorised disclosure

You agree to indemnify us and our agents in respect of any claim (including any claim for negligence) arising out of any unauthorised disclosure by you or by any person for whom you are responsible of our advice and opinions, whether in writing or otherwise. This indemnity will extend to the cost of defending any such claim, including payment at our usual rates for the time that we spend in defending it.

 

17. Limitation of Third-Party rights

Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017 to enforce any term of this agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that 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.

 

18. Period of engagement and termination

Unless otherwise agreed in the engagement covering 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.

 

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.

 

In the event of termination of this contract, we will endeavor 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.

 

19. Professional rules and statutory obligations

We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines and will accept instructions to act for you on this basis. In particular you give us the authority to correct errors made by HMRC where we become aware of them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.

 

20. Professional rules and statutory obligations

We will observe and act in accordance with the byelaws, regulations and ethical guidelines and will accept instructions to act for you on this basis. In particular you give us the authority to correct errors made by HMRC where we become aware of them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.

 

21. Reliance on advice

We will endeavor 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.

 

22. Retention of papers

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. 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, LLPs, and other corporate entities

• six years from the end of the accounting period.

 

Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you we may destroy correspondence and other papers that we store, electronically or otherwise, which are more than 7 years old. You must tell us if    you require the return or retention of any specific documents for a longer period.

22. The Provision of Services Regulations 2009 ('Services Directive')
We are required to hold professional indemnity insurance. Details about the insurer and coverage can be found at our offices.