We will prepare the business accounts where necessary from the books, accounting records and other information and explanations provided to us by you and/or by others on your behalf.
We will complete the writing up of your books and records in so far as they are incomplete when presented to us. These will be from the accounting information and records you supply.
Should you instruct us to carry out any alternative report it will be necessary for us to issue a separate letter of engagement.
To ensure that anyone reading the accounts is aware that we have not carried out an audit, we will attach to the accounts a report stating this fact.
You are the intended user of the report and the report will be addressed to you.
Once we have issued our report we have no further responsibility in relation to the accounts for that financial year. However, we expect that you will inform us of any material event occurring between the date of our report and that of the annual general meeting that may affect the accounts.
There are no third parties that we have agreed should be entitled to rely on the work done pursuant to this engagement letter.
We will prepare your self-assessment tax returns together with any supplementary pages required from the information and explanations that you provide to us. After obtaining your approval, we will submit your returns to HMRC.
We will calculate your income tax, high-income child benefit charge, national insurance contributions (NIC) and any capital gains tax liabilities as included on your self-assessment return, and tell you how much you should pay and when. Where instructed by you, we will advise on the interest and penalty implications if tax or NIC is paid late. We will also check HMRC’s calculation of your tax and NIC liabilities, and initiate repayment claims if tax or NIC has been overpaid.
Other than tax credits and universal credit (see below), we will advise you as to possible tax return-related claims and elections arising from information supplied by you. Where instructed by you, we will make such claims and elections in the form and manner required by HMRC.
We will review PAYE notices of coding provided to us by you and advise accordingly. Note that HMRC no longer sends copies of notices of coding to agents.
Ad hoc queries by way of telephone and email enquiries are not routine compliance and may result in additional fees. As indicated below, where appropriate we will aim to discuss and agree additional fees, but it may not always be possible to agree these in advance and we reserve the right to charge you an additional fee for these queries.
Where you have instructed us to do so we will provide such other taxation ad hoc and advisory services as may be agreed between us from time to time. These services will be subject to the terms of the engagement letter and standard terms and conditions of business unless we decide to issue a separate engagement letter. An additional fee may be charged for these services. Examples of such work include:
Where specialist advice is required, on occasions we may need to seek this from or refer you to appropriate specialists. We will only do this when instructed by you.
We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice given by us on an earlier occasion without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid in the light of any change in the law or practice or in public policy or your circumstances.
We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or practice or in public policy that are first published after the date on which the advice is given.
Failure to do this may lead to penalties and/or interest.
Taxpayers who approve their returns cannot delegate this legal responsibility to others. You agree to check that returns that we have prepared for you are complete before you approve them.
It is your responsibility to keep proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any particular time the financial position of the business. It is also your responsibility to safeguard the assets and to take reasonable steps for the prevention of and detection of fraud and other irregularities with an appropriate system of internal controls.
You are also responsible for making available to us, as and when required, all accounting records and all other relevant records and related information.
Where year end accounts are provided, you will also be responsible for:
You will keep us informed of material changes in your circumstances that could affect your tax liability. If you are unsure whether the change is material or not please let us know so that we can assess its significance.
Where you wish us to deal with HMRC communications you will forward to us all communications received from HMRC such as HMRC statements of account, copies of notices of assessment, tax codes and letters. These must be provided in time to enable us to deal with them as may be necessary within the statutory time limits. It is essential that you let us have copies of any correspondence received because HMRC is not obliged to send us copies of all communications issued to you.
Our services as detailed above are subject to the limitations on our liability set out in the engagement letter in paragraph 22 of our standard terms and conditions of business. These are important provisions, which you should read and consider carefully.
