STANDARD TERMS OF BUSINESS
About Us
“We” are Wellwood Hoyle Associates Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales (Numbered 4173162) whose registered office and principal trading address is at 56a Main Road, Bolton le Sands, Carnforth, Lancashire, LA5 8DN. Telephone Number is (01524) 824240. Email address is admin@wellwoodhoyle.co.uk.
We hold a practising certificate from The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (“ACCA”), firm reference number 0663949 and the principal, Philip Hoyle is a Fellow of The ACCA, membership no. 0954997.
Anti Money Laundering Legislation
All Accountancy Service Providers (which includes tax advisers, bookkeepers, payroll bureau) must comply with onerous duties imposed by the Terrorism Act 2000, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Fraud Act 2006 The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (the “Anti Money Laundering Legislation”), which are intended to inhibit the activities of terrorists and other criminals by denying them access to technical expertise. If we fail to perform these duties, we risk imprisonment.
Before we accept your instructions, we will need to obtain ‘satisfactory evidence’ to confirm your identity which will usually include searching by electronic means. In certain circumstances, we may need to obtain evidence confirming the identities of third parties, the source of any funds or other property, the purpose of any instructions or any other matter. We may also need to obtain further evidence after we have begun to act on your instructions. By instructing us to act on your behalf you are giving us your authority to carry out whatever identification checks we consider necessary, including electronic identity checks, the issue of which will be recorded on your file held by the provider of the electronic identity check, but will not affect your credit report. Electronic and other identification checks will be used by us solely for Anti-Money Laundering purposes.
We assume that our clients are honest and law abiding. However, if at any time, there appear to be grounds to suspect (even if we do not actually suspect) that your instructions relate to ‘criminal property’, we are obliged to make a report to the National Crime Agency (“NCA”) but we are prohibited from telling you whether or not we have made such a report.
In such circumstances, we must not act on your instructions without consent from NCA. If NCA do not refuse consent within 7 working days we may continue to act. If NCA issue a refusal within that time, we must not act for a further 31 days from the date of the refusal.
‘Criminal property’ is property in any legal form, whether money, real property, rights or any benefit derived from criminal activity. It does not matter who carried out the criminal activity or how removed the property is from the original crime. Even if you are honest in your dealings, if your property represents a benefit from someone else’s crime, we must still make a report.
Activity is considered ‘criminal’ if it is a crime under UK law, no matter how trivial, and whether carried out in the UK or abroad. For example, tax evasion is a criminal offence but an honest mistake is not an offence.
Professional Conduct In Relation To Taxation (PCRT)
Any tax related services we agree to provide will be provided in accordance with the Professional Conduct In Relation To Taxation (PCRT) guidance issued by the UK’s main accountancy and tax professional bodies which is available on the ACCA website.
Payments due to HM Revenue & Customs
Our communication with HMRC is restricted to the preparation and submission of your tax returns and dealing with any enquiries or investigations instigated by them.
If a client is unable to pay taxes due on the due dates, then they are responsible for contacting HMRC, or working with the HMRC debt collection agencies, to arrange payment plans or other ways of pay the taxes due over a longer period of time.
Data protection and confidentiality
You acknowledge that we will act in accordance with the privacy notice we have supplied to you which is also available on our website:- http://wellwoodhoyle.co.uk/privacy-notice
Client monies
We will not hold nor handle any money on your behalf. Any tax repayments due will be paid directly to you by HM Revenue & Customs and not to ourselves or any other third parties. You must pay all tax liabilities directly to HM Revenue & Customs.
Fees
Unless otherwise agreed our fees are computed on the basis of time spent on your affairs at the rate of £120 per hour (or part of), will be charged separately for each main class of work mentioned above and will be billed at appropriate intervals during the course of the year.
Payment of our invoices is due within 7 days from the date of the invoice. Interest will be charged on all overdue debts at the the rate for the time being applicable under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
Ownership of records
In the event of non-payment of our fees for services rendered, we may exercise a particular right of lien over the books, records and data in our possession and withhold the same until such time as payment of our invoice is received in full.
File & data retention and destruction
We are bound by law and professional regulation to keep certain records for specific time periods, usually seven years after the end of the relevant tax year and/or seven years after the end of our professional appointment, in accordance with the privacy notice we have supplied to you which is also available on our website:- http://wellwoodhoyle.co.uk/privacy-notice. During the course of our work, whilst we may extract data from your documents and data, we will only keep records (including copies and scans of your documents provided to us) where we identify a particular need and we don’t make scans or copies of your documents on a routine basis.
Clients must ensure that they keep all relevant accounting and tax documents for the requisite time period as required by the taxation laws (usually six years for businesses), including sales and purchase invoices, contracts, expenses claims, milage logs, bank statements, credit card statements, loan, lease and HP agreements, payroll and employee records, VAT return records, book-keeping records, etc., in either paper or electronic format that is easily accessible in case of tax investigation or enquiry.
We would particularly advise clients NOT to rely on electronic records being available via third party websites such as suppliers, email, online banking, etc., as online access is sometimes restricted or removed after a particular time period or when the business relationship has ended.
Electronic and other communication
Unless you instruct us otherwise we may 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 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.
Professional rules and statutory obligations
We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations and ethical guidelines of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 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. The requirements are also available on-line on the ACCA website.
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 or advice (for example during the course of a meeting or a telephone conversation) and you wish to rely on that advice, you must ask for the advice to be confirmed by us in writing.
Investment advice (including insurance mediation services)
Investment business (including insurance and pensions) is regulated under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. We are not authorised to give such advice.
If, during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments, including insurances or pensions, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or licensed by a Designated Professional Body.
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 this arises, we will inform you promptly.
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.
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.
Customer service
We are a general accountancy practice and will provide our services with the appropriate skill and care of such a general practice. Our professional regulations require us to only provide services in areas where we have the relevant skills, knowledge and experience. If, during the provision of professional services to you, we identify that you need more specialist advice, we will advise you accordingly as soon as possible that we will be unable to provide further services in that respect and may refer you to a suitable specialist.
We are committed to providing a high standard of customer service. If you have any ideas as to how our service to you could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please let us know. In the event that you have a complaint, we will look into this carefully and promptly and do all we can to explain the position to you or address your concerns. If you are still not satisfied you may of course make a complaint to our professional regulatory body, The ACCA.
Third parties
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 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.
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 directly caused by our negligence or wilful default.
Exclusion of liability for loss caused by others
We will not be liable if such losses, penalties, interest or additional tax liabilities are caused by 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 caused by 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 beyond that which it would have been reasonable for us to have carried out in the circumstances.
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.
Applicable law
This engagement letter is governed by, and construed in accordance with English law. 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. 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 inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.
Geographical jurisdiction
Our services are limited to UK resident individuals and businesses and to UK taxation, accounting and company laws, standards and regulations. We do not offer services to non UK residents nor in relation to foreign taxation, accounting nor company laws, nor trading, employment nor assets held outside the UK.
Disclaimer
We will not be liable for any loss suffered by you or any third party as a result of our compliance with the Anti Money Laundering Legislation or any UK law or at all.