Terms & Conditions

Below are our full terms and conditions that apply when registering as our client.

Agreement

You are appointing Gunnell and Chambers Accountants Ltd as your accountants, to represent you in all matters related to your selected services and your dealings with HMRC. This agreement is made between both parties.

Confidentiality

We take the confidentiality of our client’s information very seriously. All accounts, statements and reports prepared by us are for your exclusive use within your business or to meet specific statutory responsibilities. They will not be shown to any third party without your prior consent. See our privacy policy for more information.

You may appoint someone else to speak to us on your behalf such as your spouse. However, we would require your consent. Please contact us for further details.

Agreement of Terms and Cancellation

Either party may terminate the engagement at any time without penalty, unless outstanding invoices have yet to be collected. Notice of termination must be given in writing or via email. We are not obliged to refund monthly payments regardless of services rendered to that point.

Payments

Once registered for the service, we will issue monthly invoices for your current financial year (unless other payment terms have been agreed). Direct debit payments will be collected on a monthly basis for the invoiced amounts as previously agreed. 

If you decide to terminate our service part way through your financial year, then no further monthly invoices will be raised from the date of your written cancellation. If you cancel part way through your financial year and would like us to complete that financial year’s work, then we would agree to either continue the monthly invoices until the end of the financial year or raise a final invoice up to the financial year end.

If you register with us and we find that there is outstanding work due for previous periods, then a quote will be provided for that work in addition to the agreed upon monthly amount. 

From time to time, we will increase fees to keep up with inflation or increasing costs. We will notify you of any fee increases in advance.

Your quotation is based on the information you have provided to us about you and your business. If your business circumstances change, then we may adjust our fees to align with these changes. For example, if your business received a quotation based an estimated amount of work to carry out, and that amount of work significantly increased over time, we would increase fees to align with the new work load. Similarly, if we find that services require significantly less work than originally anticipated, we will then look to reduce fees.

Late Payments/defaults

For outstanding balances overdue by more than 90 days we reserve the right to charge interest at 8% above the base rate per annum until such a time we receive payment in full or receive correspondence from you to resolve the situation.

Authorisation

As with other professional services firms, we are required to identify and verify our clients for the purposes of the UK anti-money laundering legislation. 

Referral Fees

We may make use of carefully chosen affiliates that handle extra services offered to our clients. In some instances, we may be paid referral fees from those affiliates for the work they receive from us. You agree to allow us to keep any referral fees generated.

Your Responsibility for the Preparation of Financial Statements

You have undertaken to make available to us, as and when required, all the accounting records and related financial information necessary for the compilation of your accounts. You agree to make full disclosure to us of all relevant information. The accounts will be approved by you before we submit any accounts or returns to HMRC or Companies House.

You are responsible for ensuring that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, financial information, whether used by the business or for the accounts, is reliable. You are also responsible for ensuring that the activities of the business are conducted honestly and that its assets are safeguarded, and for establishing arrangements designed to deter fraudulent or other dishonest conduct and to detect any that occur.

You are responsible for ensuring that the business complies with the laws and regulations applicable to its activities, and for establishing arrangements designed to prevent any non-compliance with laws and regulations and to detect any that occur.

Our Responsibilities for the Preparation of Financial Statements

We will compile your annual accounts based on the accounting records and the information and explanations given to us by you. We shall prepare accounts to be approved by you before any returns are submitted.

We will advise you as to the adequacy of your records for preparation of the annual accounts and make recommendations for improvements which we consider necessary. We shall not be responsible if, because of you not taking our advice, you incur losses or penalties.

We will act diligently to produce financial statements which accurately reflect the information supplied by you regarding your business affairs, but will not be responsible for errors arising from incorrect information supplied by you.

Any liability resulting from errors in the preparation of accounts, tax returns or any other work carried out is limited to the fee we charge for completing that work.

We have a professional duty to compile accounts which conform to generally accepted accounting principles.

If you require us to complete additional work which is outside of the services included in your  original agreement then we would charge an additional fee appropriate to the work involved, this will be agreed by both parties prior to any work being undertaken.

Gunnell & Chambers Accountants Limited has a legal obligation to adhere to all civil and criminal legislation currently in force.

We will provide our professional services with reasonable care and skill and will always make every effort to ensure you meet the relevant deadlines. However, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharges, interest or additional tax liabilities due to HMRC, Companies House or any other organisation under any circumstances. We will however, take individual circumstances into consideration and may make a contribution to penalties at the discretion of the management.

VAT

All quoted fees are in pound sterling (£) and will show a VAT breakdown.

Gunnell & Chambers Accountants Limited’s VAT registration number is 374115312.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Gunnell & Chambers Accountants Limited is provided by DNS Insurance Limited.

Limitations

Our licence does not authorise us to conduct any aspect of investment work.

Accounts/Returns

We will be able to act on your behalf for all of your businesses’ accounting and taxation affairs from the date that we receive your signed engagement letter.

We will prepare the accounts and tax return based on the records and other information and explanations provided by you.

Your approval will be required before we submit any accounts or returns to Companies House or HMRC.

We will advise you as to the amounts of tax to be paid and the dates by which you should make the payments.

If after we complete your accounts/tax return you should request amendments to be made to the work already completed, then a quotation will be given to you for the additional work involved. We will deal with HMRC regarding any amendments required to your return and prepare any amended returns which may be necessary.

It is important that you send your records to us in good time before any deadlines. We will send out reminders from the date of your financial year end so that you know that we require your records.

You agree that we can approach such third parties as may be appropriate for information that we consider necessary to deal with your affairs.

Where we do not have the relevant skills/expertise we will always endeavour to consult with affiliates for assistance. However, there are instances where a specialist is required. Such specialists may charge a fee for these services.

As UK accountants our service only applies to UK entities, i.e. UK companies or UK tax payers. We cannot offer advice relating to other tax jurisdictions. Where you and/or your company could be considered tax resident in a country other than the UK it is your responsibility to seek advice from a professional who has expertise in that jurisdiction.

For the most part, if a company is incorporated in the UK, it has corporate residency in the UK. However, there can be exceptions. We only engage with and act on behalf of companies which are resident in the UK, and as such you agree that you have considered your corporate residency and it is that of the UK.

VAT Returns (if applicable)

We will be able to act on your behalf for your businesses VAT affairs. For any specialist areas of VAT, we hold the right to withdraw the VAT services.

We will send the VAT return to you (or discuss over the phone) for your approval before it is submitted to HMRC.

We will advise you as to amounts of VAT to be paid (or repaid to you) and the dates by which you should make any payments.

We will undertake correspondence with HMRC on your behalf unless instructed to do otherwise by you.

Please ensure all supplies made by the business are shown in the records made available to us. It should be understood that our appointment as your agent does not absolve your business from its statutory responsibilities. We would draw your attention to the strict rules and time limits for the submission of such returns and the substantial penalties which may arise if these are not observed. It is therefore essential that we receive full information from you promptly to enable us to ensure that the returns are made on a timely basis.

Payroll (if applicable)

To process your payroll we will require certain information from you. This includes:

Notification before the payroll is ran, of any employee who is ill for four or more calendar days, including weekends, bank holidays etc. This will enable us to operate statutory sick pay for you.

Notification of any employee who becomes pregnant. This will enable us to operate statutory maternity pay.

Details of any money or benefits made available to employees by you or by a third party through you.

Hours worked, rates of pay, bonuses etc.

Notification of employees engaged by you or leaving your employment.

Details of holiday pay paid to employees.

Any notice of coding received by you (although we should receive a copy)

If any casual labour is taken on, you are required to operate P46 procedures. Completed P46 forms should be supplied to us for processing. Please contact us if you would like us to explain this process.

RTI returns must be received by HMRC on the day that you pay employees so it is very important that we receive your payroll records on time.

It should be understood that our appointment as your agent does not absolve your business from its statutory responsibilities. We would draw your attention to the strict rules and time limits for the submission of such returns and the substantial penalties which may arise if these are not observed. It is therefore essential that we receive full information from you promptly to enable us to ensure that the returns are made on a timely basis.

Bookkeeping (if applicable)

If you appoint us to complete bookkeeping on your behalf, we will input your business transactions into bookkeeping software. We will require all business documentation needed to complete the bookkeeping including sales invoices, purchase invoices, expense receipts, bank statements, paying in/cheque books and credit card statements (if applicable).

We will keep your paperwork until your year-end procedures have been completed, unless otherwise instructed by you. Once we have finished with your records we will return them to you.

If you complete your own bookkeeping then we would expect to receive records in a reconciled state (if a double entry system is appropriate). We will take samples to check that the bookkeeping has been completed properly. We will bring to your attention anything that does not seem correct and will await your instructions on how to proceed before continuing with your work. If you would like us to correct any bookkeeping errors we will produce a quotation for you to agree upon before any work is carried out.

If after we complete your bookkeeping, you request amendments to be made to the work already completed, then a quotation will be given to you for the additional work involved.

The bookkeeping quote we provide to you prior to registering with us is based on the volume of transactions you estimate your business produces. Sometimes we find that the actual number of transactions is more than you initially estimated. In this instance we may increase our original quote to align with the increase in work.

If we are completing your bookkeeping, the records you send to us (whether electronic or paper based) must be presented in an orderly fashion. Where there is significant time required for us to organise your records we may quote an additional fee for this work.

Contractors and IR35 (if applicable):

If some or all of your business relates to contracting then you should consider your risk to IR35. IR35 is legislation that aims to prevent contractors benefiting from tax advantages over that of an employee acting in a similar capacity. It is your responsibility to assess your risk to IR35 although we are happy to provide guidance and material that will help you decide whether you are likely to be inside or outside of the legislation.

Fair Usage policy:

We reserve the right to increase our fees for clients who use our service ‘excessively’ to ensure that the business relationship remains profitable. This policy would mainly be enforced for clients who consume the time of our accountants with unnecessary requests, an ‘unreasonable’ amount of questions, or queries that are not related to accountancy or the services in our engagement. We are aware that new clients will require more help and advice when they first register with us or if they are new to business and we do take this into consideration.

If we consider a client to be in breach of this policy we will notify and give a choice of either an increased fee or a reduction in their demands on the time of our accountants.

The unlimited help and advice we offer,  relates to the services you have appointed us to complete. For specialist advice or advice relating to topics outside of your selected services, we would seek to charge a reasonable fee that would be relative to the work involved, and will be agreed upon by both parties prior to any work being undertaken.

Your personal data, privacy and security

Please take some time to carefully read through our Privacy Policy. This policy outlines what data we collect from you, what we do with your data and how we ensure it is secure.

By agreeing to these Terms and Conditions (signing our engagement letter) it is assumed that you have read and understood our Privacy Policy.

Complaints procedure

Most of your concerns can be resolved quickly to your satisfaction through the person you are dealing with. If your issue remains unresolved and you would like to make a formal complaint, please do so by emailing info@gunnellandchambers.co.uk