Scope

The scope of our engagement will include those services outlined in the letter of engagement.

Our advice will cover income tax, Goods & Services Tax and Payroll Tax.  It will not cover any other taxes such as stamp duty or land tax.

The scope of our engagement will be limited to performance of the services listed in the attached letter.

If the scope does not meet your requirements or you would like to discuss the scope with us further, please let us know.

We consider that we have the necessary expertise to perform the services covered by our engagement. However, any changes to the scope of our engagement may require us to reconsider the terms of our engagement and/or make new arrangements with you.

If you wish to change the scope of our instructions please contact us.

We disclaim any assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our professional services by any party other than those specified or agreed, and for any purpose other than that for which it was prepared.  Where appropriate, our report will contain a disclaimer to this effect.

Your disclosure and record keeping obligations

You are required by law to keep full and accurate records relating to your tax affairs.

It is your obligation to provide us with all information that you reasonably expect will be necessary to allow us to perform work contemplated under this engagement within a timely manner or as requested. This includes providing accurate and complete responses to questions asked of you by us within a reasonable timeframe. Inaccurate, incomplete or late information could have a material effect on our services and/or our conclusions and may result in additional fees. We will not verify the underlying accuracy or completeness of information you provide to us.

You are also required to advise us on a timely basis if there are any changes to your circumstances that may be relevant to the performance of our services. Specifically, if any subsequent event results in the information you provided to us being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, then you are obliged to advise us as soon as possible. We take no responsibility to the extent that our advice is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading because it is based on inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information being provided to us.

By accepting the terms of this letter, you will be taken to have agreed that the performance of our services is dependent on the performance of your obligations relating to disclosure and record keeping.

The Taxation Administration Act 1953 contains specific provisions that may provide you with “safe harbours” from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgement of returns if, amongst other things, you give us “all relevant taxation information” in a timely manner (the safe harbour provisions apply from 1 March 2010). Accordingly, it is to your advantage that all relevant information is disclosed to us as any failure by you to provide this information may affect your ability to rely on the “safe harbour” provisions and will be taken into account in determining the extent to which we have discharged our obligations to you.

You are also required to advise us if you become aware of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest. Generally, a conflict of interest is any event which may result in us becoming unable to remain objective in the performance of our services to you. Some examples of events which could give rise to a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest during this engagement are changes to your business circumstances or legal action commencing against you.

Your rights and obligations under the taxation laws

You have certain rights under the taxation laws, including the right to seek a private ruling from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) or to appeal or object against a decision made by the Commissioner. As relevant, we will provide further information to you concerning your rights under the Australian taxation laws during the conduct of the engagement contemplated by this letter.

You also have certain obligations under the Australian taxation laws, such as the obligation to keep proper records and the obligation to lodge returns by the due date.

Our obligation to comply with the law

We have a duty to act in your best interests. However, the duty to act in your best interests is subject to an overriding obligation to comply with the law even if that may require us to act in a manner that may be contrary to your interests. For example, we could not lodge an income tax return for you that we knew to be false in a material respect.

We also have an obligation to ensure that we manage conflicts of interest as they arise. In this regard, we have arrangements in place to ensure that we manage potential or actual conflicts of interest. The effective operation of these arrangements depend, in part, on you complying with your obligation to disclose any potential conflicts of interest to us.

Unless otherwise stated, this opinion is based on the Australian tax law in force and the practice of the Australian Taxation Office (the ATO) applicable as at the date of this letter.

Our advice and/or services will be based on Australian taxation law in force at the date of the provision of the advice and/or services. It is your responsibility to seek updated advice if you intend to rely on our advice at a later stage. We note that Australian taxation laws are often subject to frequent change and our advice will not be updated unless specifically requested by you at the time of the change in law or announced change in law.

Confidentiality

We will not disclose any information relating to your affairs to any third party without your consent, unless required by law. You may provide us with permission to disclose your confidential information in certain circumstances, or place conditions on the disclosure of certain confidential information. If you do so, we will have permission to disclose the relevant information accordingly, in the performance of our services, unless you instruct us otherwise in writing.

Our files may be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of CA ANZ which monitors compliance with professional standards by its members.  By accepting our engagement you acknowledge that, if requested, our files relating to this engagement will be made available under this program. Should this occur, we will advise you.

We reserve the right, for the purpose of promotional activity, training or for similar business purpose, to mention that you are a client.  As stated above we will not disclose any confidential information.

Involvement of third parties

We may utilise the services of Vitae International Accounting Services Pty Ltd (Vitae) which is situated in India, to provide basic administration and accounting/processing services in the preparation of your work.  We have a small dedicated Vitae team who only prepare work for SPA Accounting in a secure environment.

We may also engage subcontractors from time to time as required.

Private Cloud Services

We utilise private cloud computing services provided by Reckon Accountants Group Pty Ltd (Reckon APS).  Reckon APS utilises secure data centres primarily in Australia.  Please refer to Reckon Limited’s Privacy Policy for further information.

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.

Our liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Further information on the scheme is available from the Professional Standards Councils’ website: http://www.professionalstandardscouncil.gov.au.

Ownership of documents

All original documents obtained from you arising from this engagement shall remain your property. However, we reserve the right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records.

Our engagement will result in the production of Financial Statements and Income Tax Returns which will be supplied to you.  Ownership of these documents will vest in you. All other documents produced by us in respect of this engagement will remain the property of our firm.

We retain all copyright in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement for you, save for where the law specifically provides otherwise.

Insofar as we are permitted to do 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 to us in full.

Please refer to our privacy policy for details of our data protection measures.