Terms of Engagement
Thank you for selecting Cube Accounting for your professional accounting and taxation needs!
We look forward to work with you and provide exceptional advice and support to help you reach your business and personal financial goals.
We realise how important it is to understand your needs and we have prepared the attached Terms of Engagement (TE) to clarify the scope of work and other important terms. It is important that you read the TE before you indicate that you agree, which you can do by letting us know that you are happy to proceed.
Objectives & Scope of Work
We will provide you with taxation services in compliance with APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards) (the Code), APES 220 Taxation Services and the Code of Professional Conduct pursuant to Tax Agent Services Act 2009, listed in the schedule of services
Based on the above scope of work, you have given us the authority to use the tax agent portal and other tax portal related activities for the purpose of managing and meeting your taxation lodgment obligations
We will provide the scope of work output within the specified timeframe or within a reasonable period considering the context of the services.
We acknowledge that you may authorise an Accredited Data Recipient under the Consumer Data Right (‘CDR’) to provide CDR data to us via a Trusted Adviser Insight. We confirm that for this purpose you may nominate Cube Accounting Pty Ltd as your Trusted Adviser and that Cube Accounting Pty Ltd complies with the definition of a Trusted Adviser under the Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data Right) Amendments Rules (No. 1) 2021.
Unless otherwise specified in this TE or letter of engagement, audit and assurance or review are not included in this engagement.
Only the services that are explicitly included above are to be provided to you and are within the scope this engagement. Any changes to, additions or removal of any services can be made by giving thirty (30) days’ written notice to us. In the event that you require additional work and this additional work is agreed to by us, we will provide to you a new or amended engagement letter.
From time to time you may require specialist advice from us. Any taxation or other advice is provided to you based on our knowledge of your particular circumstances and based on our interpretation of the law in force at the date of the advice. It must be emphasised that the Commissioner of Taxation may hold a different view as to how the tax law should be interpreted and applied to your circumstances. Any specialist advice will be charged at an additional fee.
The services are provided only for the benefit of the person this Engagement Letter is addressed to. We are not liable or responsible for any other person in relation to the engagement or the consequences to any other person relying on the advice and/or opinion we may provide without our written consent
Our Promise
We will perform procedures (guided by the APES suite of standards) required that are directly related to the engagement consistent with our Fundamental Principles of integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, professional behaviour, and identifying, avoiding and dealing with conflicts of interests.
We will seek to understand your requirements and provide you services confidentially and professionally. Any information pertaining to your affairs, whether it be provided by you, or through a Trusted Adviser Insight via the CDR, will be utilised and stored in an appropriate manner to maintain our professional standards and obligations.
We will document sufficient and appropriate records of the procedures performed for the TE, which may be subject to CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment under APES 320 Quality Control for Firms.
Our Obligations
We are obliged to consider whether our clients create any threats to compliance with our Fundamental Principles and where we cannot reduce the risk to an acceptable level we are obliged to cease the Engagement under the Code (section 320) to decline or cease the client engagement.
We have a duty to act in your best interests, unless this duty is inconsistent with our duty to act in the public interest.
We will inform you:
- of your rights and obligations available under taxation law, including any rights that might be available to seek a private ruling and the lodging of objections and appeals against adverse positions adopted by revenue authorities
- of any possible penalties and other legal tax consequences to enable you to make an informed decision.
We are responsible for maintaining records for a period of five years unless otherwise required by legislation.
During the course of our engagement, if we identify or suspect that Non-Compliance with Laws or Regulations (NOCLAR) has occurred or may occur, which may have a direct effect on material amounts or disclosures in the financial statements or compliance and may be fundamental to your ability to continue business or to avoid material penalty, we may:
- discuss the matter with the appropriate level of management, those charged with governance or the internal auditor, as appropriate
- disclose the matter to an appropriate authority even when there is no legal or regulatory requirement to do so; and/or
- withdraw from the engagement and the professional relationship where permitted by law or regulation.
Where appropriate we will inform you of our intention to disclose the matter to an appropriate authority before disclosing the matter. However, if we have reason to believe that the actual or intended conduct would constitute an imminent breach of a law or regulation that would cause substantial harm to the general public, we may immediately disclose the matter to an appropriate authority in order to prevent or mitigate the consequences of such imminent breach of law or regulation.
Compliance Work
We will prepare your self-assessment tax returns together with any supplementary pages required from the information that you provide to us. After obtaining your approval and signature, we will submit your returns to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
We will calculate your income tax and tell you how much tax you should pay and when. We will advise on the interest, penalty and surcharge implications if tax is paid late. We will also check ATO’s calculation of your tax and initiate refund claims if tax has been overpaid.
We will advise you 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 ATO.
Before we lodge any returns on your behalf, we will forward the documents to you for approval. We will endeavour to ensure that the returns are lodged by the due dates subject to your provision of all information and supporting documents in a timely manner.
Ad hoc & Advisory Work
Where you have instructed us to do so, we will also provide other taxation ad hoc and advisory services as agreed between us. Where appropriate we will discuss and agree additional fees for such work when it is commissioned by you. Examples of such work include:
- Advising on ad hoc transactions, preparing additional supplementary pages to your tax return and calculating any related liabilities.
- Dealing with any enquiry opened into your tax return by ATO.
- Preparing any amended returns which may be required and corresponding
with ATO as necessary.
On occasions where specialist advice is required, we may need to seek this from or refer you to appropriate specialists.
Changes in the law
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 your circumstances.
We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or the
interpretation thereof that are first published after the date on which the advice is given.
Your Obligations
You are legally responsible for:
- Arranging for us reasonable access to relevant documents, and for both the completeness and accuracy of the information supplied to us. Any advice given to you is only an opinion based on our knowledge of your particular circumstances.
- Ensuring that your self-assessment tax returns are correct and complete;
- Filing any returns by the due date; and
- Making a payment of tax on time.
Failure to do this may lead to automatic penalties, surcharges and/or interest.
Taxpayers who sign 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 and sign them.
You will forward to us ATO statements of account, copies of notices of assessment, letters and other communications received from ATO by you in time to enable us to deal with them as may be necessary within the statutory time limits. Although ATO have the authority to communicate with us, it is essential that you let us have copies of any correspondence received because ATO is not obliged to send us copies of all communications issued to you.
You are responsible for the reliability, accuracy, and completeness of the particulars and information provided to us. Accordingly, any advice given to you is only an opinion based on our knowledge of your particular circumstances.
You must retain paperwork for a period of five years after the assessment, as you may be subject to an Australian Taxation Office review. Finally, you are responsible for checking the assessment before submission to ensure its accuracy.
Please note that a taxpayer is responsible under self-assessment to keep full and proper records in order to facilitate the preparation of a correct return. Whilst the Commissioner of Taxation will accept claims made by a taxpayer in an income tax return and issue a notice of assessment, usually without adjustment, the return may be subject to later review. Under the taxation law such a review may take place within a period of up to 5 years after tax becomes due and payable under the assessment. Furthermore, where there is fraud or evasion there is no time limit on amending the assessment. Accordingly, you should check the return before it is signed to ensure that the information in the return is accurate.
Where the application of a taxation law to your particular circumstances is uncertain you also have the right to request a private ruling which will set out the Commissioner’s opinion about the way a taxation law applies, or would apply, to you in those circumstances. You must provide a description of all of the facts (with supporting documentation) that are relevant to your scheme or circumstances in your private ruling application. If there is any material difference between the facts set out in the ruling and what you actually do the private ruling is ineffective.
If you rely on a private ruling you have received, the Commissioner must administer the law in the way set out in the ruling, unless it is found to be incorrect and applying the law correctly would lead to a better outcome for you. Where you disagree with the decision in the private ruling, or the Commissioner fails to issue such a ruling, you can lodge an objection against the ruling if it relates to income tax, fuel tax credit or fringe benefits tax. Your time limits in lodging an objection will depend on whether you are issued an assessment for the matter (or period) covered by the private ruling.
To enable us to carry out our work, you agree:
- That all returns are to be made on the basis of full disclosure of all sources of income, charges, allowances and capital transactions;
- To provide full information necessary for dealing with your affairs: we will rely on the information and documents being true, correct and complete and will not audit the information or those documents;
- To authorise us to approach such third parties as may be appropriate for information that we consider necessary to deal with your affairs; and
- To provide us with information in sufficient time for your tax return to be completed and submitted by the due date following the end of the tax year. If you are late in providing information, we will do our best to meet the time limits, but we will not be responsible for any late lodgement penalties you may incur.
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.
Confidentiality
We will comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1998 when processing your personal data. Communication between us is confidential and we shall take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential 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. 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.
We wish to draw your attention to our firm’s system of quality control which has been established and maintained in accordance with the relevant APESB standard. As a result, our files may be subject to review as part of the quality control review program of CPA Australia which monitors compliance with professional standards by its members. We advise you that 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.
Data protection
We use cloud computing services to store your Personal Information and other data. We will use commercially reasonable security technologies (such as encryption, password protection and firewall protection) to protect this Personal Information and other data of the Client from unauthorized disclosure. You however acknowledge and agree that it is impossible for us to guarantee the security of the Personal Information and other data with absolute certainty and that the use of cloud computing services may therefore entail certain risks. We shall only be responsible if it has finally judicially been determined that it did not take commercially reasonable measures to protect your Personal Information and other data from unauthorized disclosure.
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 agree to bear in return for greater efficiency and lower costs.
Intellectual property rights
We will retain all copyright in any document prepared by us during the course of carrying out the engagement except where the law specifically provides otherwise.
Interpretation
If any provision of this agreement is held to be void, then that provision will be deemed not to form part of this contract and the remainder of this agreement shall be interpreted as if such provision had never been inserted.
Fees and payment terms
Our professional fees are payable in advance and the completed work (tax return) will only be sent out to you when full payment is received.
Our professional fees are calculated on a fixed fee basis according to our provided quote. If no quote can be provided, our fees will be calculated on a time-cost basis at a rate of $220 (including GST) per hour.
If it becomes apparent to us, due to unforeseen circumstances, that a fee quote is inadequate, we reserve the right to notify you of a revised figure or range in writing and to seek your agreement thereto.
Our invoices may also include disbursements paid by us. These may include photocopying charges, telephone and facsimile transmission charges, travel fares and expenses, stamp duty and fees paid to third parties such as couriers, registration fees or fees for other professionals. These may be in addition to the fixed price (if applicable).
Unless other payment terms are agreed, each invoice is payable within 7 days of receipt. We reserve the right to charge interest on late paid invoices at the rate of 5% per annum the base rate of the Reserve Bank of Australia from time to time. Such interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment. The Client shall pay the interest together with the overdue amount. We also reserve the right to suspend our services or to cease to act for you on giving written notice if payment of any fees is unduly delayed. We intend to exercise these rights only where it is fair and reasonable to do so.
In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by ATO. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.
It is our requirement that the owners/directors of the business personally guarantee the payment of all accounts for professional fees, including out-of-pocket expenses rendered by us from time to time. You agree and acknowledge that, for the purposes of us securing payment of all monies due and owing, you:
- unconditionally and irrevocably guarantee to us, on demand, the due and punctual performance by your entity of all its obligations under this Agreement;
- as a separate and additional liability, indemnify us, on demand, against all losses and claims which may be incurred by, or brought, made or recovered against the Business and you as a result of any default;
- will execute any documents and do all things requested by us to register a mortgage security over any current or later acquired real property which we have an interest;
- unconditionally consent to us lodging a caveat noting its interest in any current or later acquired real property which we have an interest;
- and appoint us and any person nominated by us to act as your attorney with power to execute, sign, seal and deliver such mortgage or other document to give effect to any security.
- This clause is a continuing guarantee and remains in full force and effect for as long as the Business has any liability or obligation to us as contained within this Engagement Letter, any new or amended engagement letter and until all those liabilities and obligations are fully discharged.
If we take legal action against you for recovery of the fees, then you must pay all reasonable legal costs incurred by us in respect to any claim, demand, legal proceeding, or cause of action. You agree to be liable for and indemnify Cube Accounting for all costs actually incurred in the recovery of any monies owed under this Agreement. These costs include recovery agent costs, repossession costs, location search costs, process server costs, solicitor costs on a solicitor/client basis, debt collection commission, and legal fees on an indemnity basis.
We reserve the right to review fees for services on an annual basis; any change in fees will be notified in writing.
Limitation of third-party rights
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. 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. For the purpose of eliminating any doubt, we will not be held responsible should a financial institution (or any other party) rely on financial statements we have provided to you.
Ownership of documents
You own all original materials given to us. We own all materials produced by us that resulted from our skill and attention to the extent that the materials produced by us incorporate any original materials you give to us. We may exercise a lien of your documents in our possession in the event of a dispute, which will be handled in accordance with our firm’s dispute resolution process. Subject to the payment of all outstanding professional fees and disbursements owing to us, we will provide you with materials produced by us for you in the event you engage the services of another practitioner and the materials are required by your new practitioner.
Reliance on advice
We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. The 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.
Period of engagement and termination
Our work will begin when we receive your acceptance of this engagement agreement. We will not be responsible for periods before that date. This agreement will be effective for all future years unless either party advises of any change in our arrangement.
When you remove our tax agent role with the ATO, or by registering with another tax agent, this engagement is immediately discontinued at that time, and all responsibility for any services covered under this engagement is reverted to you and/or your new tax agent from 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 ATO 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 endeavour 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.
Further to our general right to disengage services to any entity, on the 1st May of every year, any client who has not provided information for their prior financial year tax return, or is not in an lodgement extension arrangement will be removed from our client list due to ATO lodgement program requirements that require us as a tax agent to meet compliance levels to retain our concessional lodgement timeframes. Clients removed from our client list will have no agent appointed from there on in and will not enjoy any of our concessional compliance timeframes. We may however consider re-engagement where a client is ready to bring their obligations up to date, at that time.
Privacy
Our collection use and disclosure of your personal information (PI) may be subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and accordingly we will only collect PI about you that relates to the TE. We may disclose PI about you for the primary purpose of this TE or to third parties by express consent or as required by law. This PI may be stored overseas.
We may collect PI about you, your representatives, your clients and others when we provide services to you. If we do, you agree to work with us to ensure that we both meet our respective obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Your obligations may include ensuring your privacy policy and contracts include a reference to your collection practices, how you will use the PI and that you may disclose the PI to an agent for public accounting services.
Where an outsourced service requires the disclosure of PI to an overseas recipient, we take care to ensure that other third parties outside Australia to whom we disclose PI are subject to contractual obligations relating to privacy and the handling of your personal information and can only use the information for the purposes stipulated by us.
In providing our services to you, we utilize cloud computing systems provided by Google Cloud which is based in the United States and we rely on their security measures.
If your PI is disclosed to CPA Australia for the purpose of conducting a CPA Australia Best Practice Program assessment on the services provided, your personal information will be handled as outlined in the CPA Australia Privacy Policy.
Professional Standards Scheme & Limitation of Liability
We participate in the CPA Australia Ltd Professional Standards Scheme (Scheme), which facilitates the improvement of professional standards to protect consumers and may limit our liability to you in a cause of action.
The Scheme applies to professional accounting services including accounting, bookkeeping, taxation, auditing and assurance, insolvency and corporate reconstruction, management accounting, management consulting, forensic accounting, valuation services.
Professional rules and statutory obligations
We will observe and act in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited (APESB) and will accept instructions to act for you on this basis.
The extent of our procedures and services will be limited exclusively for this purpose only. As a result, no audit or review will be performed and, accordingly, no assurance will be expressed. Our engagement cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities including fraud, other illegal acts and errors that may exist. However, we will inform you of any such matters that come to our attention.
We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations. The requirements are available online at www.cpaaustralia.com.au.
Retention of records
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. 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 5 years old.
You have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to your tax affairs:
- where Capital Gains Tax applies:7 years from the date of disposal for taxation purposes;
- Individuals, Trustees and Partnerships: 2 years after the date on the Notice of Assessment of the tax year;
- Companies and other corporate entities: 5 years after the date on the Notice of Assessment of the tax year.
Tax Agent services regime
There are provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (“TAA”) that provide you (as of 1 March 2010) with “safe harbours” from administrative penalties from incorrect or late lodgement of returns, if among other things, you give us “all relevant taxation information” in a timely manner. This includes cooperating with our requests for information to allow us to accurately perform our work and promptly advising us of anything that occurs subsequently to render any previous information incorrect, misleading or incomplete.
Any failure by you to provide all such information and documentation, reply to our requests for information, or to advise us of any changes in circumstances may affect your ability to access the safe harbour provisions. Further, as the ATO monitors the lodgement and accuracy compliance of Cube Accounting as a tax agent, and we are bound by our professional association ethical values, we reserve the right to discontinue our engagement with any entities that provide untimely, misleading or illegitimate information.
Third-party audits, reviews and questionnaires
The ATO (as an example) conduct both random and targeted audits in order to maintain the integrity of the tax system. As your tax agent, we are often the first contact for the ATO where they are conducting an audit or review. Often the initial contact takes time to ascertain exactly what type of audit or review the ATO are conducting, what information they require, the time frame of the audit or review, and various other aspects. As your tax agent, you are authorising Cube Accounting to automatically handle this initial ATO contact and you agree to pay any fees levied by Cube Accounting for its time involved. Once details of this initial ATO contact has been ascertained, you will be contacted with the details of the audit or review, and at that stage you can request or decline further assistance with the audit or review. There are other entities (particularly Government entities) that this would apply to.