Limitations
We will not undertake an independent audit of the financial statements or income tax returns prepared. Our role will be limited to assistance in the compilation of the financial statements and preparation of the relevant taxation returns based on the information and records provided by you. The financial statements prepared will contain an appropriate disclaimer that identifies the extent and limitations of our role. We are entitled to rely on the records provided by you as being both accurate and complete.
While our engagement does not include the audit of your financial statements or income tax returns, we are required by the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 to satisfy ourselves as to the reasonableness of the information and claims being made. The legislation provides the basis for this and may require us to make further inquiries of you from time to time. Where possible, we will endeavor to identify the information required in advance.
Our work cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities, including fraud, other illegal acts, and errors that may occur.
For any audit engagements, a separate engagement will be issued specific to that entity.
This engagement is limited to the scope of work. From time to time, you may require additional work to be completed other than what is covered by this engagement and request us to complete this for you. Typical areas of additional assistance include tax advice such as advice and assistance with structuring or restructuring your business. This will represent a separate engagement for which a separate engagement letter will be issued.
Any advice provided is only an opinion based on our knowledge of you and your circumstances.
Limitation of liability
Our liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
You agree not to bring any claim against any of our directors or employees in their personal capacity.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable to you for:
- indirect, special, or consequential losses or damages of any kind; or
- liability arising due to the acts or omissions of any other person or circumstances outside our reasonable control, or your breach of these terms.
You can find more information on the scheme through the Professional Standards Councils: http://www.psc.gov.au/
Limitation of third-party rights
Our advice and information are for your sole use, and we accept no responsibility to any third party unless we have expressly agreed in the engagement letter that a specified third party may rely on our work.
Lodgement dates and timeframes
To ensure the efficient completion of your work, it is agreed that all information that is reasonably required will be made available to us in order for us to complete the various engagements agreed upon.
Some of the agreed work is subject to specific lodgement dates. Our objective is to ensure that all work is completed in time to meet these lodgement dates. Our capacity to complete the work required relies on us receiving the required information within a reasonable time period prior to those due dates (our recommendation is not less than 30 days) and receiving timely answers to any queries raised.
We will agree to a work program with you including the dates for both the receipt of work and our completion date.
Rights & obligations
The Tax Agents Services Act 2009 requires us to advise you of your rights and obligations where we are acting for you on taxation matters. In relation to the taxation services provided:
- You are responsible for making all relevant information available to us in a complete and timely manner.
- Australia’s income tax and indirect tax system is based on self-assessment. The Commissioner is entitled to rely on any statements made. Where those statements are later found to be incorrect, the Commissioner may amend your assessments and, in addition to any tax assessed, you may also be liable for penalties and interest charges. The period of review is up to four years. Where the Commissioner forms an opinion of fraud or evasion, there is no limit for amending assessments.
- You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information required to comply with the various taxation laws. We will use this information supplied in the preparation of your returns.
- You have an obligation to keep proper records that will substantiate the taxation returns prepared and satisfy the substantiation requirements of the various tax laws for at least 5 years. Failure to keep such records could result in claims being disallowed, additional tax being imposed, and the imposition of penalty or general interest charges.
- Your rights as a taxpayer include:
- The right to seek a private ruling;
- The right to object to an assessment by the Commissioner;
- The right to appeal against an adverse decision by the Commissioner.
Certain time limitations may exist for you to exercise these rights. Should you wish to exercise these rights at any time you should contact us so that we can provide you with the relevant time frames and to discuss any additional requirements that may exist.
We are bound by the Tax Agents Services Act Code of Professional Conduct which includes a duty to act lawfully and in the best interests of our clients, ensure the services we provide are provided competently, maintain our knowledge and skills, take reasonable care in ascertaining the state of your affairs where it is relevant to the work we are completing, and take reasonable care to ensure the tax laws are applied correctly.
Conflict of interest
We will inform you if we become aware of any conflict of interest in our relationship with you (including between the various persons this engagement letter covers) or in our relationship with you and another client. Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we will be unable to provide further services to some or all of the persons to whom this engagement applies. If this arises, we will inform you promptly. We may act for other clients whose interests are not the same as or are adverse to yours, subject to the obligations of conflicts of interest and confidentiality referred to above.
Non-compliance with laws or regulations
Where we suspect there may be non-compliance with laws or regulations, we are required under APES 110 issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board to consider this matter. This may involve making further inquiries, considering the position, and taking what we consider to be appropriate actions, with the objective being to rectify, remediate or mitigate the consequences of the non-compliance. This extends to a public interest duty as defined by APES 110.
Our services are limited exclusively to those you have engaged us to perform. Unless otherwise specified in the engagement letter, our services cannot be relied upon to disclose irregularities and errors, including fraud and other illegal acts, in your affairs. Neither an audit nor a review will be conducted and, accordingly, no assurance will be expressed.
Privacy & confidentiality
Our obligation to you
Trekk Advisory – NQ is compliant with the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). A copy of our privacy policy is available on our website. We will take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential, except where:
- we need to disclose your information to our service providers (including auditors of client monies if applicable) or regulatory bodies in performing the services, our professional advisers, or insurers or as part of an external peer review from time to time. Our files may also be subject to review as part of the quality review program of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. By accepting this engagement, you acknowledge that, if requested, our files relating to this engagement will be made available under this program. We will take reasonable steps to ensure any such recipient (other than a regulatory body) keeps such information confidential on the same basis;
- we are required by law, regulation, a court of competent authority, or those professional obligations referred to in section 8 above, to disclose the information;
- we provide limited information (but only to the extent reasonably necessary) to potential purchasers (or their professional advisors) of our practice but we will take reasonable steps to ensure that any such recipient keeps the disclosed information confidential; or
- you give us permission to disclose the information.
We may retain your information during and after our engagement to comply with our legal requirements or as part of our regular IT backup and archiving practices. We will continue to hold such information confidential. We may mention that you are a client for promotional purposes.
If we are acting for a business, and we receive conflicting advice, information, or instructions from different persons, we may refer the matter to the board of directors, partners or proprietors (as applicable) and act only as requested by them.
We will advise you and your spouse on the basis that you are a family unit with shared interests. We may deal with either of you and may discuss with either of you the affairs of the other. If you wish to change these arrangements, please let us know.
We may be required to verify your identity for the purposes of the anti-money laundering laws. We may request from you such information as we require for these purposes and make searches of appropriate databases.
Team interaction
This engagement will be managed by Eryan Haddon or Peter Tuppurainen operating under Tax Agent No. 25 187 438. Your main contacts will be both the partner and your client manager as per below, although in addition, the following members of our team could be actively involved in your work:
Please do not hesitate to contact any of the team on 07 4743 4966 or 07 4773 7555 if you have any queries or require further assistance.
From time to time during the completion of your work, we may engage various staff and/or contract personnel who we consider appropriate for the completion of your work. These personnel will have access to your accounting and taxation records only for the purpose of completing the accounting and taxation engagements agreed upon. In all cases, these personnel will be subject to our supervision and control.
Outsourced Services
Our firm utilises the services of an outsourcing accountant service based in the Philippines and India. We utilise this service for the basic compilation of taxation and compliance works. All work is monitored, reviewed, and completed by us.
Acceptance of our services in conjunction with this engagement indicates your acceptance of the use of outsourced services. Where the outsourced service requires the use of personal information to an overseas recipient a consequence of your consent is that Trekk Advisory will be required to take reasonable steps to ensure that the Australian Privacy Policy Principles are complied with by the overseas recipients of the Personal Information.
As agreed, we will be provided with access to your Accounting software account with permission levels set by you. This access will be limited to agreed staff members to enable us to fulfill this engagement.
Cloud Computing
We utilise third-party cloud computing software systems as part of our service delivery to you. We have assessed these service providers and have taken all reasonable measures to protect your privacy.
Our firm utilises software service provider CyberArk an American entity, although their servers are located in Sydney, Australia. We have assessed this service provider and its impact on the service provided to you and have taken all reasonable measures to protect the integrity of the service provided to you and your privacy.
Your data will be stored in servers physically located in Australia (unless otherwise specified) and in accordance with the security practices of the third-party service provider and our Privacy Policy. Trekk Advisory - NQ has taken all available measures to ensure the security and privacy of your data is protected and follows the notifiable data breaches scheme as outlined in the Privacy Act 1988.
Treatment of tax refunds
Any tax refunds owing will be directed to the applicable nominated bank account of that entity or individual. The ATO will be advised of the nominated account for the payment of refunds.
Fees
Our fees assume that the source material provided to us is reliable and useable to complete the engagement. Where there is uncertainty regarding the source material or the tax or accounting treatments used, then we will raise these issues with you. Rectification of these issues is not included in our fee estimates and will be invoiced in addition to our fee estimates.
Our fees will be charged on the basis set out in the engagement letter and have been set based on the level of skill, responsibility, importance, and value of the advice, as well as the level of risk. If we have provided you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, this is an estimate only and our actual fees may vary.
We may provide a fixed fee for the provision of specific services. If it becomes apparent to us, due to unforeseen circumstances, that a fixed fee is inadequate, we may notify you of a revised figure and seek your agreement to it.
In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by the ATO. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. Other than where such insurance was arranged through us, you will need to advise us of any such insurance coverage that you have. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are to be paid by someone else.
General assistance with issues that you may face from time to time outside of this engagement will be billed at an hourly rate.
Where you require additional work to be completed beyond this engagement then we will present a separate engagement. We will agree on the nature and fee for this work with you prior to commencement.
Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary, our fees do not include the costs of any counsel, other professionals or third parties engaged with your approval.
We may charge interest on late-paid invoices at the rate of [x%] above the RBA cash rate. We may also suspend our services or cease to act for you by 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.
Lien
If permitted by law or professional guidelines, we may exercise a lien over all materials or records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.
Ownership of materials
Throughout this engagement, we will prepare various working papers and notes consistent with our internal quality control system. These working papers remain the property of our firm and will be retained by us to support any future queries on work completed. Original source records provided by you to us to assist in the completion of your work will be returned to you at the completion of each engagement. Where appropriate, we may take copies to retain for our client files.
We own the copyright and all other intellectual property rights in everything we create in connection with this engagement. Unless we agree otherwise, anything we create in connection with this agreement may be used by you only for the purpose for which you have engaged us.
Termination
Each of us may terminate this agreement by giving not less than 21 days' notice in writing to the other party except where a conflict of interest has arisen, you fail to cooperate with us or we have reason to believe that you have provided us or any other person with misleading or factually inaccurate information, in which case we may terminate this agreement immediately. Termination will not affect any accrued rights.
Communication
You must advise of any changes to your contact details. We may send any communications to the last contact details you have provided. 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. There is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection, or interception by third parties in any form of communication, whether electronic, postal, or otherwise. We are not responsible for any such matters beyond our control.
Applicable Law
Our engagement is governed by Queensland law. The courts sitting outside of Queensland will have non-exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any dispute between us.
Interpretation
If any provision of the engagement letter or these terms is void, that provision will be severed, and the remainder will continue to apply. If there is any conflict between the engagement letter and these terms, these terms prevail.
Disputes and complaints
If you have any concerns about our costs or services, please speak to the person responsible for this engagement, who is identified in our engagement letter. To resolve your concerns, we have policies and procedures in place to deal appropriately with complaints and will use our best endeavours to resolve a complaint or dispute to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved. We may require you to detail your complaint in writing to allow us to fully investigate any concerns that you raise.
