1. Purpose and scope of our engagement

 

1.1 Our engagement relates to the taxation services described at 1.2 below and sets out the basis and terms of our engagement.

 

1.2 These Terms apply between Core Tax and Accounting Pty Ltd (TAN 25982555) (‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’) and each client to whom we have issued an engagement letter (referred to in these Terms as ‘You’). We have been engaged to provide the taxation services, which, unless we otherwise agree with you in writing, will include preparing and lodging your annual income tax return on an ongoing basis.

 

1.3 We have set out at 3.1 below, when documentation should be provided to us to allow for the preparation and lodgment of your income tax return by the due date prescribed by the ATO. Before we lodge your tax return, we will forward the document to You for your approval.

 

If You are late in providing information to us, we will do our best to meet the time limits, but we will not be responsible for any late lodgment penalties or interest charges that You incur.

 

1.4 In providing this taxation service, we have a duty (under the TASA) to act lawfully in your best interests, and to act honestly and with integrity at all times.

 

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2. Term of the engagement

 

2.1 Our engagement commences once You indicate acceptance of the terms by signing and returning our engagement letter and will continue until it is terminated by either party.

 

2.2 You can terminate our engagement at any time by notifying us in writing. We also reserve the right to do so by providing You with 14 days' written notice.

 

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3. Responsibilities and obligations

 

3.1 All information relevant to the preparation and lodgment of your income tax return must be collated and forwarded to our office.

 

Any rectifying work performed by us because of incorrect or late information is outside the scope of this engagement and will be charged to You as an additional service.

 

3.2 In engaging us to provide the above taxation services, it is important to understand that:

• You are responsible for providing all relevant information to us in a timely manner, and for the accuracy and completeness of the information provided;

• You have obligations under the self-assessment regime to keep full and proper records in order to facilitate the preparation of accurate income tax returns on your behalf;

• any advice we provide is only an opinion based on our knowledge of your circumstances; and

• we cannot provide taxation services if we find that information on which those services are to be based includes false or misleading information, or material information is omitted, and You are not prepared to appropriately amend it to provide us with correct and complete information.

 

3.3 You must have all source documentation available to allow us to analyse the income tax implications of any transaction, should we request to see it.

 

As a matter of course, we will not be looking at, or auditing, these documents. However, You are required to have them available before any claim is made in your income tax return.

 

Also, in some circumstances, we may request to see source documents if clarification is required or a tax issue is particularly contentious.

 

3.4 You must have the necessary documents to comply with the substantiation requirements of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. We will advise You of the requirements relating to your tax return and of the necessity to obtain acceptable receipts as required by the law.

 

However, we will not be checking that the substantiation requirements have been met. This means we will not be reviewing, for example, your logbook or any calculations or information provided to us, such as a rental property schedule prepared by You or a property manager.

 

If You require assistance in completing a logbook or preparing any calculations, or You would like us to review such work, please discuss this with us. This will entail work which is outside the scope of this engagement and will be charged as additional services.

 

3.5 By law, registered tax practitioners must not (in any capacity) make a statement to (or prepare a statement that they know or ought reasonably to know is likely to be made to) the ATO, the TPB or another Australian government agency, or permit or direct someone else to make or prepare such a statement, that they know or ought reasonably to know is false, incorrect, or misleading in a material particular, or omits any matter or thing without which the statement is misleading in a material respect.

 

If we become aware that a statement we made or prepared (or permitted or directed another to do so) to the ATO, the TPB or another Australian government agency on your behalf was false, incorrect or misleading in a material particular (including by omission) at the time it was made, we may advise you to take action to correct the false or misleading statement.

 

If a reasonable period of time after providing this advice, we are not reasonably satisfied that you have corrected the statement (or provided consent for us to correct it) or adequately explained the basis for the statement, we may take further action. In some cases, this may include withdrawing from the engagement and notifying the ATO or TPB about the matter.

 

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4. Ownership of documents

 

4.1 The income tax returns that we are engaged to prepare, together with any original documents given to us by You, shall be your property. Any other documents brought into existence by us, including general working papers and draft documents will remain our property.

 

4.2 In accordance with our statutory obligations under the TASA, we will also retain all records of the tax agent services provided to you. We will retain these records for at least five years after the relevant services have been provided, even if our engagement is terminated.

 

4.3 If our services are terminated by either party, you acknowledge that documents and working papers created by us in the course of providing our services remain our property. To the extent permitted by law, we may retain such working papers until payment of any undisputed outstanding fees and disbursements has been received.

 

All original documents and records provided by you, together with any tax refunds or other monies received on your behalf, remain your property and will be returned or remitted to you promptly upon request. We will not withhold client-owned documents or tax refunds as security for unpaid fees.

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5. Fees, disbursements and trust monies

 

5.1 Our services will be provided to You on a fee-for-service basis. In addition to our professional fees, You will be responsible for payment of expenses which we incur on your behalf.

 

However, the fee for this service does not cover any inquiries made to us, or investigations involving us, conducted by the ATO. Substantial penalties can apply for an incorrectly prepared income tax return.

 

5.2 Unless otherwise stated in writing, any estimates which we provide to You of our anticipated fees, disbursements and charges for any work are only indicative of the amounts You can expect to be charged. Estimates are not quotes or caps and are not binding on us.

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Where an estimate is given and the scope of the work changes, or if it becomes apparent that the work involves matters that were not taken into account in the estimate, we will advise You and provide an amended estimate as soon as it is practicable to do so.

 

5.3 Unless otherwise agreed, our invoices will be issued on completion and are payable before the lodgment of your tax return or the due date, whichever occurs first.

 

5.4 We may require You to deposit money (including any tax refunds due to You) into our trust account in anticipation of our fees and charges. If You fail to make a required trust deposit, we may suspend work or terminate this engagement.

 

If we suspend work or terminate this engagement by reason of your failure to make a deposit as required, we will not be liable for any loss or damage that You may suffer as a result.

 

You authorise us to receive and bank into our trust account any tax refund or other monies received on your behalf. All such monies will be held on trust for you and dealt with in accordance with applicable legal and professional requirements.

 

Monies held in our trust account will only be applied toward payment of our fees or disbursements where you have provided your explicit written authority for us to do so on each occasion. We will not apply trust monies toward payment of any invoice that is under review or has been disputed by you. Any remaining balance of trust monies will be remitted to you promptly in accordance with your instructions.

 

 

6. Additional services

 

6.1 Our fee applies only to the taxation services provided within the scope of our engagement, being the preparation and lodgment of your tax return each year. This fee includes checking and forwarding original assessments and payment notices received from the ATO.

 

6.2 Any additional services or advice (for example, tax planning advice) that You request are outside the scope of this engagement and are not included in this agreed fee. We will separately advise You of the fee for these services, including any direct out-of-pocket expenses.

 

Please note that any correspondence from the ATO that does not relate to initial assessments or original payment notices will be charged as additional services.

 

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7. Complaints and dispute resolution

 

7.1 If You have any complaints or disputes in relation to this engagement, we ask that You please contact Matthew Lukic on 03 9300 1277 in the first instance. We will endeavour to resolve any issues respectfully and as quickly as possible.

 

If we cannot resolve the issue or you are not satisfied with how we have handled your complaint or with the outcome, you may be able to escalate the matter to the TPB. Complaints to the TPB must be made in writing using its online form, which is available at myprofile.tpb.gov.au/complaints/

 

If your complaint is about fees, you may be asked to contact Consumer Affairs or the Office of Fair Trading in your State or Territory. However, the TPB may be able to assist if the fee complaint is associated with inappropriate conduct by our firm. Details about making complaints to the TPB are available at www.tpb.gov.au/complaints

 

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8. Confidentiality

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8.1 We have an ethical duty and a legal responsibility to keep information acquired as a result of this engagement confidential. This means that we will not disclose confidential information relating to You without your permission, unless there is a legal duty for us to do so.

 

We will also not use any such information for our own personal advantage or for the advantage of a third party.

 

8.2 From time to time, we may need to disclose information relating to your affairs to certain parties including, for example:

• a professional or regulatory body in response to an inquiry or investigation;

• the relevant parties (e.g., the TPB) to comply with technical and professional standards (including ethical requirements);

• a professional body of which we are a member, in relation to a quality review program undertaken by that body; or

• relevant parties in order to protect our professional interests in legal proceedings.

 

You hereby authorise us to do so when we consider it appropriate to further our performance of work for You, or when requested by the relevant party.

 

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9. Use of third party service providers

 

9.1 We may use third parties (including Cloud computing providers) to perform services we are engaged to provide to You. The following is a list of third-party service providers currently used by our firm, to whom your information may be disclosed:

 

• Xero

• Microsoft

• FYI

• Xodo Sign

• Dropbox

• Docusign

• Annature

• Setmore

• Gocardless

• Pinch Payment

 

We will notify You of any change to this list from time to time.

 

The types of information that we may disclose to a third-party provider include the following:

 

• Full name

• Date of birth

• Address

• Phone number

• Email

• TFN

• Bank Account details

 

9.2 You authorise us to disclose information relating to your affairs to third parties engaged by us to assist in the provision of our services, but only where such disclosure is reasonably necessary for that purpose.

 

9.3 We will take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party to whom information is disclosed is subject to appropriate confidentiality, privacy and data security obligations consistent with applicable laws and professional standards.

 

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10. Non-compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR)

 

10.1 During the performance of our work under this engagement, we may detect conduct or a transaction that is considered to constitute NOCLAR, which has a material effect on any documents or information that might be required to be provided to a regulatory authority, such as the ATO.

 

If we detect any NOCLAR, we may have a professional requirement to make a disclosure to a regulatory authority. We will follow a formal process which will include advising You of our concerns and, if necessary, seeking legal advice.

 

10.2 If we do seek legal advice in relation to any NOCLAR, we reserve the right to ask You to pay or reimburse us for our reasonable costs.

 

10.3 We have an ethical and legal duty to maintain the confidentiality of your information. We will not disclose information relating to your affairs to third parties except where you have provided consent, or where disclosure is required or permitted by law, regulation, or professional standards, or is necessary for us to comply with our professional or regulatory obligations.

 

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11. Losses from unauthorised cyber activity

 

11.1 We will take all reasonable precautions to ensure that any electronic data that contains your private information is securely stored and that any email transmissions are protected and are not able to be intercepted by third parties.

 

However, we cannot be held liable for any loss that You might incur as a consequence of any third-party intervention that accesses, procures or copies any data that contains your private information from any medium or device we use to store or transmit such information.

 

11.2 We take reasonable administrative, technical and physical measures to safeguard your information and maintain the security and confidentiality of your data in accordance with applicable laws and professional standards.

 

However, no electronic system or data transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Accordingly, where unauthorised cyber activity occurs despite us having taken reasonable care and implemented appropriate security measures consistent with our professional and legal obligations, we will not be responsible for losses arising solely from such unauthorised activity.

 

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12. Conflicts of interest

 

12.1 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 of this firm.

 

12.2 Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests, then we may be unable to continue with the engagement. If this arises, we will inform you promptly.

 

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13. Professional indemnity insurance

 

13.1 We confirm that our firm maintains adequate professional indemnity insurance cover and that our policy complies with the minimum requirements of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). Details of our professional indemnity (PI) insurance arrangements are as follows:

 

Core Tax and Accounting Pty Ltd holds a PI insurance policy that meets the minimum requirements set out in the TPB’s explanatory paper TPB(EP) 03/2010.

 

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14. Limitation of liability

 

14.1 Our firm’s liability may be limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation and applicable regulations of the Professional Body.

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15. Authority for ATO digital communication preferences

 

15.1 You agree to have the following types of ATO communication sent digitally to us, as your registered tax agent, on your behalf:

 

• Income tax.

• Superannuation.

• Study and training support loans.

• Activity statement-related.

• Debt.

• Employer and business obligations.

 

15.2 You authorise us to change or withdraw your preferred address for service for ATO communications only where you have provided us with your prior written instruction to do so.

 

Any change to your ATO communication preferences will be made strictly in accordance with the information and instructions provided by you, and only while we are engaged to act as your tax agent.

 

You confirm that any information supplied by you for the purpose of establishing or updating these communication preferences is true and correct to the best of your knowledge.

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16. Other prescribed events and matters to be aware of

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16.1 We are required to advise if certain prescribed events have occurred within the last five years (but not before 1 July 2022). This will enable you to make a fully informed decision on whether to engage or re-engage Core Tax and Accounting Pty Ltd to provide tax agent services.

 

We advise that there are currently no matters that we are required to report to you.

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16.2 We are also required to advise whether the TAX or BAS agent registration of Core Tax and Accounting Pty Ltd is subject to any conditions.

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There are no conditions attached to our registration.

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