Terms & Conditions

1. Objective and Scope of the Engagement

All Square Accountants will provide accounting and/or taxation and/or business advisory services as agreed. We will perform the services agreed in accordance with professional and ethical standards including APES 220 Taxation Services. These standards require that, in undertaking this engagement, we comply with relevant ethical requirements of APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including Independence Standards) and the Tax Agents Services Act 2009.

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. Any reports including Financial Statements, Income Tax Returns etc, will be prepared for distribution to the specific organisation, client or entity for the purpose specified in the report. There is no assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our report by any person or entity other than you and those parties indicated in the report. The report shall not be inferred or used for any purpose other than for which it was specifically prepared. Accordingly, our report may include a disclaimer to this effect. Our firm and our practice’s members will be your legal representative to deal with the ATO on your behalf and receive information concerning all of your taxation affairs. This will continue indefinitely until you let us know that you no longer want your legal representative to act on your behalf.

Independence and conflicts of interest

We have procedures in place to periodically assess our independence assigned to our engagement. We will notify you in a timely manner should we become aware of any conflict of interest or independence issues. If during the engagement you become aware of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest or there is a change of circumstances which may result in a conflict, you must advise us. Events that may give rise to a conflict of interest or potential conflicts of interest include:

Events affecting you, such as deaths, matrimonial disputes as well as litigation (threatened or actual).
Changes to the structure of your business or your business relationships.
Offering an employment opportunity to a current or former employee of our practice.

Confidentiality

We will conduct this engagement in accordance with professional and ethical standards issued by the APESB. The information acquired from you for our engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements and will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required by law or professional and ethical standards, unless we have your written consent.

NOCLAR obligations

Pursuant to the Responding to Non-Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR) requirements of APES 110, we are required to report any non-compliance with laws and regulations or acts of omission or commission, intentional or unintentional by a client or by those charged with governance, by management or by other individuals working for or under the direction of a client which are contrary to the prevailing laws or regulations.

2. Our Obligation to Comply with the Law

We have a professional duty to act in your best interests. However, our 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 directions. For example, we cannot lodge an income tax return that we believe to be false in a material respect. Further, where a statement lodged with the ATO contains a false or misleading statement, the Determination requires us to, in certain circumstances, take particular actions which may include one or more of:

advising you that the statement should be corrected;
withdrawing from our engagement and professional relationship with you;
notifying the ATO that we are not reasonably satisfied that our advice to correct the statement was acted upon; or
taking further action in the public interest.

3. Your Rights and Obligations Under the Taxation Laws

Taxpayers have certain rights under taxation laws, including the right to seek a private ruling from the ATO or to appeal or object against a decision made by the Commissioner. Taxpayers also have certain obligations under Australian taxation laws, such as the obligation to keep proper records and the obligation to lodge returns by the due date. We must keep you informed of any specific rights and obligations that may arise under Australian taxation laws. Further, we must keep you informed of our rights, responsibilities and obligations as a tax practitioner.

4. Your Responsibilities

It is important to remember you are personally responsible for the information contained in any statutory form, return or schedule. Before documentation is lodged on your behalf, drafts will be forwarded for your review and approval. Documentation will be lodged with the relevant departments/authorities by the due date(s), provided all necessary information and documentation is received by the agreed date(s). If you are late in providing information, best efforts will be made to meet lodgment due dates. However, no responsibility will be accepted for any late lodgment penalties incurred.

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 is reasonably expected as 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. Inaccurate, incomplete or late information could have a material effect on services provided and/or conclusions reached.

We do not need to verify the underlying accuracy or completeness of information from you if it appears reasonable. However, if we believe information is missing, incorrect or misleading, we will need to seek further assurance from you. The Taxation Administration Act 1953 contains specific provisions that may provide you with “safe harbour” protection from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgment of returns. These safe harbour provisions will only be available to you if, amongst other things, you provide “all relevant taxation information” to us in a timely manner. 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 your liability to an administrative penalty. It is your responsibility to show that you have brought all matters to our attention if you want to take advantage of this legislative safe harbour.

5. Professional Fees

The fee arrangement is based on the expected amount of time and the level of staff required to complete this service, at the respective hourly rates. Please note that any additional services or advice requested are not included in this fee.

6. Refund Policy:

All Square Accountants will not issue refund under most circumstances after the payment is made for provision of our services. However, we will issue a refund if we are unable to provide the service. If the service is not provided, then the client can contact All Square Accountants requesting a refund, by emailing to [email protected].

7. Ownership of Documents

The final documents which we are specifically engaged to prepare, together with any other original documents given to us, shall remain your property. However, we reserve a right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents for our records. Our engagement will result in a production of output documents, such as financial statements and tax returns. Ownership of these documents will vest in you. All other documents produced by us in respect of this engagement will remain the property of the firm.

8. Quality Review

As a member of the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA), we are subject to the IPA’s Quality Review Program (QRP) mandated by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). QRP reviews assess member compliance with the professional and ethical standards and by accepting our engagement you acknowledge that, if requested by the IPA, files relating to this engagement may be made available for QRP review. Unless otherwise advised, you are consenting to your files being part of a QRP review.

9. Professional Standards Scheme

As a member of the IPA, we are part of the IPA Professional Standards Scheme and 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: https://www.psc.gov.au/.

10. Privacy

We understand the importance of protecting the privacy of your personal information. In handling personal information, we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), as amended from time to time, and with the 13 Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act and other applicable privacy-related legislation. We collect, use, disclose and store your personal information in accordance with our privacy policy, a copy of which can be made available to you upon request.

We may collect your personal information directly from you or your authorised representatives, from third parties where you have provided your consent, or where the collection of your personal information is permitted by law.

11. Third-Party Involvement

We may involve third party contractors or outsourced service providers in providing various aspects of your accounting work. These services may include:

Accounting file preparation and/ or Data entry into our accounting systems
Auditing of accounts (including Self-Managed Super Funds)
Hosting of data on cloud based servers

Acceptance of our services in conjunction with this engagement document indicates your acceptance of the use of outsourced services as described above. Our firm 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.

12. Events Required to be Disclosed

In accordance with the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024 (the Determination), we advise you that there are no events which have occurred within the last 5 years which require disclosure.

13. TPB Register and Complaints Process

The TPB maintains a register of tax agents and BAS agents (tax practitioners) and this register can be accessed and searched at https://www.tpb.gov.au/public-register. The TPB’s register confirms that All Square Accountants (IBS Accountants Pty Ltd ATF All Square Trust t/as All Square Accountants) is a registered tax practitioner with no conditions imposed on the registration.

All complaints should be raised with the Practice Manager via email [email protected] at first instance with the view that your concerns can be resolved amicably between us. In the event that your concerns cannot be satisfactorily resolved, you may wish to raise a complaint with the IPA and/or the TPB:

IPA’s complaints process can be accessed at https://www.publicaccountants.org.au/about/complaint-investigation/complaints-about-an-ipa-member.

The TPB’s complaints process can be accessed at https://www.tpb.gov.au/complaints.

Further information is contained in an Information for Clients document on the TPB’s website: https://www.tpb.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-10/Information%20for%20clients%20factsheet.pdf.