Ok, no one ever reads these things properly - although you should - so we'd just like to point out the "gotchas" that you absolutely should pay attention to. They are:

• Price and Payment: we generally charge on a 50/50 basis as explained here, but these Terms and Conditions do include penalty clauses for late or non-payment
• Liability: although we need to do a good job and act responsibly in your behalf, the buck stops with you as the tax payer. That's why we say that there are no stupid questions. We are a team, and you are a key player.  So we encourage you to question and make sure of anything we ask you to sign. Note that we have limited our liability to the fees we have charged you for the supply of services pertaining to the most recent financial year.
• Personal Guarantee: although our fees aren't large sums of money, these Terms and Conditions mean that you personally guarantee the invoices that we issue to you or your company/trust.

Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact us to discuss these before completing the Authorisation Form.

1.          What are these terms and conditions?

1.1       These terms and conditions apply when you (“you” and “your”) instruct EpsomTax.com Ltd and/or Property Accountants Auckland Limited (“we”, “us” and “our”) to provide you with services.

1.2       Any instruction received from you for the supply of our services will be deemed to be an acceptance by you of these terms and conditions.

2.          What information about you can we collect?

2.1       You agree that we may obtain information about you to assess your credit worthiness, verify your identity, enforce any rights under this contract and market any of our services to any other entity.

2.2       You agree that we may give that information to any person for the above purposes, but you may withdraw your consent at any time.

2.3       You may access any information that we hold about you and ask us to correct any mistakes in it.

2.4       You agree to provide us promptly with such accurate and complete information we may reasonably require to properly supply the services, including allowing access to appropriate members of your staff, records, information technology, systems and premises.

2.5       We will assume the accuracy of all information provided by you, or by others on your behalf, without independently verifying it.

3.          What are our services?

3.1       In these terms and conditions “services” means and includes, without limitation:

·       all financial services, advice, accounting, GST and taxation services including debt recovery and business mentoring; and

·       any other services identified in any instruction, email, quotation or in any invoice issued by us to you, such documentation being deemed to be incorporated into and forming part of our contract with you;

·       please note that we may utilise the services of a sub-contractor in the course of providing services to you.

4.          What is the price?

4.1       The price of the services is as agreed between you and us.

4.2       Unless explicitly stated, all prices exclude GST.

4.3       If no price is stated in writing, the services will be deemed to be supplied at the current amount that we supply those services at the time of our contract with you.

5.          What and when must you pay us?

5.1       It is agreed that payment for services will be made:

·       in full, on or before the 7th day following the date of our invoice (“the due date”); and

·       a deposit of up to 50% will be required; and

·       unless otherwise agreed the balance due after a deposit is paid, must be paid before draft financial statements are released to you; and

·       if our invoice remains unpaid past the due date and our attempts to obtain payment from you are not successful, then you agree that we may charge interest on any amount you owe us after the due date, at the rate of 2.5% per month or part month; and

·       we will be entitled to obtain from you reasonable costs, including debt collection and legal costs, which we may incur as a consequence of having to enforce the collection of sums not paid by the due date.

6.          What happens when we give you a quotation?

6.1       When we give you a quotation for services, unless otherwise agreed the quotation shall be valid for seven (7) days from the date of issue and when services are required in addition to the quotation, you agree to pay us for the additional cost of such services.

7.          What security rights do we have?

7.1       Until you have paid us in full for our services, we retain ownership of and retain a security interest in any financial records, statements, accounting documentation, reports or data prepared for you and supplied to you.

7.2       It is also agreed that until we are paid in full for any sum owed to us, we may exercise a lien over any documents and files belonging to you, which may be in our possession.

8.          What are the limits on our liability?

8.1       The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, the Fair Trading Act 1986 and other statutes and regulations may imply warranties or conditions or impose obligations upon us which cannot by law be excluded or contracted out of (“the statutory exclusions”).

8.2       However, subject to the statutory exclusions, if we are deemed to be liable to you for any loss or damage of any kind whatsoever, including consequential loss, arising from our negligence, breach of contract or otherwise and whether suffered or incurred by you or another person or legal entity and irrespective of whether such loss or damage arises directly or indirectly from the supply of services by us to you, then:

·       our liability to you is limited in its aggregate to the amount invoiced to you for the supply of services, including the preparation of financial statements and tax returns, in the most recent financial year.

8.3      Our website may contain links to third party websites. We are not responsible for the accuracy of or your reliance on, information contained on any third party website.

9.          When do you undertake to indemnify us?

9.1       You agree to indemnify us for any loss or liability we may incur as a consequence of a claim against us by any person, legal entity or government authority arising from our providing services to you, including as a consequence of acting as your agent.

10.       Is your information confidential?

10.1    We acknowledge that in the course of supplying services we may acquire information that is confidential (“confidential information”).

10.2    To the extent necessary to ensure the services are completed and in accordance with the law, we will make every reasonable effort to protect the confidential information from misuse or unauthorised disclosure and we undertake to use reputable and reliable server providers for electronic transmission and storage purposes.

11.       Does a personal guarantee apply?

11.1    If you are a company or a trust:

·       the director or trustee instructing us to supply the services to the company or the trust, in consideration for us agreeing to supply services and grant credit to the company or the trust, also sign the contract with us in their personal capacity, and jointly and severally personally undertake as principal debtor, to pay everything that the company or trust owes us, and to indemnify us against non-payment;

·       any personal liability of a company director or trustee will not exclude the company or trust from the liabilities and obligations contained in this contract.

12.       What also are you agreeing to?

12.1    We are not liable for delay or failure to perform our obligations if the cause of the delay or failure is beyond our control.

12.2    If we fail to enforce any of the terms and conditions it shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any of our rights or obligations.

12.3    If any of these terms and conditions shall be invalid, void or illegal or unenforceable, the validity existence, legality and enforceability of the remaining terms and conditions shall not be affected, prejudiced or impaired.

12.4    We will use reasonable skill and care in supplying the services to you. However should any dispute arise that cannot be resolved between us, then before either of us initiate legal proceedings, we both agree to attend a formal “mediation” for the purpose of resolving the dispute. If the dispute remains unresolved following a “mediation”, then either of us can initiate legal proceedings.