This notification is for clients of MWL Financial Group who are engaging the firm for ongoing services.
Engagement Notification
We draw the attention of our clients to our standard terms of Engagement which incorporate provisions for the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 (operational 1 March 2010). Under this legislation, we need to issue an engagement notification covering the accounting services we provide to our clients.
Scope of services
It is agreed that we provide various services as agreed to our clients. We may be responsible for all or some of the following:
- Preparation of the Annual Financial Accounts, including the Profit and Loss Statement and the Balance Sheet, commencing with the current financial year unless otherwise agreed.
- Preparation of Income Tax Returns.
- Preparation of the Company’s ASIC Annual Statement and Solvency Statement.
- Preparation of Company Minutes etc. to comply with statutory requirements.
- Review and assist in the preparation of your BAS/GST, PAYGW and PAYGI obligations to the ATO as necessary.
- Preparation of any WorkCover and Payroll Tax obligations.
- Preparation of your FBT Return and any FBT Declarations.
- Review of your financial accounts to ensure consistency with the FBT return.
- When requested, advising or instructing staff on the maintenance of the accounting and internal control systems.
- Advice as requested from time to time.
In providing these services, it is agreed that we will not be undertaking any independent audit of the financial statements or income tax returns prepared.
Our role will be limited to compiling financial statements and preparing taxation returns based on the information and records provided by you. We will not undertake independent audits of the financial statements or income tax returns prepared. We will include appropriate disclaimers in the financial statements that identified the extent and limitation of our role. We are entitled to rely on the records provided as being both accurate and complete.
We are required by the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 to satisfy ourselves as to the reasonableness of the information and claims being made in your income tax returns. The legislation provides the basis for this and may require us to make further enquiries with you from time to time in relation to your taxation returns.
To ensure the efficient completion of your work, you agree to make available all information as is reasonably required for us to complete the various engagements agreed. Some of your agreed work is subject to specific lodgement dates. Our objective is to ensure that all your work is completed in time to meet these lodgement dates. This is reliant on receiving your work within a reasonable time prior to those due dates (our recommendation is not less than 30 days) and having timely answers to any queries raised.
Provision of Information
You are required to provide us with all documentation to prepare your financial statements/tax returns: Some of these may include:
- Up-to-date and reconciled General Ledger/Cash Book.
- Copies of Business Activity Statements reported to ATO.
- Any loan documentations.
- Copies of Bank Statements.
- Details of new assets purchased.
- Completed FBT Questionnaire.
- PAYG summaries.
- Listing of superannuation payments by employee.
- Other items as requested.
Your obligations & rights
Under the Tax Agents Services Act 2009:
- You are subject to self-assessment. Where statements made in an income tax return are later found to be incorrect, the Commissioner may amend your income tax assessments and, in addition to any tax assessed, you may also be liable for penalties and interest charges.
- You must maintain proper records that will substantiate tax returns prepared & the requirements of the Income Tax Assessment Act.
- You are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of particulars and information supplied to prepare your tax returns.
- You have rights such as seeking private rulings, objecting to assessments, and appealing decisions. 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 which may exist.
Confidentiality
The protection of your personal information is a vital part of our relationship. Our full privacy policy can be found here
We will treat as confidential and maintain the confidentiality of all information and records that you provide to us. This information will only be disclosed to a third party where you provide specific authority for us to provide this information to them, or where we are subject to a legal duty to disclose the information.
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. In all cases, these personnel will be subject to our supervision and control.
We may on occasion, send documents containing confidential information by email where an email address has been given. MWL Financial Group takes no responsibility if this email is intercepted or read by a person other than the intended recipient.
Fees & terms
Fees for the work identified will be calculated based on the time and skill involved in its completion. Our charge rates are based on the skill and responsibility level of the staff assigned to your work.
Additional expenses incurred by MWL on your behalf will be passed on to you as disbursements and may be included as part of the fee for work completed or as a separate invoice. E.g., Xero subscription, ASIC searches.
Should any additional work be required beyond what is outlined in this engagement letter, it will be treated as a separate engagement, and additional fees will apply. We commit to discussing and confirming these fees or their basis with you before commencing the work.
Our accounts will generally be rendered to you on completion of each work segment; however, we may also issue monthly, quarterly, or ad-hoc invoices to be determined at our discretion.
Subject to the scale or timeframe of your work, it may be deemed appropriate on occasion to issue a fee for “Work in Progress” (WIP), for work undertaken to that point prior to full completion of the work.
In certain circumstances payment upfront may be required before commencement of work. This is at MWL Financial Group’s discretion.
It is office policy to only proceed with lodgement of Income Tax or Annual Returns when all outstanding invoices for services performed have been paid in full. This is at MWL Financial Group’s discretion.
Payment terms:
- Payment due within 21 days of the invoice date.
- Payment methods include credit card, electronic funds transfer, or deduction from ATO refunds. If an ATO refund will not cover the fee the client will be asked to ‘pay the gap’ before we proceed with lodgement.
- Card payments are subject to surcharge and are advised at time of payment.
- Late payment may incur account keeping fees of 12% p.a of the outstanding balance.
- If payment is not received within the specified terms, we may engage an external collection agency at our discretion. You will be responsible for covering all costs associated with debt recovery.
- Payment upfront may be required at our discretion prior to commencement of work.
- Any fee disputes need to be lodged within the terms of our invoice and payment time frames. Any disputes outside the terms of the invoice will require payment in full until the dispute is resolved.
Lien on Documents
In relation to any subsequent termination of our services, you are advised that we shall be entitled to retain all documents belonging to you and any related parties we act for until payment is received in full for all outstanding fees.
Limitation of Liability
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: www.professionalstandardscoucil.gov.au.
Other
In the course of our 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 on your client file.
This letter will cover both the current and future years unless we advise you of any changes to our engagement terms and in this case, we will issue you with a new engagement letter.
We look forward to working with you and providing ongoing accounting, business, and taxation services.
MWL Financial Group