What did we review?

This quarter we have reviewed…

• Changes to the professional body regulations to understand their impact on terms and conditions
• The scopes and service schedules to ensure no changes to legislations
• The impact of Brexit on data protection, legislation and VAT, specifically around service schedules.

What has changed?

Professional Bodies

1. CIMA, CIPFA, AAT, IFA, ATT and the CIOT have made changes to the way complaints and alternative dispute resolutions should be communicated to clients. This has been reflected in the Complaints Section of your Terms & Conditions. So now, if you’re a member of any professional body, it will include this statement as best practice…

Complaints Section [changes]

2. CIMA have made it possible for you to now hold client monies. If you do, then this will have been automatically reflected in your terms and conditions. If you didn’t previously hold client monies, but now you do, please change your answer to that in the wizard.

Post-Brexit Changes – VAT

The review of the scopes and service schedules apply to everybody and resulted in the following changes:

1. Changes to VAT as a result of Brexit have been included in the VAT schedules.

Our Service to You [changes]

Your Responsibilities [changes]

2. A new schedule for VAT Preparation and VAT Review has been included for the CIS Domestic reverse charge scheme setting out the additional information required from clients applying the scheme.

Post-Brexit Changes – Audits

1. All audit related Scopes have been updated to clarify the members/auditors responsibilities in respect of fraud and irregularities, to offer you greater protection.

Our Service to You [changes]

2. We have made some changes to the extent of the audit within the Annual Accounts (Audit) service schedule, to better reflect recent changes.

Our Service to You [changes]

3. No changes were needed to other scopes and service schedules at the moment, however, there will likely be further changes when the 6 month review period post Brexit expires, for example in respect of Data Protection. We will be monitoring this and also carrying out a further detailed review in 3 months.

Changes Requested by You

Here are some other changes we have made after discussions with you:

1. The Individual Tax Return schedule has been updated to incorporate a 30 Day CGT Return.

2. The Terms and Conditions now offer additional clarification as to what will happen if information is provided later than the agreed dates for the work, in that fees may be incurred.

Fees, Payment Terms and Timetable [changes]

3. The Software and Subscriptions schedule has been updated to clarify that you are not liable for any issues with third party software.

NEW Service Schedules!

We have also been working hard to create and upload service schedules that have been in high demand. Here’s a summary of our NEW service schedules:

• Annual Accounts (Sole Trader) and Annual Accounts (Partnerships)
• Auto-Enrolment Setup
• Checking and Posting Sales invoices
• CIS Registration
• Cloud Software Initial Setup and Training
• Confirmation Statement (as a standalone service schedule)
• Dormant Company Accounts
• LLP Formation
• Other Company Secretarial Services
• Registration as an Employer (PAYE)
• Self Assessment Registration
• VAT Registration

There are also now two service schedules for VAT Returns and VAT CIS Reverse Charges, one for preparing and one in the case where you would just review.

What do you need to do?

The changes to the Terms and Conditions do not require an immediate re-issue of the engagement letter, this should be done at the next proposal date.  

However where you have clients that are impacted by the VAT changes a new schedule should be issued.

What if I’ve previously amended the content?

Where you have made direct amendments to any statements that were updated within your VAT Return Service Schedules, Audit related Service Schedules or the Complaints section of your Letter of Engagement, it will be highlighted that there is now an updated statement for you to consider. So you can choose whether you would like to retain what you have in there or revert to our new, updated version.