We are a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and in our conduct are subject to its Code of Ethics and Conduct which can be found on the ACCA website. We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws and regulations of ACCA. We accept instructions to act for you on this basis.
Where we become aware of errors made by HM Revenue & Customs, you give us authority to correct them. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.
As required by the Provision of Services Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2999) details of the firm’s professional registrations can be found at:
Elan & Co, Unit 3 Cedar Court, 1 Royal Oak Yard, London SE1 3GA, England, United Kingdom.
We are not licensed or authorised for the reserved legal activity of non-contentious probate. Consequently, any work we do for you on closely aligned activities, such as estate administration or inheritance tax advice, will not be covered by any probate compensation scheme and may not be covered by legal professional privilege. You will not have access to the Legal Ombudsman in respect of any such services.
In accordance with our professional body rules we are required to hold professional indemnity insurance. Details about the insurer and coverage can be found at our offices.
If for any reason circumstances arise that may result in a claim to our professional indemnity insurers, you give us permission to notify them.
Our fees are computed on the basis of time spent on your affairs by the principals and our staff, sub-contractors or consultants, and on the levels of skill and responsibility involved. Disbursements represent travel, accommodation and other expenses incurred in dealing with your affairs.
If it is necessary to carry out work outside the responsibilities outlined in the engagement letter, it will involve additional fees. Accordingly, it is in your interests to ensure that your records and information are provided complete and to the agreed stage.
Invoices are payable in full (including disbursements) before the report is signed and the financial statements are made available for filing.
It is our normal practice to request that clients make arrangements to pay a proportion of their fee on a monthly standing order. These standing orders will be applied to fees arising from work agreed in the engagement letter for the current and ensuing years.
Our terms relating to the payment of amounts invoiced (fees and disbursements) and not covered by standing orders, where appropriate, are strictly 7 days net.
Interest will be charged on all overdue debts at the rate of 1% per calendar month or at the rate for the time being applicable under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, whichever is higher.
Settlement of fees by Mastercard or Visa is accepted; a surcharge may apply.
As directors, you guarantee to pay personally any fees (including disbursements) for services provided to the company that the company is unable to pay. This clause shall become effective in the event of a receiver or liquidator being appointed to the company or the company otherwise being wound up.
Where we have agreed a fixed fee for work to be undertaken on your behalf, then any such fixed fee will be limited to a specific assignment and/or to one year only. Recurring jobs will not automatically be subject to a fixed fee.
Any fixed fee should be agreed in advance and in writing before the commencement of the next assignment. If no such agreement has been made then our Standard Terms of Business apply.
Fixed fee work is agreed on the basis of you making payments in advance in full before work is commenced or by equal monthly standing order in advance.
Should you stop your standing order payments then we reserve the right to cease further work on your affairs until and unless the standing orders are brought up to date and the mandate has been reinstated. Any bank charges and interest incurred by us due to the cancellation or failure of the standing order will be recharged to your account.
If at the time of a filing due date for accounts and returns that we have agreed to carry out on your behalf there are arrears on your account, then we reserve the right to refuse to complete any filings until the demanded arrears have been paid in full and cleared in our business bank account.
If at any time you would like to discuss how our service could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please let us know by contacting your Client Account Manager or a Principal of the firm.
We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do all we can to explain the position to you. If we do not answer your complaint to your satisfaction you may take up the matter with ACCA.
In order for us to provide you with a high quality service on an ongoing basis it is essential that you provide relevant records and information when requested, reply to correspondence in a timely manner and otherwise follow the terms of the agreement between us.
We reserve the right to cancel the engagement between us with immediate effect in the event of:
your insolvency, bankruptcy or other arrangement being reached with creditors;
failure to pay our fees by the due dates;
either party being in breach of their obligations where this is not corrected within 30 days of being asked to do so.
In some circumstances, commissions or other benefits may become payable to us or one of our associates in respect of transactions we or such associates arrange for you. If this happens we will notify you in writing of the amount and terms of payment.
The fees that would be otherwise payable by you will not be abated by such amounts. Where we reduce fees by the amount of commission retained, VAT may be calculated on the net fee after deduction of commission in line with relevant HMRC practice. You consent to such commission or other benefits being retained by us or our associates without our, or their, being liable to account to you for any such amounts.
We may at times hold money on your behalf. Any such money will be held on trust in a client bank account, held separately to our funds and operated in accordance with the ACCA Clients’ Money Rules.
To avoid excessive administration, interest will only be paid to you if the amount of interest that would be earned on balances held on your behalf in any calendar year exceeds £25.
If the sum held on your behalf is likely to give rise to significant interest, the money will be placed in a separate interest-bearing client bank account designated to you where possible, and interest earned will be paid to you, subject to any applicable tax legislation.
We will return monies held on your behalf promptly when there is no longer any reason to retain those funds.
In the unlikely event of us holding unclaimed monies, we reserve the right to pay such monies to a registered charity in line with the Clients’ Money Regulations. We will not do this unless we have been unable to contact you for at least 5 years and have taken reasonable steps to trace you.
During the course of our work we will collect information from you and others acting on your behalf and will return any original documents following the preparation of your accounts and returns. You have a legal responsibility to retain records.
The law generally requires:
Individuals, trustees and partnerships to keep records for 6 years from 31 January following the end of the tax year to which they relate;
Other records to be kept for 22 months after the end of the tax year to which they relate;
Companies, LLPs and other corporate entities to keep records for 6 years from the end of the accounting period.
While certain documents may legally belong to you, unless you tell us not to, we intend to destroy correspondence and other papers that we store which are more than seven years old, other than documents we consider to be of continuing significance. If you require retention of any document you must notify us in writing.
We reserve the right during our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or may be adverse to yours.
We will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest involving us and affecting you. We have safeguards that can be implemented to protect the interests of different clients if a conflict arises. Where conflicts cannot be managed to protect your interests, we may be unable to provide further services.
Communication between us is confidential and we shall take all reasonable steps to keep your information confidential except where required by law, regulators, insurers, or as part of an external peer review.
We may subcontract work on your affairs to other tax or accounting professionals. Any subcontractors will be bound by the same confidentiality requirements.
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, our files are periodically subject to independent regulatory or quality review. Reviewers are bound by confidentiality obligations.
This engagement letter and these terms are governed by and construed in accordance with English law. The Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning these terms and any matter arising from them.
If any provision is found to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the validity of other provisions shall not be affected.
We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice previously given by us without first confirming with us that the advice remains valid in the light of changes in law or your circumstances.
We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law or its interpretation that occur after the date on which advice is given.
Unless you tell us otherwise we will at times use email or other electronic means to communicate with you.
Internet communications are capable of data corruption. We do not accept responsibility for changes made to such communications after despatch.
It may be inappropriate to rely on advice contained in an email without written confirmation. We do not accept responsibility for errors or problems arising through internet communication. All risks connected with sending commercially sensitive information are borne by you.
If you do not agree to accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that email is not an acceptable means of communication.
It is the responsibility of the recipient to carry out a virus check on attachments received.
To enable us to discharge services, comply with legal and regulatory obligations, and for related business purposes, as a data controller we may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you and your business as described in our Privacy Policy.
We confirm that when processing data on your behalf we will comply with relevant data protection legislation.
You are also an independent controller responsible for complying with data protection legislation in respect of personal data you process. Where you disclose personal data to us you confirm that such disclosure is fair and lawful and does not contravene relevant requirements.
Where we act as a data processor (for example, payroll processing), we will take appropriate security measures and comply with obligations equivalent to those placed on you as a controller. Further processor terms may be set out in an appendix or within the engagement letter.
If you buy, sell, or receive cryptoassets (such as cryptocurrencies, tokens, NFTs, or staking/mining rewards), you must provide us with:
A complete record of all transactions, including exchanges, wallets, and platforms used;
Acquisition details, dates, values, and fees;
Source of funds and source of wealth information if requested.
We will prepare accounts and/or tax returns based on the information you provide. Incomplete or inaccurate records may lead to errors and you may be liable for any resulting penalties, interest, or additional tax.
We may need to carry out checks or request additional information under UK anti-money laundering laws. Where required by law, we may submit a confidential report to the National Crime Agency without informing you.
Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement.
The advice we give is for your sole use and is confidential to you. We accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services.
We are required by law to maintain client identification procedures, keep records, and report in accordance with relevant legislation.
We are obliged to report instances of money laundering to the National Crime Agency without your knowledge or consent. In consequence, neither the principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.
We may use electronic checks as part of our identification procedures. These are not credit checks.
We will provide services with reasonable care and skill. However, we will not be responsible for losses, penalties, surcharges, interest, or additional tax liabilities arising from:
incorrect or incomplete information supplied by you or others;
failure by you or others to supply appropriate information;
failure by you to act on our advice;
failure by you to respond promptly to communications from us or authorities.
You agree to hold harmless and indemnify us against any misrepresentation supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with this agreement.
You agree you will not bring any claim in connection with services provided against any of our employees on a personal basis.
Where we introduce you (with consent) to third-party providers (including tax mitigation planning service providers), we do not take responsibility for third party information, advice, or outcomes. Separate terms will apply between you and that third party.
You are not permitted to use our name in any statement or document you issue unless our prior written consent has been obtained, except where required by law.
Draft or interim work products do not prevail over final written work products. Where requested, we will provide written confirmation of matters stated orally.
Oral advice should not be relied upon unless confirmed in writing. Unless specifically instructed and agreed in advance we will not assist with implementation of advice.
The copyright in any document prepared by us belongs to us unless the law specifically provides otherwise.
If there is a conflict between an engagement letter and these terms of business, the engagement letter takes precedence.
Where we provide accounting software in the cloud, this will be provided by a third party. You agree that access may also be provided to us and the supplier.
We cannot be held liable for interruptions of service provided by the supplier. However, we will liaise with them to help ensure normal service is resumed.
We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct Investment Business. If you require investment business services, we will refer you to a firm authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Unless agreed in writing in a separate engagement letter, we are not responsible for your compliance with FATCA-related regulations, including classification, registration, or submission of related returns.
“Provider” refers to Elan & Co 2020 Ltd, registered in England and Wales, principal office at Unit 3 Cedar Court, 1 Royal Oak Yard, London SE1 3GA.
“Client” refers to the individual or company purchasing the Registered Office Address Service.
“Service” refers to use of the Provider’s office address as the Client’s registered office with Companies House and HMRC.
The Service permits the Client to use the Provider’s address as the registered office at Companies House.
The Service includes receipt of statutory mail only (e.g., Companies House, HMRC).
Non-statutory or commercial mail is excluded unless agreed in writing.
Mail will be scanned and emailed, forwarded at cost, or held for collection as agreed.
Legal notices, court claims, statutory demands, and other time-sensitive legal documents are excluded. The Client is responsible for maintaining an alternative address for such documents. We accept no liability for failure to receive or respond to legal documents sent to the registered office.
The Client must provide valid ID and proof of address for directors, beneficial owners, and controlling persons under AML requirements.
The Client must promptly update the Provider of any changes in company details.
The Client must not use the registered office for trading purposes or general correspondence unless agreed separately.
The annual fee is payable in advance. Fees are non-refundable once the service has commenced.
Renewal notices will be issued prior to expiry. If renewal payment is not received, the service may be suspended or terminated.
Mail forwarding charges may be billed separately.
Provided for a 12-month term unless otherwise agreed. Either party may terminate with 30 days’ written notice.
We may terminate immediately if terms are breached, service is used unlawfully, brings the Provider into disrepute, or AML/KYC documents are not provided.
Upon termination, the Client must update Companies House within 14 days.
We use reasonable care but are not liable for delays, loss in transit, or penalties due to the Client’s failure to comply with statutory obligations.
We process personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and disputes are subject to English courts.
By proceeding with the Service, the Client agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.
