Terms and Conditions
This document together with the Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide and, where applicable, any subsequent written communication with you, form the Contract between Lee and Associates Accountants (referred to as ‘Company’, ‘Lee and Associates’. ‘We’, ‘Us’ and ‘Our’) and our client (referred to as “you” or “your”). The terms defined in the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide have the same meaning in these Terms and Conditions.The Terms and Conditions supplements the Engagement Terms & Conditions and/or Accounting Service Guide.In the absence of Engagement Terms & Conditions and/or Accounting Service Guide, this Terms and Condition shall provides the terms and conditions in the Services provided by Lee and Associates. These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire terms of the Agreement, expressed or implied (the “Agreement”) which is governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia. Engagement Terms & Conditions would be provided for large clients or SMSF clients, and Accounting Service Guide is only provided for small clients. Lee and Associates reserve the discretion to determine what client is classified as large or small clients.
PERFORMANCE OF THE SERVICES
Lee and Associates Accountants (“Lee and Associates”) will provide accounting and taxation advisory servicesor any other services we have communicated to provide to you (“Services”), and will use all reasonable commercial efforts to provide the services in an efficient and timely manner, using the necessary skill and expertise to an appropriate professional standard. The scope of Services performed is either listed in our Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide or communicated to you in details by email.Our work will be based solely on the information provided, the circumstances made known to us and the assumptions set out in our e-mail correspondence. Services provided do not constitute tax advice nor financial advice nor legal advice.We rely on you bringing to our attention any changes in the information as originally presented, as it may affect our advice to you.Changes in the law and in interpretations may take place before our advice is acted upon or may be retrospectivein effect. Unless specifically stated in the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide we accept no responsibility to inform you of changes in the law or interpretations affecting advice previously given by us.Any advice provided by us during this assignment is only our opinion based on our understanding of the current law, administrative practice and our knowledge of your particular circumstances. Thus, any advice and any income tax returns themselves will not necessarily be beyond challenge by the taxation authorities.During the course of the assignment and subsequent to it, we may give oral advice in meetings and over the telephone. After a more detailed consideration of the matters discussed, we may amend the view we expressed, but are under no obligation to inform you of this. Accordingly, if we provide any oral advice, we suggest you should seek from us written confirmation of the same.
2. INFORMATION
To perform the Services successfully, we require your timely cooperation, including:
(a) Providing Lee and Associates Accountants promptly with all accurate information and documents (including bank records) that we reasonably require to enable us to provide the Services.
(b) access to third parties where applicable; and
(c) Ensuring that appropriate back up, security and virus checking procedures are in place for any computer facilities and files you provide
(d) Ensuring that you keep all receipt and tax invoice to substantiate your expense in accordance to the ATO recordkeeping requirements
(e) You are responsible in notifying us if there is any changes in your information e.g. postal address, home address, email address, contact details, change in group structure, etc. We will not be responsible for correspondence sent to the wrong address if there has not been a notification.
You will ensure that information supplied by you or on your behalf, to the best of your knowledge and belief, is not false or misleading and does not omit material particulars. We have not audited or independently verified the accounting records or information that you have provided to us. While we do rely on all materials you have provided, we will not verify the accuracy and completeness of such documentation or information. The preparation of your income tax return or Business Activity Statement does not constitute a tax review nor tax audit and cannot be relied upon as such. The onus is on you, the taxpayer, to self-assess and there are substantial penalties for incorrect returns. You should carefully review the income tax return or BAS to ensure that items shown are accurately stated and inform us of any amendments that are required. Where we are engaged to compile financial information in respect of general purpose or special purpose financial statements, you are responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the accounting records and disclosure to us of all material and relevant information. While we shall endeavor to identify potential issues to the best of our ability, we shall not accept responsibility for matters not reasonably identifiable from the information provided to us as part of this Engagement. In addition to the reasons outlined in the schedule to the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide, Lee and Associates collects, holds, uses and discloses your personal information for the following reasons:
(a) To review your ongoing needs;
(b) To enhance customer service and product options;
(c) To provide information and opportunities that we may believe are relevant to your financial needs;
(d) To respond to your requests or queries;
(e) To maintain contact with you;
(f) To notify you of seminars and other events;
(g) For administrative purposes;
(h) To conduct surveys and seek your feedback; and
(i) To meet any regulatory requirements.
3. PURPOSE, SCOPE AND OUTPUT OF THE AGREEMENT:
We will provide professional services which will be conducted in accordance with the relevant professional and ethical standards issued by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited (APESB). 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, unless specifically detailed in the terms of Services provided. However, we will inform you of any such matters that come to our attention.
Any advice given to a client is only a general opinion based on the member’s knowledge of the client’s particular circumstances and it is performed in the good faith. By engaging our service, you agree to absolve Lee and Associates from any liability (both financial or non-financial) as both direct and indirect result from general advice provided. If client wish to engage for specific taxation advice or research, this is to be charged at standard consulting rate and crosschecked with the ATO’s tax specialist in for its complete accuracy.
a. COMPLIANCE SERVICES
Financial Reports & Income Taxation Returns may be prepared for distribution to Directors or Trustees for the agreed purpose. There is no assumption of responsibility for any reliance on our report by any person or entity other than yourself and those parties indicated in the report or if you expressly request in writing we provide the
financial information to a specific party. 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.
For regular compliance work, we reserve the rights to undertake the work on regular basis to meet the ATO’s lodgement deadline as soon as the cloud and / or complete information is available e.g.: quarterly BAS or annual financial statements & tax return. We shall conduct this service as same fee to previous financial year (adjusted for inflation and other reasonable costs) unless otherwise expressly provided. Should you wish to vary the scope of service provided you must give sufficient notice to Lee and Associates (at least one month in advance).
For lodgement of BAS, the payment of invoice in relation to the BAS provides authorisation of the BAS being lodged in the ATO System.
For the lodgement of income tax return, Lee and Associates would only rely on one person in the family group or one of the directors of the company that can validly exercise authorise to lodge income tax returns. This would be trustee for trust lodgement and director for company lodgements.
Lee and Associate is not responsible for the incorrect award classification, award rate selected by the employee of the client, incorrect classification of fulltime, part time or casual employees, the employee vs contractor or Personal Service Income (“PSI”) distinction. We would rely on the information client provides in relation to the classification for all above purposes.
b. TAXATION SERVICES
A taxpayer is responsible under self-assessment to keep full and proper records in order to facilitate the preparation of a correct return. Whilst the Commissioner of Taxation will accept claims made by a taxpayer in an income tax return and issue a notice of assessment, usually without adjustment, the return may be subject to later review. Under the taxation law such a review may take place within a period of up to four (4) years after tax becomes due and payable under the assessment Furthermore, where there is fraud or evasion there is no timelimit on amending the assessment. Accordingly, you should check the return before it is signed or authorised to ensure that the information in the return is accurate.
Where the application of a taxation law to your particular circumstances is uncertain you also have the right to request a private ruling which will set out the Commissioner’s opinion about the way a taxation law applies, or would apply, to you in those circumstances. You must provide a description of all of the facts (with supporting documentation) that are relevant to your scheme or circumstances in your private ruling application. If there is any material difference between the facts set out in the ruling and what you actually do the private ruling is ineffective as it may only be effective to the facts of the case.
If you rely on a private ruling you have received, the Commissioner must administer the law in the way set out in the ruling, unless it is found to be incorrect and applying the law correctly would lead to a better outcome for you. Where you disagree with the decision in the private ruling you can lodge an objection against the ruling. Your time limits in lodging an objection will depend on whether you are issued an assessment for the matter (or period) covered by the private ruling.
c. OTHER SERVICES
Other services may be performed in accordance with the scope of services discussed with you in advance, as detailed under the Performance of Services clause above.
Our advice will cover income tax and Goods and Services Tax. It will not cover any other taxes such as stamp duty, land tax, payroll tax, or advices regarding Fair work Australia and Employment law, any Government incentives provided (including the COVID-19 incentives provided) in Queensland, any other government grant or incentives/grant provided outside of Queensland, threshold level of Fringe Benefit Tax calculation, matter provided under Centrelink, or any other services you have not engaged us to provide. The scope of our engagement will be limited to the performance of the services listed above unless otherwise agreed.
Standard turnaround time
Not on Spot Income Tax Return – 5 to 10 Business Days (depending on complexity)
Business Activity Statements – 10 Business Days
Annual Year End Tax Work – 15 to 20 Business Days (depending in complexity)
SMSF Tax Return – 30 to 60 Business Days (depending on complexity, this excludes auditor turnaround time)
Entity Setup – 2 to 3 Business Days
Note this does not take into account if we have further queries about the information provided which may extend the standard turnaround time, depending on the type of missing information and complexity of query
It is client responsibility to send the information ahead of the statutory deadline to avoid late ATO lodgement fee or other unforeseen circumstances. We expect client to understand when the ATO deadlines are and you are encouraged to ask us if you are unsure about your lodgement obligations
Please allow extra 5 business days in addition to standard turnaround time during the peak busy season from 15 July to 30 November and 1 April to 31 May.
Lodgement Turnaround Time
Individual Tax Return: 2-3 Business Days
Company or Trust Tax Return: 5 Business Days
SMSF Tax Return: 5 Business Days
We always endeavor to lodge your income tax return as soon as possible. Lodgment is done after the payment for service has been confirmed . To make the process easier, please always put your name or invoice number on the payment reference and send the receipt to lee@leeandassociates.com.au
Note there could be a slight delay in lodgement during peak busy time from from 15 July to 31 August, 1 October to 30 November and 1 April to 31 May.
4. CONFIDENTIALITY
In conducting this engagement, information acquired by us during the engagement is subject to strict confidentiality requirements. That information will not be disclosed by us to other parties except as required or allowed for by law, or with your express consent.
We wish to draw your attention to our firm’s system of quality control which has been established and maintained in accordance with the relevant APESB standard.
5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Intellectual property rights in all documentation, systems, materials, methodologies and processes brought to thescope of work or created in the course of providing the Services shall remain and be vested in Lee and Associates.
6. OUR FEE SCHEDULE AND ARRANGEMENT
How fees will be calculated
Our service is mainly built around upfront pricing, as opposed to hourly rates (unless stated otherwise), and offers you access to the accumulated intellectual capital of the firm at an agreed fixed price or price range provided prior to work being performed on your behalf.
While the ongoing retainer entitles you to reasonable amount of consultation with us with regards to the general compliance work, if your question or issue requires additional research and analysis beyond the initial consultation and general advice, that work will be subject to an additional fee, payment terms, and scope to be agreed upon before the service is performed.
Fees for the Services will be charged on the basis set out in the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide or written correspondence between us. Our fees will reflect time spent and such other factors as complexity, monetary values involved, specialist input required and the urgency of the matter. Goods and services tax (“GST”) at the prevailing rate will be added to and forms part of our fees.
Any fee estimate is given in good faith but is not Contractually binding.
Payment of Invoices
Lee and Associates reserves the rights to issue interim invoice or progress payment for unfinished work over the period of one month. Upfront retainer invoice and progress payment may also be requested for large work (over $3,000 total value for year-end compliance work or special project).
Your obligation to pay us fees and expenses to which we are entitled, arise when we have issued an Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide to you and/or when a fee account is issued to you. Where you have not signed the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide, but continue to instruct us, then you will be taken to have accepted the terms and conditions of the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide issued to you.
Payment of invoices can be made by cheque, EFT, direct debit, or credit card. Payments by credit card will attract a service fee equivalent to the effective merchant fee levied by the card issuer.
A debt collection cost will be payable by you where the account is not paid within the trading terms. Our terms are payment in advance or upon receipt of an invoice. We may, at our discretion, also charge you a commercial rate of interest of 12% per annum on accounts (compounded monthly) which are overdue by more than a month.
Client should ensure clear identification of name and invoice number when making payments to our invoice. Lee and Associates would not be held responsible if we fail to identify the client and not lodge the BAS or income tax return due to non-payment.
Payment of Fees
Lee and Associates accounting terms are strictly 14 calendar days from date of the invoice. By agreeing to the terms and conditions and our Fee Engagement you agree to adhere to payment terms.
It is within Lee and Associates’ policy that we do not generally lodge Income Tax Return or Business Activity Statement until our invoice is paid in full. In the event of lodgement delay due to non-payment or late payment of our invoice, we are not held responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the non-lodgement.
Lee and Associates reserves the right to suspend all services (with or without notification) until all payments are bought up to date. If we have been taking care of your ATO correspondence, failure to pay our service may prompt us to re-direct all correspondence back to your home or business address. Lee and Associates holds no responsibility as a result of the abovementioned mail redirection.
In the event of default on our fee payment, Lee and Associates may withheld part or all information from the new accountant until all outstanding invoices are paid in full.
Expense and disbursements
All charges are exclusive of expenses unless the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide states otherwise. We will charge you out of pocket expenses such as reasonable travel, subsistence and document handling costs (photocopying, printing, fax and courier, etc) incurred by us (net of any applicable GST input tax credit to which we are entitled) plus GST as applicable. Any special expense arrangements will be agreed and set out in the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide.
You agree all necessary and proper out-of-pocket expenses (known as disbursements) incurred by us on your behalf shall be paid immediately on request, plus any GST. Disbursements may include but are not limited to any filing fees, subscription fees (i.e. Xero or other Cloud Accounting Softwae fees), search fees, freight and postage, whether foreseen or unforeseen.
Additional Fees
If there is particular circumstance where we need to charge extra (particularly for specific advice or tax planning) or it is beyond what we considered as reasonable for complimentary phone call or meeting.
Furthermore, the parties agree that if an unanticipated need arises (such as, but not limited to, an audit by the ATO or State Revenue Office, or any other service not anticipated by this agreement by the parties) that Lee and Associates hereby agrees to perform this additional work at a mutually agreed-upon price. This service will be priced separately and communicated to you.
Debt Collection
If Lee and Associates is required to refer any unpaid debt to a third-party debt collection agency we reserve the right to on-charge to you, any fees that may be payable to the debt collection agency for collection of your outstanding fees. We also reserve the rights to charge interest of 12% per annum over outstanding debts (compounded on monthly basis).
Standard Fee
Our fixed price or price range is to be communicated to you upon the initial meeting and this fee remain in place unless stated otherwise. We also reserve the rights to increase our fee by 15% every third year to account for general inflation and price increase in software, labour cost and other miscellaneous product or services required to perform our accounting & taxation service on your behalf. The next price increase for inflation will take effect in 2026 financial year effective from 1 July 2026. In addition to the above paragraph, Lee and Associates reserves the rights to automatically increase its fee by 5% to 15% (compared to previous financial year) to take into account the additional workload in data provided or extra time required to complete your work due to missing or incomplete information, which may be determined based on past experiences of the time and complexity of the manner. If any fee increase over 15% compared to previous financial year, we will seek your approval before proceeding with the work.
In most cases, fees are negotiated and communicated in advance in writing however in absence of this communication, we reserve the rights to charge our standard rate which are as follows:
Please note the below only applies to new client after 1 July 2023 or existing client at our discretion. An existing client refers to client that has not been previously included in our client database.
BUSINESS CLIENT
Business Client (Contractor) – From $1,540 for year end taxation work excluding BAS
Payroller fee not included
ASIC Maintenance not included
General consulting included to reasonable extent
Doesn’t include rental property or capital gains – extra charge.
Business Client (Non-Contractor) – From $1,980 for year end taxation work excluding BAS
Payroller fee not included
ASIC Maintenance not included
General consulting retainer included
Doesn’t include rental property or capital gains – extra charge.
Business Activity Statement and related work
Quarterly BAS – $330 to $660 (Manual) depending on volume of transactions
Super PAYG management + $77 per Quarter
Monthly PAYG Management – From $220 per year.
Quarterly BAS -$275 to $495 (Electronic) depending on volume of transactions
Bookkeeping fee $99 per hour if Hybrid
Monthly PAYG Management – From $242 per year.
Quarterly or Monthly IAS – from $88 per IAS
Variation of IAS from $66 per IAS
Entity Setup
Entity setup company -$1,320 (includes TFN, ABN and other statutory setup)
Entity setup trust -$1,320 (includes TFN, ABN and other statutory setup)
Combo (trust with company) -$2,200 (includes TFN, ABN and other statutory setup)
Combo (unit trust with company) – $2,200 (includes TFN, ABN and other statutory setup)
ASIC Charges
ASIC changes (simple) -from $110
ASIC changes complex – from $220
ASIC Maintenance – $242 per year.
Tax Return with no Financials
Trust tax return (without financial statements) – From $605
Company tax return (without financial statements – From $605
Miscellaneous Items
Tax Planning – minimum $1,100 for package
Or Team Member hourly rate for short session eg: zoom or face to face
Attending to ATO audit or government body review – Team Member hourly rate
Finance letter – $88 to $220 depending on complexity
Ad hoc admin task $99 per hour
Nil Trust or Company Tax Return $99
Financial Advice Report (for Lease) – From $220
Certification of Document – From $99
Business Client Retainer
1.Retainer $495 to 600 per month (for Contractor)
Which includes EOFY / BAS
-includes ASIC
-includes Bookkeeping
-includes Xero subscription
-includes Super Management
-includes Monthly PAYGW
-includes Tax Planning
-includes Finance Letter
-Financials in Xero (with client permission)
- Retainer $660 to $2,000 per month (non-contractor business)
includes ASIC
-includes Bookkeeping
-includes Xero subscription
-includes Super Management
-includes Monthly PAYGW
-includes Tax Planning
-includes Xero Financial Statement (with client permission)
-includes Finance letter
INDIVIDUAL TAX CLIENT (WITH SOLE TRADER ABN OR INVESTMENT) OR COMPLEX MATTER)
Sole Trader ABN (Manual Records) From $275 depending on complexity
Sole Trader ABN (Summarised Records) From $220 depending on complexity
Amended tax return – from $242 depending on complexity
Rental property (Manual Records)
From $275 for one property
Multiple property – on case to case Basis
Rental property (summarised)
From $220 for one property
Multiple property – on case to case Basis
Shares investment / Managed Funds (no sale) – from $220 on case to case basis including the original tax return itself.
Capital gain on shares or managed fund from – plus $165 depending on volume and complexity
Capital gain on crypto currency – plus $198 depending on volume and complexity
Capital gain on property – plus $242 depending complexity and paperwork provided
Trust Account Authority fee – $35 per single or $50 per couple
Offsite appointment – $88 to $110 travel fee
Facebook community discount still apply at 10 percent
Taking care of ATO correspondence- $132 per annum
Ad hoc – admin task $99 per hour
Premium Service – with very Senior Staff
In this case add 10 percent on the top of base price.
If Colin (Top Senior Manager) is involved then add 20 percent to 30 percent on the top of base price.
INDIVIDUAL TAX CLIENT (SIMPLE WITH NO INVESTMENT)
On the spot tax return – from $154
Not on the spot tax return – from $198
Volume discount could apply for multiple tax return
Amended tax return – minimum $198
Multiple tax returns, could give up to 20 percent discount for entire tax return
Trust account authority fee $35
Weekend + surcharge (per Harshit’s discretion)
Offsite appointment $88 to $110 travel fee
Facebook community discount still apply at 10 percent
Consultation only free at first meeting then it would be at individual tax rate
Taking care of ATO correspondence- $132 per annum
Ad hoc admin task $99 per hour
Lee could be hired at his hourly rate if client needs Lee’s involvement
Premium Service – with very Senior Staff
In this case add 10 percent on the top of base price.
If Colin (Top Senior Manager) is involved then add 20 percent to 30 percent on the top of base price.
NEW SMSF
SMSF financial statements and tax return (with no property)
From $1,430 excluding audit
SMSF financial statements and tax return (with property)
From $2,200 excluding audit
SMSF financial statements and tax return (with complex matters)
From $2,420 excluding audit
SMSF Audit Fee – from $385 depending on external auditor
NEW AUDIT WORK
Non-Profit review from $660
Upgrade to Audit – add 100% to Review Price
Trust Account Audit – Minimum $770
Surprise audit – from $275 per visit
Legal Firm Audit from $1,100
Attending to QLS query – hourly rate would apply
TEAM MEMBER HOURY RATE
Partner – $418 per hour
Senior Manager – $330 per hour
Manager – $250 per hour
Senior Staff – From $165 to $220 per hour
Junior Staff – From $120 to $154 per hour
Administrator – $99 per hour
We reserve the rights to vary the fee and if so we will communicate the change in fee to you immediately.
We will provide a reasonable amount of consultation depending on what we consider as reasonable for the scope of work provided, but does not include excess or unlimited consultation. We are entitled to charge a variation of fee of 5-15% from the original fee quote, or in additional by hourly rate upon excess queries and multiple amendments by the client, that is not at the fault of Lee & Associates.
All income tax returns are subject to examination by the Australian Taxation Office (“ATO”). You may be requested to provide further materials to the ATO or other legal body in the event of an audit. In the event of an examination you will be charged as a separate fee. We shall provide a quote for such service.
7. TERM AND TERMINATION
Duration of Engagement
Your engagement will apply from the commencement date stated in the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide.
To ensure that our arrangement remains responsive to your needs, as well as fair to both parties, we will review throughout or at least at the end of the financial year and, if necessary, revise or adjust the scope of Services to be provided and the prices to be charged in light of mutual expectation.
Termination
It is understood that either party may terminate the provision of Service at any time, for any reason, with 14 days written notice being provided to the other party. It is understood that any unpaid Services that are outstanding at the date of termination are to be paid in full within 7 days from the date of termination.
Lee and Associates may terminate an agreement at any time with immediate effect, by giving written notice to you if you:
(a) Fail to have funds available for payment via direct debit/credit card on three (3) consecutive occasions;
(b) Invoice has been outstanding for over 30 days from the date of original invoice
(c) Client who has been consistently neglecting their tax obligation and failure to respond to us upon request of information
(d) Breach our agreement or terms and conditions, and fail to remedy that breach within fourteen (14) days after receiving written notice requiring you to do so; or
(e) Go into liquidation or an external controller, administrator, receiver, or receiver and manager is appointed or, if you are an individual, become insolvent or bankrupt or enter into a scheme of arrangement with creditors
Rights on Termination
Where a monthly service or quarterly service agreement that exists over a 12-month period which is terminated prior to the anniversary date, Lee and Associates reserves the right to charge a final invoice for services performed which have not yet been invoiced under the monthly or quarterly service agreement. Lee and Associates will provide a detailed invoice if requested detailing such services performed but not yet invoiced.
Lee and Associates may also deduct any fees from any funds it receives from monies held in Trust Account on your behalf.
Any termination of the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide is without prejudice to the rights of one party against the other party in respect of any acts or omissions under the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide prior to termination, or in respect of any sums that remain outstanding at the time of termination. For the avoidance of doubt, Lee and Associates reserves the right to invoice you and you are obliged to pay for any Services performed prior to the termination of this Contract.
8. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, INDEMNITY
Lee and Associates will use reasonable skill and care in the provision of the Services to you as set out in the Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide. The liability of Lee and Associates, its directors, employees, associates and contractors is limited by a scheme approved under the Professional Standards Legislation. Further information on the scheme is available from the Professional Standards Councils’ website www.professionalstandardscouncil.gov.au.
The preparation of your income tax return does not constitute a prudential tax audit and cannot be relied upon as such. The onus is on you, as a self-assessor. You should carefully review the income tax return to ensure that items shown are true and correct.
You shall indemnify and hold harmless Lee and Associates, its directors, employees, associates and contractors from and against any loss, expense, damage or liabilities (or actions that may be asserted by any third party) that may result from any third party claims arising out of or in relation to the provision of the Services or any use by you of any deliverable item under this engagement and will reimburse Lee and Associates for all costs and expenses (including legal fees on a solicitor client basis) incurred by Lee and Associates in connection with any such action or claim.
Lee and Associates refuses to accept any responsibility for any ATO late lodgements penalty, ATO general interest charge, ATO shortfall interest charges, or any other penalty imposed by ATO as the result of late lodgement of Company or Individual Tax Return, Business Activity Statement or Instalment Activity Statement or any other statutory lodgement by its due date, as well as the tax liabilities arising from the same.
By engaging Lee and Associates Accountants for its accounting and taxation service, you have agreed to absolve us from any financial consequences arising from the late lodgement of the Tax Return. Business Activity Statement, Instalment Activity Statement or any other Statutory Lodgement. Lee and Associates may offer assistance out of goodwill to request the ATO to remit the penalty and general or shortfall interest charge without service fee charged by Lee and Associates, however it is entirely up to the ATO to make the decision to waive the fees, and Lee and Associates will not be liable for any fees the ATO decides not to waive.
Lee and Associates also refuse to accept any responsibility both financially and non-financially whatsoever, due to any direct or indirect consequence or result from late lodgement of the Tax Return, which includes but if not limited to : missing the finance date or lodgement date of any loan application with any banks, financial institutions or lenders, any Centrelink deadline for family tax benefit payment or other payments, or any other time-sensitive matter pertaining to the timely lodgement Income Tax Return or BAS Lodgement. For the avoidance of doubt this list is not exhaustive.
Once client has authorised Lee and Associates to lodge income tax return, business activity statement or instalment activity statements (Tax Returns), the Tax Returns are deemed as the final version being lodged as the client is satisfied of its correctness.
It is client’s responsibility to alert Lee and Associates of any mistakes or omission from the lodged income tax return within the eligible ATO amendment period (i.e. 2 years since the ATO Notice of Assessment was issued for original tax return or within 4 years since the original Business Activity Statement was lodged ). Lee and Associate is not responsible to notify the clients of the expiry of the amendment period and the client must keep track themselves.
Lee and Associates cannot be held responsible for any direct or indirect result from any error or omission after the amendment period, whether or not the error as a result of mistake from the client and Lee and Associate’s side. If the error was proven to be from Lee and Associate’s side, this is to be fixed within the eligible amendment period either free of charge or at significantly discounted rate from the standard rate for amendment, at the discretion of Lee and Associates.
The fact that Lee Associates as the Tax Agent for its client, does not constitute automatic representation of client’s company as the ASIC Agent which is completely separate to the ATO system. If client wish to appoint Lee and Associates as its ASIC Agent, they must sign up for the ASIC Maintenance service and pay $198 annual subscription fee which covers the 12 month advance service which covers the notification of ASIC renewal, simple change to company details, forwarding any correspondence to registered company address. In the event Lee and Associates is acting as ASIC agent, it endeavors to notify client by email within 14 to 30 days from the Annual Renewal Notice Date, Lee and Associates do not accept responsibility for any ASIC Late Fee or ASIC’s initiated deregistration in the event of late payment or non-payment of ASIC Fee. Similarly non-payment of ASIC Maintenance fee of $198 per year by client, would absolve Lee and Associates of its obligation and responsibility to notify client or keeping the details current.
In the event of Lee and Associates doesn’t act as the ASIC Agent for client’s company, under no circumstances that Lee and Associates accepts any liability or responsibility of ASIC late fees or any direct / indirect consequences resulting from client not paying ASIC Fee on time or updating its company details. In the case where client engage Lee and Associates for once off change of Company Details or Closure of the Company, Lee and Associates accepts no responsibility for any ASIC late Fee, ASIC Annual Fee or any direct / indirect consequences resulting from the delay or failure in performing such request. The ASIC Fee is wholly and entirely under client’s full financial responsibility under all circumstances. Similarly, with the once off change to Director or Shareholder, Lee and Associates accepts on responsibility whatsoever from failure of performing such request, the client bear the ultimate responsibility of keeping their company details current and they should be able to perform this function online through their own individual ASIC Agent Portal.
In the event that Client engages Lee and Associates for its payroll service or pay roll related task, Client accepts the entire full responsibility that Client’s staff wages have been worked out and paid in line with the appropriate Payroll Awards and Fair Work guidelines. Client also acknowledge that appropriate PAYG amounts has been withheld from each pay along with the statutory rate of superannuation paid quarterly on timely basis. Lee and Associates holds no responsibiltiy in the event of Fairwork / ATO Audit or dispute initiated by the Client’s staff or any direct / indirect effect resulting from incorrect pay rate, wrong application of award or employment contract or late-payment / non-payment of superannuation, Lee and Associates only purely for collating and entering payroll data provided by client for each pay run. Under the payroll service offered, Lee and Associates only accept responsibility submission of PAYG and super reporting to appropriate statutory authority, along with providing this information to the business owner for payment in a timely manner.
9. OWNERSHIP OF DOCUMENT
For the purpose of our Terms and Conditions:
(a) Information means any information, whether contained in documents or other materials, provided to us by you or by your agent, representative, officer, employee or anyone else at your request;
(b) Work means any advice or materials in any form, including documents, that we produce for the purpose of providing the Services, but excludes our Working Papers; and
(c) Working Papers means any files or working papers created by us as our record of providing the Services, in any form, and whether or not incorporating directly or indirectly the Information. Our Working Papers include, but are not limited to, the following items: internal memos; file notes; reconciliations; summaries, reviews and analyses of your Information prepared by us which do not form part of the deliverables under the engagement; records of our calculations, accounting, projections and other workings; records of progress checks; progress and status reports; records of any discussions, including minutes of meetings; and any other record or document which is ancillary to our Work.
All original documents obtained from you arising from an engagement shall remain your property. However, we reserve the right to make a reasonable number of copies of the original documents including electronic copies for our records. We are entitled to retain any copies of the Information you provide to us or which forms part of Work or Working Papers.
Our engagement will result in the production of Financial Reports and Income Tax Return. Ownership of these documents in respect of the provision of the Service will vest in you. To the extent permitted by law, all other documents produced by us in respect of the provision of service will remain the property of us. We have a policy of exploring a legal right of lien over any client documents in our possession in the event of a dispute. The firm has also established dispute resolution processes.
It is our practice to destroy documents belonging to us after they are more than five years old. Your acceptance of these terms includes your consent for us to destroy any documents that strictly belong to you which have been filed amongst our own papers.
Any physical document you leave with us may be archived in storage area after 3 months. We will notify you to collect the document before it is achieved. If you have not collect the physical file 3 months after the first notification is provided, we have the right to destroy the document and is not responsible for any losses, damages and liabilities incurred by you on the loss of these documents.
Lee and Associates may use an electronic document management system. All documents received from clients are scanned and stored electronically. Your acceptance of these terms includes your consent for Lee and Associates to destroy any hard copy documents received from you.
10. DISCLOSURE
The Taxation Administration Act 1953 contains specific provisions that may provide you with “safe harbours” from administrative penalties for incorrect or late lodgement of returns if, amongst other things, you give us “all relevant taxation information” 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 the extent to which we have discharged our obligations to you.
In relation to your financial records, you will specifically be responsible for:
2. Transaction entries into your business computer records
3. Coding all deposits and payments in accordance with the agreed Chart of Accounts
4. Reconciling the Bank Accounts on a monthly basis (unless if you specifically direct us to do so)
5. Maintenance and reconciliation of your business wage records
6. Maintenance and reconciliation of your Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable listings
7. Obtaining and retaining sufficient records to substantiate claims made for income tax deductions
8. Retaining copies of all financial records for a period of 5 years
9. Providing to us all financial information requested within 10 working days of our request
11. RECORD KEEPING
All records relevant to the preparation of an income tax return must be retained by a taxpayer for a period of five years from the relevant date and these must be available for examination by the Commissioner of Taxation upon request.
Taxpayers must satisfy minimum standards of reasonable care and demonstrate “reasonably arguable positions” in relation to contentious issues in order to minimise penalty exposures. The Australian Taxation Office does not require documents to be lodged with an income tax return, any work papers and research papers prepared to support amounts documented in the return must be sufficiently documented.
In the case of capital gains tax (CGT), you are required to retain records not only until the end of five years after a CGT event happens, but also five years after any further relevant CGT event can happen which would be relevant to determining whether you have made a capital gain or capital loss from the event. Additionally, you will also need to keep those records to substantiate any carry-forward capital loss which is intended to be applied to a future capital gain.
Where you are required to maintain records and fail to do so, penalties may be imposed under the taxation law.
12. COMMUNICATIONS
We will communicate with you electronically, including sending you Commercial Electronic Messages (as that term is defined in the SPAM Act 2003). You consent to us sending Electronic Communications to you.
Electronically transmitted information cannot be guaranteed to be secure or virus or error free and consequently such information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete or otherwise be adversely affected or unsafe to use. We will not be liable to you in respect of any error, omission or loss of confidentiality arising from or in connection with the electronic communication of information to you.
Where messages are sent by e-mail, we will adopt the following procedures and require you to do likewise:
(a) If sending a confidential e-mail message, the sender will indicate if a response is not wanted in an electronic form. All risks connected with sending by e-mail commercially sensitive information relating to your business are borne by you and are not our responsibility. If you do not accept this risk, you should notify us in writing that e-mail is not an acceptable means of communication.
(b) Both parties will carry out procedures to protect integrity of data, in particular, it is the recipient’s responsibility to carry out a virus check on any attachments before launching any documents, whether received on disk or otherwise.
13. PRIVACY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will not disclose any information relating to your affairs to any third party without your consent, unless required by law or unless disclosed in these Terms and Conditions. You may provide us with permission to disclose your confidential information in certain circumstances, or place conditions on the disclosure of certain confidential information.
Disclosure by you of personal information to us in the course of our engagement is subject to the Privacy Act 1998 [“The Privacy Act”]. Accordingly, the Services are provided on the basis that you will only disclose personal information about an individual to us:
(a) for a purpose related to the performance of the Services;
(b) provided you have made all disclosures required under the Privacy Act;
(c) provided you have obtained any consents required under the Privacy Act; and
(d) provided to do so would not otherwise breach the Privacy Act.
As we rely on you to fulfil these obligations you will indemnify Lee and Associates, its partners, contractors and staff, against any claim, loss or expense resulting from your failure to make any disclosure or obtain any consent required under the Privacy Act or otherwise to comply with the Privacy Act.
If the performance of the Services requires a third party to supply personal information to us on your request, it is your obligation to ensure that the third party complies with clauses (a) to (d) above and you will indemnify us against any claim, loss or expense resulting from that party’s failure to do so, or to otherwise comply with the Privacy Act.
14. NOTICE OF DISCLOSURE
Marketing or Referral Fee
From time to time we may receive a marketing/referral fee from third parties in relation to work referred to them by our office. If a third party has referred you to us, we may pay that person or organisation a marketing/referral fee.
From time to time we may receive a marketing fee from third parties in relation to work referred to them by our office, these external parties have the obligation to notify you of these if you are not sophisticated investor, alternatively we are able to provide the details to you upon request.
Previous Accountant (if applicable)
As a matter of professionalism, we will need to inform your previous accountant that we have been engaged by you as your new accountant and to receive from them any outstanding matters and files. You may refuse to provide this information but in doing it may cause problems in the efficient transfer of your files.
In some case, the previous accountant may refuse to cooperate or completely ignore our request to provide us with the necessary information to smooth over the transition. By engaging us to be your new accountant, you agree to absolve Lee and Associates from any liability (both financial or non-financial) as both direct and indirect result from the lack of cooperation from your previous accountant.
15. Guarantee
Where you are a corporate entity, then each director thereof who executes the Engagement Terms & Conditions orAccounting Service Guide shall also be known as the guarantor (the “Guarantor”) and if more than one, shall both jointly and severally guarantee the performance by you of your obligations under the Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide to Lee and Associates.
Each Guarantor gives a guarantee and indemnity in favour of Lee and Associates in consideration of you agreeing to enter into the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide.
Each and all of the Guarantors acknowledge the receipt of valuable consideration from Lee and Associates for the Guarantors incurring obligations and giving rights under this guarantee and indemnity.
Each Guarantor unconditionally and irrevocably guarantees to Lee and Associates the due and punctual performance and observance by the you of your obligations (including the obligations to pay money) pursuant the terms and conditions of the Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide. As a separate undertaking, the Guarantors unconditionally and irrevocably indemnifies you against all liability or loss arising from, and any costs, charges or expenses incurred (including any loss as a result of a breach of the obligations to pay money) in connection with you breach of the Engagement Terms & Conditions and Accounting Service Guide.
16. CLIENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Lee and Associates prides itself in giving the best customer services and we have established system in place in handling client’s dispute and complaint’s resolution.
If you are not satisfied with services provided by our staff, please feel free to contact Lee on 07 3105 2843 or lee@leeandassociates.com.au and we endeavor to resolve this matter to your satisfaction.
17. DISCLAIMER
Please note that we do not give any financial products recommendation or financial advice at all, this also includes the product or service recommendation of our referral partner. You are strongly encouraged to seek for independent advice (financial and legal) and consider your own circumstances before you decide to use the service of our referral partner.
Our referral partners include the following organisations
Our referral partners include the following organisations
(a) Wilsons Private Wealth
(b) Leaf Financial
(c) Sure Insure Pty Ltd
(d) Peak Wealth Creation
(e) Lifestyle Strategist
(f) Consulting Invest Build
(g) I-Sale Property
(h) House Estate Agent
(i) Smartprop Real Estate
(k) Smartline Inala (Low Doc Only]
(l) Washington Brown and Duo Tax Quantity Surveyor
(m) YBR Milton
General and SMSF Investment – Disclaimer
We are strictly “no financial advice firm” and we may recommend independent financial planning firm to our client. Alternatively, you could engage your own financial planner. This financial planner are independent firm to us and you are responsible to assess their suitability and expertise to your needs and you will need to pay their own cost.
We do not provide any investment or product recommendation advice in relation to SMSF Investment or Personal Investment, you are strongly encouraged to engage your own financial advisor and obtain Statement of Advice (SOA) & Investment Strategy from the same.
Ongoing Application of these Terms of Service
You acknowledge and agree that these Terms of Service apply to all work to be performed by us on your behalf unless mutually agreed in writing.
Should you not sign these Terms yet nonetheless continue to instruct us to act on your behalf, you shall be deemed to have accepted these Terms as applying to that work.
18. GENERAL
Entire Agreement
This Agreement comprising the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide forms the entire agreement between us relating to the Services. It replaces and supersedes any previous proposals, correspondence, understandings or other communications whether written or oral.
Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide to take Precedence
In the event of any conflict between these Terms and Conditions and the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide, the Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide Letter will take precedence.
Assignment
Neither party may, nor have the power to, assign or otherwise deal with its rights or obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other party, except that Lee and Associates may without consent assign or novate this Contract to a successor of the business of Lee and Associates to which this Contract relates.
Auditor Independence
Should circumstances change and we are no longer permitted to provide a service to you because of auditor independence rules or legislation, we reserve the right to vary our Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide with your agreement so that we and you would not be in breach of such rules or legislation or to terminate the relevant services. Where an engagement is terminated for these reasons, you will pay for all services provided up to the date of termination.
Notices to produce documents
If we receive any legally enforceable notice or demand issued by a third party, including the Australian Securities & Investment Commission, Australian Taxation Office, Australian Stock Exchange, any government statutory body or instrumentality, or any court or tribunal in relation to or in connection with the Services you agree to pay our reasonable professional costs and expenses (including solicitor client expenses) in complying with or challenging any such notice or demand to the extent that our costs and expenses are not recovered or recoverable from the party issuing the notice or demand.
19. CONFIRMATION OF TERMS
By engaging our service, you hereby agree to the Terms and Conditions contained herein and the scope of services as discussed with you (with or without an Engagement Terms & Conditions or Accounting Service Guide).
This Term & Conditions was last updated on 30 June 2023