Terms of Service
This agreement sets out the general terms and conditions for the services provided by Axil Alliance CPA LLP or its service provider (referred to as “I”, “me”, “my”, “we”, or “us”) to the client (referred to as “you”, “yourself”, “your”, “yours”, or “client”).
SCOPE
As a common practice, Axil Alliance issues an engagement letter for specific services, such as compilation, review, audit, valuation, forecasting, etc., and optionally for tax filing services like T1, T2, T3, T5013, T3010, and other return filing. However, we do not issue an engagement letter for several miscellaneous services like payroll processing, business registrations, agreements, hourly rate services, etc.
The scope of work is briefly described in these engagement letters, proposals, or letters we issue. If an engagement letter is not issued, the fee, package or service details, email exchanges, flyer, and regulatory standards will act as the scope.
Clients should establish reasonable expectations for the hours of service provided under a fixed fee. The respective hourly rates, as published in our schedule, should be considered as a benchmark. We reserve the right to provide additional hours of service for free, at a discount, or an extra charge.
If you are unsure of the scope, feel free to contact us and ask us to write the scope of work.
TIME FRAMES
We will use all reasonable efforts to complete an engagement within the agreed-upon time frames, provided it is reasonably possible. However, we shall not be liable for failures or delays in performance that arise from causes beyond our control, including the client’s untimely performance of its obligations.
PURCHASE AND RETAINER
Making a purchase of any service does not constitute a retainer, and we do not provide ongoing support unless agreed upon in advance and paid per the prescribed hourly rate. Our scope of work is always limited to executing work, issuing our communication, or providing advice or consultancy for a specific assignment or time period.
Please discuss the terms if you require ongoing support. We can charge a flat fee for specific advice or a monthly or yearly retainer.
FEES
We communicate our fee in the engagement letter, email, or by publishing a standard fee on our website.
If you are an existing and continuing client, we aim to offer you the same services in a similar price range. You may observe a small increase due to inflation, a change in the direct cost, or a reasonable increase to cater to the additional scope of work as you grow.
See our “Fee Policy” under core policies on the About page and Fee page.
WORKING WITH A CLIENT
There are hundreds of thousands of accounting and tax firms in Canada. A few thousand of them are CPA firms, a few hundred are classified as LPA firms, and a handful are CPAB and PCAOB registered firms.
Some clients or their representatives may occasionally observe that we are operating differently or may contrast the common practice followed by hundreds of thousands of accounting/tax practice firms. This may be because we try to follow protocols and procedures similar to those of other firms with credentials like ours or as per the learning and guidelines we have acquired from our regulators.
Considering the different segmentations of firms and their different style of working, we have a very strict client onboarding policy to ensure that we and the client are the right match. At any point when it is established or observed that the client is not cooperative in providing the required information, not allowing a reasonable time for us to process the information, not helping us to discharge our statutory duties, causing delays and time wastage, not paying our fee in due time, setting unreasonable expectations, falsifying returns and information, or posing a threat to our reputation and credentials, we reserve the right of parting ways at short notice.
On the contrary, we also believe in supporting our clients with exceptional client care, providing relief and discounts in their hard times, assisting them with other services and consultancies to help them, or prioritizing them in responding to authorities on their behalf on genuine occasions.
See Client Onboarding Policy under the Core Policies section on the About page.
MANAGEMENT’S RESPONSIBILITIES
The client or its management is ultimately responsible for providing us with complete and accurate information; we are not bound to review, audit, verify, or investigate the information provided by the client, its management, or its agents unless specifically agreed under our scope of work.
Clients must maintain records at their premises for the period as prescribed by pertinent laws or statutes and do not rely on us to maintain their working papers or provide them on their demand.
Clients must respond directly to the authorities for any audit, review, inquiry, or investigation or appoint us or any other expert to represent them.
Provide us with representations, confirmations, or undertakings as may be required based on the assignment.
Grant us unrestricted access wherever asked.
Disclose all facts without assumption of relevancy, even knowledge of illegal acts.
Cooperate with us if we are required to rework, modify our communication, or refile the returns/statements/submissions.
Maintain confidentiality.
Communicate within a reasonable time or ask us to pause/suspend the assignment until further notice if the client, management, or agent is not ready.
Seek our consent when submitting our reports to users who were not disclosed at the time of execution of work so that we ascertain if our report is appropriate for their purposes, or when translating it in any other language so that we ensure it is the same in all material aspects, or publishing it along with other information to ensure the supplementary information is not interpreted contrary.
Pay our fee in time and reimburse us the amount of government or third-party fees we pay, the expert we hire, and compensation for the time we spent responding to the authorities, attending court hearings, testifying, or doing any other.
Indemnify, defend (by counsel retained and instructed by us), and hold harmless our Firm, and its partners, agents, or employees, from and against any and all losses, costs (including solicitors’ fees), damages, expenses, claims, demands, or liabilities arising out of or in consequence of the breach by the client, or its directors, officers, agents, or employees, of any of the covenants made by the client, including, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, the misuse of, or the unauthorized dissemination of, our engagement report or the financial statements in reference to which the engagement report is issued, or any other work product made available to you by our Firm.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
Our aggregate liability for all claims, losses, liabilities, and damages, whether as a result of a breach of contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, regardless of the theory of liability, is limited to the amount of fee we are paid for a specific engagement. Our liability shall be several and not joint and several. We shall only be liable for our proportionate share of any loss or damage not exceeding the fees we are paid for the specific engagement, based on our contribution relative to the others’ contributions and only if your claim is commenced within 24 months or less of the date you should have been aware of the potential claim. In addition, we will not be liable in any event for consequential, incidental, indirect, punitive, exemplary, aggravated, or special damages, including any amount for loss of profit, data, or goodwill, whether or not the likelihood of such loss or damage was contemplated.
GOVERNING LEGISLATION
Our services are subject to and governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario. The Province of Ontario will have exclusive jurisdiction concerning any claim, dispute, or difference concerning any engagement or matter.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
You agree that: a) Any dispute that may arise regarding the meaning, performance, or enforcement of any engagement will, prior to resorting to litigation, be submitted to mediation; and b) You will engage in the mediation process in good faith once a written request to mediate has been given by any party to the engagement.
Any mediation initiated as a result of an engagement shall be administered within the Province of Ontario by a mediator mutually agreed upon by both parties, according to its mediation rules, and any ensuing litigation shall be conducted within such province, according to provincial law. The results of any such mediation shall be binding only upon agreement of each party to be bound. The participating parties shall share the costs of any mediation proceeding equally.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
All intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and trade secrets, in any materials provided to you as part of our services remain the property of Axil Alliance CPA LLP. You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, or create derivative works of any materials provided as part of our services without our express written consent.
TERMINATION
Either party may terminate this agreement upon 30 days’ written notice to the other party. Upon termination, the client shall pay for all services rendered and costs incurred up to the date of termination.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We will maintain the confidentiality of any confidential information disclosed by the client in connection with our services. However, this obligation shall not apply to information that is in the public domain, was known to us prior to disclosure by the client, or is required to be disclosed by law.
Please continue checking these general terms, as they may get updated without notice.