Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions for services between: SNRUB ENTERPRISES PTY LTD ACN 166 153 144, BAS Agent 25233900 (“we”, “us”, “our) trading as PURPOSELY and Client name (“you”)

Client Responsibilities

Information we receive during our engagement shall be treated strictly confidential. Such information will not be disclosed by us to others except as required or allowed for by law, or with your express written consent.

You are responsible for the reliability, accuracy and completeness of the documentation you supply, particulars and information provided and disclosure of all material and relevant information. You are required to arrange for reasonable access by us to relevant individuals and documents.

You understand that we are engaged as an independent contractor, not as an employee or labour hire, and as such we reserve the right to perform, direct and control the services we provide and hours we work, including hiring sub contractors to provide the services on our behalf. PURPOSELY maintain contractors in The Philippines. These contractors are under our full direction and supervision. We utilise these contractors to carry out payroll processes, bookkeeping and administrative tasks for engagements as required. Acceptance of our services indicates your acceptance of the use of offshore contractors to provide bookkeeping services as described. Where services require the disclosure of personal information to an overseas recipient, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the Australian Privacy Principles are complied with by the overseas recipients of Personal Information, but cannot guarantee such compliance.

You will act with integrity, honesty and openness with all members of our team at all times. You will not intimidate, bully or harass any team member of ours. You will treat all our representatives with respect and consideration. If we find that any of our team members are treated inappropriately, we will terminate this agreement immediately. An Authorised Representative of your organisation will advise us immediately of any concerns about our work or communications. 

Our work relationship is a partnership. We will request documents and information from you regularly. We require responses to our questions relatively quickly to ensure that work is completed to a high level of quality. Should we not hear back from you, we will remind you in our session reviews. Should we not hear back within 2 weeks, your work will be moved to the bottom of the queue which can result in late completion. Note that adverse consequences such as interest or penalties from government agencies may apply in these situations.

You understand that the use of the Third Party Application “DEXT” may be included. This service/integration remains the property of PURPOSELY. The subscription, setup and integration to DEXT remains the property of PURPOSELY and will not be transferred to you or any other third party upon termination.

Our obligations to you cease immediately upon termination by either party. We will not be responsible for or liable for any work which needs to be done after termination and your organisation indemnifies PURPOSELY in respect of any work not done or done incorrectly. We will not be required to refund any amounts paid in advance, including for any work that was to be completed after the termination date.

You give permission for us to utilise the most up to date software and technologies available in order to deliver efficient bookkeeping services. You understand that all inefficient practises within your business will be subject to our review, and if these practises continue to be required/utilised by you, we will update this proposal to reflect this requirement.

Where Tax Invoices are not provided you understand that we will process the transaction without claiming the GST using the NTI (No Tax Invoice) or GST Free GST Code.

You will take responsibility for ensuring transactions are genuine tax deductions and comply with all taxation laws.

You understand your record keeping obligations and are aware of the consequences of not keeping adequate records.

You understand that this contract averages the costs associated with the provision of services across a twelve (12) month period. This includes high/low periods of trade and a shutdown of PURPOSELY over the Christmas/New Year period.

You understand that using the business bank and credit card accounts for personal use complicates the bookkeeping processing, resulting in the bookkeeping taking extra time and is contrary to advice from the ATO and may affect our proposal.

An Authorised Representative of your organisation will sign the relevant BAS authorisation forms for every BAS and/or IAS prior to it being lodged electronically.

You must not during the term of this document, or for a period of 12 months following completion of any project that undertake for you:

• employ, contract or hire the services of any of our personnel, or
• induce or attempt to induce any of our personnel to terminate their agreements or contracts with us. It is a breach of the agreement we have with our personnel that they approach you to work with you directly. Likewise, it is a breach of this agreement if you approach any of our staff or contractors and ask them to work for you directly.

You agree that during the period of this agreement or at any time after you will not disclose to any person or business, any information about PURPOSELY, our representatives or Directors. This information includes but is not limited to procedures, practices, business transactions, methods, processes, intellectual property (including our systems), business dealings, financial dealings, documents and all other materials generated by us. 

You understand that if you fail to pay our account according to our terms then we reserve the right to suspend or cease work immediately without penalty or charge. We reserve the right to withhold client documentation in the event that you fail to pay your account. This right also extends to the documentation held for all your associated entities. If we are required to engage the services of an external debt collector you agree to pay all fees and charges associated with the collection as well as our overdue account.

We do not provide any legal, accounting, income tax, or financial planning services and assume no responsibility for any consequences resulting from you relying on any information we provide of a legal, accounting, income tax, or financial planning nature. We will make every effort to provide you with accurate and reliable information and services, however all information provided is intended solely as general guidance and you accept full responsibility for its use. We recommend you obtain advice in these areas from relevant professionals.

If we attend your premises we will take all due care and consideration to ensure no loss and/or damage occurs. However we shall not be held responsible for any loss and/or damage incurred while at your premises.

Our agreement does not extend to the following services:

• Preparation of income tax returns
• Preparation of fringe benefits tax returns
• Variation of PAYG instalments and FBT instalments that appear on business activity statements
• Technical advice on matters of income tax or fringe benefits tax law
• Dealing with the ATO on your behalf on matters relating to “Tax Agent” Services

Payroll (as required)

Our firm is engaged to establish the payroll systems and process the payroll on information provided to us by your business. 

Our agreement does not extend to the following services:

• Determining which Workplace Agreement, Award, Level and Pay Rates apply to your employees
• Advising on workplace agreements or worker entitlements, Federal and State Awards
• Verifying the accuracy of employee timesheets
• Verifying the accuracy of any summary you provide us of employee timesheets
• Verifying that the payroll data you supply aligns with the Workplace Agreement, Award, Level and Pay Rates of your employees
• Fringe Benefits calculations
• Novated lease-related calculations
• Pastoral and religious bodies requirements
• Completion of Employment Separation Certificates (although we may provide the calculations, clients complete the form)

We will make reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate and reliable payroll solutions, however, you indemnify PURPOSELY for any loss suffered or liability incurred by PURPOSELY as a result of you failing to provide accurate, sufficient and reliable payroll data within your Employment Contracts, Letters of Employment, Rosters, Timesheets and Timesheet Summaries.

For payroll services that lay outside of our scope of agreement, and for any other matters that we advise as being beyond our sphere of expertise, we recommend that you contact your registered Tax Agent or an Industrial Relations Expert. You indemnify PURPOSELY, and we will not be held liable if an incorrect amount is paid to an employee or if an employee commences legal or other proceedings against you for incorrect payment of salary, benefits or other amounts in court or with Fair Work Australia or if Fair Work Australia investigates and/or penalises you for any incorrect payments or other actions or omissions.

Payroll Issues That Relate to the Period of Time Prior to Our Agreement

We will not be responsible for the accuracy or compliance with any payroll related matters for which we are engaged but which occurred prior to the commencement of this agreement. Sometimes, our ability to perform our services will be hindered by prior mistakes or inaccuracy of information prior to the commencement of our engagement, with some common examples being:

• Payroll software that has been set up incorrectly
• Incorrectly completed TFN Declarations or Superannuation Guarantee Choice forms
• Employees who have been set up incorrectly in the payroll software
• Deficient payroll software
• Underpayment of PAYG withholding in prior periods
• Underpayment/Late Payment of Superannuation Guarantee in prior periods
• Deficient record keeping

We will not conduct an audit of prior period payroll records unless instructed. If we identify any such issues, we will discuss these with you. Broadly speaking, we can adopt two approaches:

1. Leave the issue for your Tax Agent to deal with, or
2. Investigate and resolve the issue for you.

If you choose the second option, we will be only too pleased to assist; however, this work will be considered out of scope and will be separately charged as an independent assignment in its own right.

Superannuation Guarantee and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement

You accept full responsibility for any consequences resulting from the late payment of Superannuation Guarantee or the late lodgement of Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement. We will make reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate and reliable reminders for superannuation payment due dates however you accept full responsibility for Superannuation Guarantee payments. We recommend you pay your Superannuation Guarantee Obligations well before the Quarterly Due Dates to ensure they are received by the Superannuation Funds on time.

You indemnify us for any loss suffered or liability incurred as a result of you failing to make a Superannuation Guarantee payment on time or the late lodgement of a Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement.

You agree to forever hold harmless PURPOSELY and are forever barred from commencing any legal proceedings in any court of law or tribunal against PURPOSELY.

You accept full responsibility for any consequences resulting from employees supplying inaccurate Superannuation Fund Details.

You accept full responsibility for making a written request to us to prepare Superannuation Guarantee Statements as a result of late payment. You acknowledge that we will not prepare a Superannuation Guarantee Statement unless you first instruct us to prepare a Superannuation Guarantee Statement and agree to the out of scope work in writing.

Out of Scope Services 

While your fixed price agreement entitles you to services outlined on a monthly basis, if your request requires services outside of the agreed scope, this additional work will be considered as “Out of Scope”. 

Service Guarantee

Service Guarantee
PURPOSELY Guarantee all work performed within the Scope. PURPOSELY will always stand behind the quality and professional nature of the services that we offer. If at any point you are not completely satisfied with the services we have performed, we encourage you to bring this to our attention immediately. We’d love the opportunity to correctly address your concerns which will allow us to prevent similar problems from happening in the future.

If you are still not satisfied with the outcome of our services, we will work towards a mutual agreement regarding the payment for services completed.

Our Commitment to You and Your Business

We will abide by the Tax Practitioner’s Board Code of Professional Conduct. We will act with integrity, honesty and openness in our conversations with you and in everything we do for you. We will treat you, your staff, your customers and your suppliers with respect and consideration.

• We treat the trust you place in us as a privilege and we will respect the confidentiality of our working partnership at all times.
• We will not disclose information relating to your business to a third party without your express permission or allowed for by law.
• We will meet the ATO compliance deadlines, and if unable to do this due to circumstances beyond our control, we will communicate this with you.
• We will advise you of missing tax invoices.
• We will advise you of non-tax deductible transactions (but this will not constitute taxation advice).
• We will take reasonable care in ascertaining your GST obligations and ensure that GST laws are applied correctly (but this will not constitute taxation advice).
• We will communicate regularly with your Accountant/Auditor to seek clarification of some matters where necessary.
• We will provide you a Session Review at the end of each session, which will inform you of the work completed and further actions required.
• As required by the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, we hold professional indemnity insurance to the level specified by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).

Our Obligations Under this Agreement

Our conduct as a BAS agent is regulated by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) and by the Code of Professional Conduct (Code), a legislated code that sets out the professional and ethical standards required of tax agents and BAS agents. The Code imposes a number of core principles on BAS agents, including:

• Honesty and integrity;
• Independence;
• Confidentiality;
• Competence;
• Other responsibilities, including upholding the proper administration of taxation laws and taking reasonable care in ascertaining your state of affairs, not making false or misleading statements to the ATO, maintaining professional indemnity insurance, and responding to requests and directions from the TPB.

By visiting the TPB’s web site at www.tpb.gov.au, you can find out further information about the TPB and the Code. You can also access an online BAS agent register, where you can view our BAS agent registration details.

For a client, one of the benefits of using a BAS agent is the ability to make use of the so-called ‘Safe Harbour’ provisions. Broadly, this means that ATO penalties will no longer apply to you where:

• a false or misleading statement is made carelessly, provided you have taken reasonable care to comply with your tax obligations by giving your BAS agent the information necessary to make the statement;
   
• a document (such as a return, notice or statement) is not lodged on time in the approved form due to a BAS agent’s carelessness, provided you gave the agent the necessary information in sufficient time to lodge the document on time and in the approved form. 

What we are NOT Responsible For:

• Misallocation of transactions due to incomplete, inaccurate or missing information.
• Conducting a statutory audit of the financial records of any of your business entities. In the event of an ATO audit being conducted on your accounts we will provide a quotation for a fixed fee should you require our assistance.

Ownership of Documents and Software

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) has provided practical assistance and explanation on the subject of BAS agents claiming a lien over client property in instances where there may be outstanding fees owing by the client to the BAS agent. PURPOSELY has adopted the TPB’s recommendations.

The following items are said to likely belong to the client irrespective of whether there are outstanding fees owing to the BAS agent:

• source documents e.g. ledgers, receipts, invoices and journals;
• correspondence between the ATO and the client;
• software licensed in the client’s name.

The following items are said to likely belong to the client only where there are no outstanding fees owing to the BAS agent for labour expended in respect to these items:

• letters of advice, books of accounts, returns and financial statements;
• the accounting software file containing the client’s data and licensed to PURPOSELY

Working documents of the BAS agent would not belong to the client unless the client specifically instructed the agent to prepare such drafts for them and had paid for them.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies

You acknowledge and agree that, in the course of providing bookkeeping and related financial services, PURPOSELY will utilise third-party software platforms and tools that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, or automated data processing technologies (“AI Technologies”). These technologies may be used to support, enhance, or automate tasks including, but not limited to, data entry, transaction categorisation, document processing, reporting, notating text, auditing and forecasting. 

PURPOSELY will exercise reasonable care in the selection and use of such tools and will ensure their use complies with applicable data protection laws and industry standards. While AI Technologies may assist in delivering timely and efficient services, all outputs and deliverables will remain subject to professional review by PURPOSELY personnel.

By engaging the PURPOSELY, you provide express consent to the use of AI Technologies in the delivery of services.

Complaints

If you have a complaint about our services, we ask that you contact our office to help resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. 

If we cannot resolve the issue or you are not satisfied with how your complaint was handled or with the outcome, a complaint may be sent to the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).  Complaints to the TPB must be made in writing using its online form, which is available at https://myprofile.tpb.gov.au/complaints/

Privacy Policy and Our Commitment to Being Responsible Data Custodians

OUR COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY
The Privacy Act includes a set of 13 harmonised privacy principles that regulate the handling of personal information by Australian and Norfolk Island Government agencies and some private sector organisations. These principles are called the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). They replace both the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) that applied to Australian Government agencies and the National Privacy Principles (NPPs) that applied to some private sector organisations.

PURPOSELY is not subject to the APPs as it is not an APP entity under the Act. This is because we are defined as being a “small business operator”. However, although not strictly governed by the APPs, we are committed to privacy and our own Privacy Policy reflects this commitment. We are committed to being responsible data custodians, protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information does not get misused. We take our obligations to you seriously and understand how important it is that your personal information is kept secure and not disclosed to any unauthorised entities or used for any unauthorised purposes. We also understand and respect that, in the event of a notifiable data breach, you are entitled to be made aware of this breach so you can take appropriate actions to protect yourself.

INFORMATION COLLECTED
PURPOSELY collects personal information about you (‘the Information’) in the following ways:

• When you subscribe to receive our emails, you will be asked to provide us with your name and email;
• When you register to comment on our Blog, you will be asked to provide us with your name and email;
• When you complete a New Client Details Form, you will be asked to provide personal details;
• When you provide personal details to a member of our team in the course of your dealings with them.

USE OF THIS INFORMATION
PURPOSELY collects the Information to provide you with a specific service. For example, we may use the Information you provide us to:

• Communicate with you via email
• Enable you to comment on Blog posts
• Create a record for you on our client database
• Provide services to you as a client

DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
PURPOSELY will not sell, rent, trade or otherwise supply to third parties any personal information obtained from you without your consent.

SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
PURPOSELY has security measures designed to protect against the loss, misuse and/or alteration of the Information under its control. These security measures include:

• Firewalls – to prevent the hacking of our database
• Clauses in employee agreements requiring confidentiality
• Appropriate security access to our business premises
• Shredders for the disposal of written information
• The ability to apply two step (2SA) authentication to access across all sensitive applications (not on an application by application basis)
• Restriction of remote access to specific locations and/or block overseas access to our systems
• Track and monitors attempted access to our systems and identify suspicious activity
• Log usage in an audit trail and retrospectively determine the suspected source of a breach to report to authorities. With this tool we can see what applications were accessed, when they were accessed and from where.
• Terminate user access to all sensitive cloud applications by disabling a single user account
• Remotely wipe mobile devices in the event they’re breached, lost or the user associated with the device is terminated We can restrict access to reasonable times such as business hours
• We are able to share access to applications using a single user ID without having to divulge cloud app passwords to staff
• Our staff only need to remember one single password to all sensitive applications decreasing the risk associated with ‘password sprawl’
• The ability to federate our identity systems so that access to desktops, servers and browser-based cloud applications are accessed via one single identity.

WE HAVE POLICIES AND DOCUMENTATION IN PLACE

• Our policies educate and sets expectations on best practice password and access management to staff in the form of an IT and Internet usage policy.
• Third party access agreements that govern and limit liability in the event a third party such as an IT contractor or outsourced provider should breach our data security policies
• A privacy policy that makes clear how we manage client information
• A data breach response plan that lays out the steps we take in the event of a breach and communicates our obligations under the Notifiable Breach Legislation
• A specialist data security legal service contracted to support us in the event of a breach to ensure the appropriate remediation and notification steps are taken.
• A retainer-based engagement with a specialist cyber-security firm that provides guidance and best practice systems to protect our clients’ privacy
• Cloud best practice certification that validates our firm as a responsible data custodian

We also have access to external advisors with expertise to handle privacy and data protection matters.

CORRECTING AND UPDATING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You may gain access to Information that PURPOSELY has collected about you, by contacting our office. You can change or update personal information via telephone, fax, email, online through our web site or letter.

CONTACTING PURPOSELY
If you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy, you should contact PURPOSELY directly. Your complaint will be dealt with promptly, and if unresolved to your satisfaction, we will provide you with contact details for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

These Terms and Conditions remain the Copyright of Snrub Enterprises Pty Ltd trading as PURPOSELY.

Any review, re-transmission, disclosure, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in legal action.

Our Full Terms and Conditions are available upon request.