Terms of Engagement

1. About Arithma

Arithma Pty Ltd t/a Arithma Accountants is a specialist accounting firm with offices in Sydney and Brisbane, offering taxation, SMSF, accounting and business advisory services. Our practice is led by a Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) with more than 30 years of finance experience. We are a registered tax agent, and our registration can be verified on the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) public register at tpb.gov.au/public-register.

2. When these terms apply

These terms take effect when you indicate your acceptance, whether by signing our client onboarding form, confirming in writing, or asking us to proceed with your work. They continue to apply for future years unless we replace them, we advise you of changes, or the engagement ends. If we issue you a separate engagement letter for specific work, that letter and these terms are read together, and where they differ, the engagement letter applies.

3. What we will do for you

Our engagement covers the preparation and lodgment of your individual income tax return. In carrying out this work we will:

• Prepare your return from the information and records you give us, and share a draft with you for review and approval before anything is lodged
• Lodge your approved return with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and provide you with confirmation of lodgment
• Use the ATO tax agent portal, with your authority, to manage and meet your lodgment obligations
• Keep you informed of your rights and obligations under taxation law, including your right to seek a private ruling or to object to or appeal an ATO decision

We perform our work in line with the professional and ethical standards that apply to us, including APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, APES 220 Taxation Services, and the Code of Professional Conduct under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009.

Your authority to us

By accepting these terms, you expressly authorise us to add you to our tax agent client list with the ATO, to access information the ATO holds about you, including prefill reports, income statements, prior lodgments and account balances, and to communicate with the ATO on your behalf about your taxation affairs. We only access the information we need to deliver the services under this engagement. This authority is recorded when you sign our client onboarding form and remains in place until the engagement ends or you withdraw it in writing.

What this engagement does not include

This engagement is not an audit or a review, and no assurance will be expressed. It cannot be relied on to uncover irregularities such as fraud or other illegal acts, although we will tell you if anything of that nature comes to our attention. We are also not engaged to review the accuracy of tax returns previously lodged by you or another practitioner.

Arithma Accountants does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not provide financial product advice, and nothing in our work should be taken as a recommendation about any financial product, investment or insurance. Where you need that kind of advice, we will refer you to an appropriately licensed adviser.

4. Our promise to you

We take our responsibilities seriously, and you can expect us to:

• Act with integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care in everything we do for you
• Keep your affairs strictly confidential, as explained further in section 9
• Identify and manage any conflict of interest, and tell you promptly if one arises
• Keep proper records of the work we perform for you, retained for at least five years

Our duty to act in your best interests always sits alongside our duty to comply with the law. In rare situations these can pull in different directions. For example, we cannot lodge a return we believe to be false or misleading in a material way. If a statement lodged with the ATO turns out to contain a false or misleading element, the law may require us to advise you to correct it, to withdraw from the engagement, or in limited circumstances to notify the ATO. If we ever identify actual or suspected noncompliance with laws or regulations, we will handle it in accordance with our professional obligations, which may include discussing the matter with you and, where the law requires or permits, reporting it to an appropriate authority.

5. What we ask of you

Your return is only as good as the information behind it, and the law places the responsibility for that information with you personally. We ask that you:

• Give us complete and accurate information about your income, deductions and circumstances, and answer our questions fully and honestly
• Provide your records and documents promptly so we can meet lodgment deadlines. If information arrives late, we will do our best, but we cannot accept responsibility for late lodgment penalties
• Review the draft return we send you carefully before approving it for lodgment
• Keep your tax records for at least five years after the assessment, as the ATO may review your return during that time

Being open with us also protects you. The safe harbour provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953 can shield you from certain administrative penalties, but only if you have given your tax agent all relevant taxation information in a timely way. The more complete your disclosure, the stronger your position.

6. Fees and payment

We believe in clear, predictable pricing. Wherever possible we will agree a fixed fee with you before any work begins, so you know exactly where you stand. Our current fees for individual taxation services are set out in the Fee Schedule at the end of this document. Where no fixed fee applies, work is charged on a time basis at $165 per hour including GST, billed in six minute increments.

Our invoices may include out of pocket costs we incur on your behalf, such as fees paid to third parties or statutory charges. Unless we agree otherwise, invoices are payable within 7 days. An itemised account is available on request. If an account remains unpaid, we may pause further work and, if permitted by law, retain documents in our possession until outstanding fees are settled. If the cost of your work is likely to be significantly higher than estimated, we will contact you and explain why before continuing.

7. Your privacy

We understand how sensitive your personal information is, and we handle it in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. We collect only what we need to provide our services and meet our legal and professional obligations. This typically includes identification details, contact details, your tax file number, financial information, and details of your income, investments and superannuation. We collect your tax file number only as authorised by taxation law, and we use and disclose it solely for managing your tax affairs, in line with the Privacy (Tax File Number) Rule 2015.

We use trusted, professional grade software to prepare and lodge returns and to store client information. We do not sell your information, and we only disclose it to third parties where you have consented, where it is necessary to deliver our services, or where the law requires it. If you would like to access or correct the personal information we hold about you, or raise a privacy concern, contact us on 1300 082 558 or at info@arithma.com.au.

8. Verifying your identity

Like all registered tax practitioners, we are required to verify the identity of our clients before providing certain services, including under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) where it applies. This is why we ask for identity documents when you join us. We may also need to ask about the source of funds or the purpose of a transaction. It is an offence to seek these services under a false name or to provide false or misleading identity information. If we cannot verify your identity, we may be unable to act for you.

9. Confidentiality

Everything you share with us stays with us. We will not disclose your information outside the firm without your consent, unless we are required or permitted to do so by law or by our professional obligations. This duty continues even after our engagement ends. We take practical steps to protect confidentiality within our practice, including with any personnel or service providers who assist us.

As an IPA practice, we participate in the IPA Quality Review Program, which promotes high professional standards across the profession. If our files are selected for review, records relating to your engagement may be examined as part of that program. Any such review is itself subject to strict confidentiality.

10. Working with others

From time to time we may engage specialist professionals or service providers, including cloud software providers, to help us deliver our services. Where we do, we remain responsible to you for the work, we choose providers carefully, and we ensure appropriate confidentiality and privacy protections are in place. If any third party involvement would materially change your costs, we will seek your agreement first.

11. Ownership of documents

Original documents you give us remain yours, and we will return them when the work is complete or whenever you ask. Documents we create in the course of our work, such as working papers, remain the property of Arithma Accountants, although we are happy to provide you with copies of anything you need. If you move to another practitioner, we will provide the materials they reasonably require once any outstanding fees have been settled.

12. Ending the engagement

We hope to work with you for many years, but either of us can end this engagement at any time by giving the other seven days written notice, with no reason required. We may also end the engagement immediately if the law or our professional obligations require it. Ending the engagement does not affect fees for work already performed, and the confidentiality and legal obligations in these terms continue to apply.

13. Professional standards and complaints

As a member practice of the Institute of Public Accountants, our liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. Further information about professional standards schemes is available at psc.gov.au.

We hold professional indemnity insurance of at least the minimum amount required of us. Our cover at the date of these terms is $2 million.

If you are ever unhappy with our service, please tell us first. Most concerns can be resolved quickly with a conversation, and you can reach the Director directly at info@arithma.com.au or on 1300 082 558. If we cannot resolve your concern together, you may raise a complaint with the IPA through publicaccountants.org.au or with the TPB through tpb.gov.au/complaints.

Disclosures required of us as a tax agent

The TPB maintains a public register of tax and BAS agents at tpb.gov.au/public-register, where you can confirm our registration (Tax Agent Number 26339760). Our registration is not subject to any conditions, and no events have occurred in the last five years that we are required to disclose under the Tax Agent Services (Code of Professional Conduct) Determination 2024.

14. Accepting these terms

By signing our client onboarding form, or by otherwise confirming that you would like us to proceed, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms of Engagement, and you authorise Arithma Accountants to act as your registered tax agent and to represent you in all dealings with the Australian Taxation Office.

Thank you for choosing Arithma. We look forward to taking the stress out of tax time for you.