Professional Tax Consulting Engagement Agreement 

HTJ.TAX

Tax Projection Services (Individual and Business)

Dear Client:

HTJ.TAX (“firm,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is pleased to provide you with the professional services described below. This letter, and the attached Terms and Conditions Addendum[1] and any other attachments incorporated herein (collectively, “Agreement”), confirm our understanding of the terms and objectives of our engagement and the nature and limitations of the services we will provide. The engagement between you and our firm will be governed by the terms of this Agreement.

Engagement Approach

Our tax projections depend upon the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of the information and representations that we receive from you. Our projections are estimates based upon a variety of information and actual amounts may differ from our estimate due to changes in circumstances, incomplete information, improper estimates and other changes. In addition, changes in laws, regulations and interpretations following the completion of the engagement may result in a variance between our estimate and the actual amounts. Any significant representations made to us by you, or incomplete information, may cause material differences in our projections.

We will not audit or otherwise verify the data you submit to us, although we may ask you to clarify certain information.

Our engagement does not include any procedures designed to detect errors, fraud, or theft. Therefore, our engagement cannot be relied upon to disclose such matters. In addition, we are not responsible for identifying or communicating deficiencies in your internal controls. You are responsible for developing and implementing internal controls applicable to your operations.

This engagement is limited to the professional services outlined above.

Engagement Approach

• We will request year-to-date income, expenses and other relevant information.
• We will project year-end income, expenses and other relevant information by annualizing the provided amounts.
• Based upon discussions with and information provided by you, we will adjust the projected information, as appropriate. For example, it would generally not be appropriate to annualize property taxes that have been paid. Similarly, wages may require adjustment for an anticipated year-end bonus.
• We rely upon applicable tax law at the time we perform our analysis without consideration of anticipated changes to the tax law, even if those changes appear likely to occur.

Deliverables

The deliverable(s) presented as part of this engagement are for internal use only and are not to be distributed externally to third parties, in whole or in part, or used for any other purpose. You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless with respect to any and all claims arising from the use of these projections by third parties regardless of the nature of the claim, including negligence of any party.

Our tax projection is based upon tax reference materials, facts, assumptions, and representations subject to change. Tax reference materials include, but are not limited to, the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”), regulations, Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, Private Letter Rulings, court decisions, and similar state and local guidance. We will not update our projection after the conclusion of the engagement for subsequent legislative or administrative changes or future judicial interpretations. To the extent we provide written advice concerning federal tax matters, we will follow the guidance contained in U.S. Treasury Department Circular 230 (“Circular 230”), §10.37, Requirements for Written Advice.

If the tax law changes following the conclusion of the engagement, we may be available to update our projection as a separate engagement. If you ask us to update our projection, and we agree to perform this update, we will confirm this engagement in a separate agreement.

If for any reason we are unable to complete the engagement, we will not issue the deliverable(s).

Firm Responsibilities

We will perform our services in accordance with the Statements on Standards for Tax Services issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”) and the AICPA Statement on Standards for Consulting Services. These services are not considered personal financial planning services because we do not consider ourselves to be personal financial planners.

It is our duty to perform services with the same standard of care that a reasonable tax return preparer would exercise in this type of engagement. It is your responsibility to safeguard your assets and maintain accurate records pertaining to transactions. We will not hold your property in trust for you, or otherwise accept fiduciary duties in the performance of the engagement.

HTJ.TAX, in its sole professional judgment, reserves the right to refuse to take any action that could be construed as making management decisions or performing management functions on your behalf.

 

Arguable positions

We will use our professional judgment to resolve questions in your favor where a tax law is unclear, provided that we have a reasonable belief that there is substantial authority for doing so. If there are conflicting interpretations of the law, we will explain the possible positions that may be taken on your return. We will follow the position you request, provided it is consistent with our understanding of tax reference materials. If the IRS, state or local tax authorities later contest the position you select, additional tax, penalties, and interest may be assessed. We assume no liability, and you hereby release us from any liability, including but not limited to, additional tax, penalties, interest, and related professional fees you may incur.

 

Prior year review

Our review of the prior year’s tax return will necessarily be limited and may not find all errors. We will, however, bring to your attention any errors that we find. If you ask us to prepare amended tax returns and address any other matters arising as a result of any error, and we agree to amend the returns, we will confirm this engagement in a separate agreement.

 

Tax planning services

Tax planning services may be within the scope of this engagement if it is specifically identified in your invoice. This is the case eg for those who engaged us for pre immigration or pre expatriation tax planning. During the course of preparing the projections identified above, we may bring to your attention potential tax savings strategies for you to consider as a possible means of reducing your taxes in subsequent tax years. However, if tax planning is not specifically identified in your invoice then we have no responsibility to make recommendations which may optimize your tax position. IF we do make any recommendations, the responsibility for implementation remains with you, the taxpayer.

 

Client Responsibilities

You agree to provide us with complete copies of previously filed tax returns, supporting schedules and any other records or information that we may request, either at the inception or during the course of the engagement.

 

State and local filing obligations

On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the long-standing physical presence nexus standard in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. et. al. This decision significantly changed the landscape of sales and use tax compliance, especially for online sellers. If you wish to understand the impact of the decision on your business, please so advise and we will confirm this in a separate agreement.

You are responsible for determining your tax filing obligations with any state or local tax authorities, including, but not limited to income, franchise, sales, use, property or unclaimed property taxes. If upon review of the information you have provided to us, including information that comes to our attention, we believe that you may have additional filing obligations, we will notify you. You acknowledge that the scope of our services under this Agreement does not include any services related to your compliance with tax obligations other than those identified in the Engagement Objective and Scope section of this Agreement. If you ask us to prepare any other returns, and we agree to do so, we will confirm this engagement in a separate agreement.

 

Virtual currency

The IRS considers virtual currency (e.g., Bitcoin) as property for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As such, any transactions in, or transactions that use, virtual currency are subject to the same general tax principles that apply to other property transactions.

If you had virtual currency activity during the tax year, you may be subject to tax consequences associated with such transactions and may have additional reporting obligations. You agree to provide us with complete and accurate information regarding any transactions in, or transactions that have used, virtual currency during the applicable tax year.

 

Ultimate responsibility

You have final responsibility for the accuracy of your tax projection. We will provide you with a copy of the deliverables for review prior to finalization. You agree to review and examine them carefully for accuracy and completeness. You are solely responsible for implementation of any strategies discussed in the deliverables.

Timing of the Engagement

Our engagement shall commence upon receipt of this executed Agreement. Our services will conclude after one of the following events has occurred:

• transmission of the deliverable(s) as identified above,
• notice to you that no deliverable(s) will be provided,
• written notification by either party that the engagement is terminated, or

Professional Fee

We require that all outstanding invoices be paid prior to releasing the completed tax return projections. We do not release incomplete tax return projections. We do not issue refunds.

* * * * * *

We appreciate the opportunity to be of service. Please date and execute this Agreement and return it to us to acknowledge your acceptance. We will not initiate services until we receive the executed Agreement and retainer.

 

Very truly yours,

HTJ.TAX

___________________

Derren Joseph

 

 

Access Terms and Conditions Addendum