Letter of engagement           

 Payroll services           

 

 

 It is both recommended good professional practice and a requirement of the law relating to the provision of services to set out in writing a clear explanation of the services we offer. This is known in professional parlance as an ‘engagement letter’.

 

So that any prospective client can understand the full details of the basis upon which we undertake professional work, we have placed a sample of our standard engagement letters on this web site.

 

This particular engagement letter covers the work done in providing our payroll services to clients.

 

Viewing this web page is subject to our terms and conditions, our honesty scheme (for other professional  firms viewing this page), and our copyright.

 

Clients of the practice can obtain further information by entering the ‘Client ‘ Zone’ and searching the index

 

 

 

Payroll services menu

 

Payroll Terms & Conditions  

Fixed fees

 

A Fee is payable to P Brown & Co for the downloading of this document by any professional firm of accountants or solicitors. The fee is payable under our honesty scheme, whereby this document may be downloaded for £1.00 (with a minimum payment of £5.00 in a period of one calender month)

 

A prospective client may download the document for no charge.

 

Note . This is only an example and a specific letter will be sent to each client upon accepting an engagement

 

Note – this letter may not up to date for legal and professional requirements and may need to be revised to cover specific situations

 

Introduction

 

It is both a requirement of the law relating to the provision of services and also good professional practice to set out clearly in writing the terms and conditions upon which we provide you with professional services.

 

This letter of engagement complies with this requirement. We would request that you carefully read through this letter to ensure there is no misunderstanding between us. If you agree to the terms and conditions set out,  then please sign and return the spare copy to us. If there is any point upon which you require clarification, then please contact us. If, within four weeks, we have not heard from you or received back the signed copy, we will assume that you are in agreement with the contents of this letter.

 

Services to be provided by us.

 

Part 1

 

We agree to :-

 

Maintain your payroll and prepare wage slips, payment advices and annual returns from the information supplied by yourself. This is subject to your having supplied us with all information relevant to your payroll as and when requested by us,and in particular to your letting us have details of all employees, pay rates, hours worked etc at least 24 hours before the time of intended payment.

 

It should be noted that we can only prepare and maintain your payroll on the basis of information supplied by yourself, or third parties acting on your authority, and can accept no responsibility for any errors in such information supplied or delays in supplying such information to us.

 

This service excludes any investigation or payroll audit into your affairs by the HM Revenue and Customs, or the NIC authorities,  and also excludes enquiries , (except enquiries of a minor or routine nature) raised upon any returns prepared by  which would be the subject of a separate letter of engagement.

 

In particular, this service includes :-

 

(i) preparing and submitting to you payslips for each pay day, and advices to you of the amounts to be paid to the HM Revenue and Customs or other authorities, on the basis of information provided to us by yourself.

 

(ii) preparing and submitting to you for signature the annual P35 return and supplying you with P14s/ P60s for each employee.

 

(iii) preparing P11d forms for each relevant employee and submitting them to you. ( The fee for this service, if applicable , will be agreed with each client)

 

Part 2

 

For your part ,you agree :-

 

(1) To comply with any conditions set out in Part 1

 

 (2)To supply us with all information in relation to your affairs that we may reasonably require, or that is relevant to your affairs, promptly and in good order.

 

(3) That notwithstanding our obligation under this letter of engagement to prepare documents, etc, you  ( and you alone) are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of your  records  all liabilities, howsoever arising, as a result of errors, inaccuracies, omissions, commissions or a lack of clarity in your records, insofar as they attach to us, are excluded, unless it can be proved that we had specific written notice of the inaccuracy or incompleteness of your records.

 

(4) To follow our advice in relation to the nature of your payroll records.

 

(5) To fully comply with the PAYE Regulations in all matters including, in particular, the requirement to retain all your records,  personal and business for a period of (usually) six years after the end of the tax year involved. More precise details of the requirements are available upon request.

 

(6) That nothing in this letter makes us directly or indirectly responsible for the payment of any taxes. You agree that you remain fully responsible for the payment of all taxes relating to your affairs. You also agree that no payment should be made to the HM Revenue and Customs in respect of Income Tax or  NIC, without first having received written advice from ourselves that the sums demanded are correct. You also agree that any tax demands should be forwarded to us as soon as possible for checking, in order to minimise the risk of either interest or penalties.

 

(7) That you will supply us immediately upon receipt by you with copies of any documents or notices served upon you by the HM Revenue and Customs

 

Part 3

 

Non Compliance

 

(1) If at any time you have not fully complied with our advice in relation to your  records or

 

(2) You have not supplied us with the necessary information to deal with your affairs within any statutory time limits (and the time limits set out in this letter of engagement shall be of the essence for the purposes of complying with statutory time limits) or

 

(3) You have in any other way by omission or commission made it impracticable for us to comply with our obligations under this letter of engagement, then, provided that your standing order payments are not in arrears, or that any other amounts due to us have been paid in full, we agree to do whatever we can to assist in rectifying the situation, but subject to our reserving the right to make a specific charge on a basis to be agreed before any additional work is undertaken.

 

(4) We must emphasise the severity of the current rules with regard to interest and penalties that can be applied by  the HM Revenue and Customs , both in relation to late payment of tax and late submission of returns. The deadlines set out by law are critical - not even one days grace is allowed. Penalties and interest can also arise where you have supplied us with incomplete or inaccurate information upon which we have relied in making estimates of your liabilities in order to agree payments on account with the HM Revenue and Customs.

 

 

Part 4

 

Other work

 

Any work of whatsoever description not included in this letter of engagement , including advice on employment law and drafting contracts of employment shall be the subject of a separate agreement ,and this letter shall be taken to be a full and inclusive statement of the matters referred to.

 

We will be pleased at any time to advise you on any business or taxation matters which you care to refer to us.

 

Part 5

 

Personnel

 

 Taxation work will normally be undertaken by (designated staff whose name will be advised to you)

 

 

Part 6

 

Fees

 

Our fees are payable by you immediately upon an account being rendered, which will normally be rendered monthly if the fee exceeds £50, otherwise it will be rendered quarterly, unless budget account arrangements have been agreed between us. We have agreed that the fees payable under this agreement shall be  ( see fixed  fees  ).

 

Part 7 Retention and destruction of books and papers

 

If you cease to be a client and if we still hold any books and papers that are your property, then at the expiry of six years from your ceasing to be a client, we will write to your last known address inviting you to collect such books and records. If such books and records are not collected we will, under the terms of this letter of engagement, be at liberty to destroy any such books and papers upon the seventh anniversary of your ceasing to be a client.

 

If at any time while you remain a client , we still hold any books and papers that are your property where the last entry therein was made no later than six years earlier, then we will write to your last known address inviting you to collect such books and records. If such books and records are not collected we will, under the terms of this letter of engagement, be at liberty to destroy any such books and papers upon the seventh anniversary of the last entry therein.

 

All files and records which are the property of ourselves will be retained in accordance with our formal file destruction policy which is available for inspection upon request

 

We apologise for the length and complexity of this letter ,but there is little point in skimping an a letter which we hope will be the foundations upon which a long and mutually rewarding business relationship will be built

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

FIRM NAME

 

                                         REF 457 Payroll services engagement letter


 

 

 

 

 

Fixed fees for payroll services – all fees are before VAT at the standard rate

 

There is a minimum total payroll fee of  £100 per annum regardless of the fee calculated from the schedule below

 

Fees are payable quarterly if below £50 per quarter, otherwise they are payable monthly

 

 

 

The maximum fees exclude services such as drafting contracts of employment, preparing P11ds and advising on employment law and other extra services.

 

The fees are made up as follows

 

Preparing a wage slip

 £1.15 per employee per payroll run

Preparing a P45 for a leaver

£1.15 per leaver

Setting up a new employee

£1.15 per new employee

Statutory Maternity Pay (if applicable)

£5.00 per confinement

Statutory sick pay (if applicable)

£1.15 per claim per employee

Student Loans (if applicable)

£5.00 per loan

Tax Credit (if applicable)

£1.15 per employee per annum

Preparing Annual P60s

£1.15 per employee per annum

Preparing a P35 Annual summary

£1.15 per employee per annum

Attachment of earnings (if applicable)

£1.15 per attachment

Preparing P11ds

Fee charged on a time basis

Advice on employment law

Fee depends on circumstances

Preparing contracts of employment

Fee depends on circumstances

Other services

Fee on application

 

 

Peter Brown & Co is a trading name of Undershot Ltd, registered in England , no 4114468. Director :-  P.Brown FCCA, FCIE,DchA,BSc.The registered office is Acomb Grange, Grange Lane, York, YO23 3QZ.

 

Last modified 07/02/09

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Last updated on 08-Mar-2001 9:00 PM