Terms of Service 

The Services that We Will Perform: 

You have contracted with BSBPartners LLC to prepare and file tax documents using the information that you provide through documents and answers to questions via phone, email, and meetings:   

           20____   Income Taxes prepared and efiled- Fed 1040, State, and local       $_______________

Cost of Services 

You understand that the fees referenced are based on our hourly fee schedule. You are responsible for prompt payment via check or credit card. We estimate that our fee for the tax services will be $ _________ for the services listed above. You acknowledge that this range is not a limit to the total fees we may charge for our services, and that our fees may exceed that range. However, if we encounter unusual circumstances that would require us to expand the scope of the engagement, and/or if we anticipate our fees to exceed the quoted range, we will inform you, adjust our estimate, and obtain your prior approval before continuing.

Prior to commencing our services, we require that you provide us with a retainer in the amount of $ _____. This retainer will be applied against our final invoice, and any unused portion will be returned to you upon our collection of all outstanding fees and costs related to this engagement. Our fees and costs are payable upon receipt. Invoices unpaid 30 days past the billing date may be deemed delinquent and are subject to a late fee of 1.0% per month. We reserve the right to suspend our services or to withdraw from this engagement if any of the invoices are deemed delinquent. If any collection action is required to collect unpaid balances due us, you agree to reimburse us for our costs of collection, including attorneys’ fees.  Credit Card processing fees are an additional cost.

Scope of Service 

This engagement pertains only to the tax year referenced, and our responsibilities do not include preparation of any other tax returns that may be due to any other taxing authority. Our engagement will be complete upon the delivery of the completed returns to you and verification of IRS eFile. Thereafter, you will be responsible for informing us of any IRS correspondence received and the maintenance of tax records in accordance with IRS guidelines.  

We will prepare the returns from information which you will furnish to us. It is your responsibility to provide all the information required for the preparation of complete and accurate returns. We will furnish you with questionnaires and/or worksheets as needed to guide you in gathering the necessary information. Your use of such forms will assist us in keeping our fee to a minimum. To the extent we render any accounting and/or bookkeeping assistance, it will be limited to those tasks we deem necessary for the preparation of the return(s), unless additiobnal fees are charged. 

The timeliness of your cooperation is essential to our ability to complete this engagement. by the IRS deadline.  Specifically, we must receive sufficient information to prepare your returns within a reasonable period prior to the filing deadline. If we do not receive information from you, as noted above, we may be unable to file documents by deadlines, causing you to incur fees and penalties with tax authorities. We reserve the right to suspend our services or withdraw from this engagement if the required information is not provided in a reasonable time period. You will still be liable for any charges that we have incurred to date. 

We will not audit or verify the data you submit. Accordingly, our engagement cannot be relied upon to identify, disclose, or correct past errors or fraud associated with any past tax filings. However, we may ask for clarification of the information you provide. We will inform you of any past material errors, missed deductions, fraud, or other illegal acts that come to our attention. 

You are responsible for maintaining an adequate and efficient accounting system, for safeguarding assets, for authorizing transactions, and for retaining supporting documentation for those transactions (logs, receipts, PDF statement copies, check copies, etc.), all of which will, among other things, help assure the preparation of proper returns and preserve the information needed in case of IRS inquiry. 

Liability for Services Provided 

We warranty our work and always seek to file accurate returns. If there is an error made, you agree to inform us as soon as possible and be your agent in the process of correcting the error and mitigating any penalties or interest associated with the error. You are responsible for reviewing the return and authorizing the final eFile action. If you think there is a potential error, please inform us before the eFile begins.

You agree that the maximum financial liability incurred by our organization for our tax preparation services that you receive(ed) from any member of our organization will be limited to the service fees that you paid and must be claimed within three years of the completion of services. This includes any direct, indirect consequential, or opportunity cost incurred for errors associated with the filing.

In the event that we are or may be obligated to pay any cost, settlement, judgment, fine, penalty, or similar award or sanction as a result of a claim, investigation, or other proceeding instituted by any third party, and if such obligation is or may be a direct or indirect result of any inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information that you provided to us during the course of this engagement (with or without your knowledge or intent), you agree to indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless against such obligation.

If there is a dispute regarding the meaning, performance, or enforcement of this engagement or any prior engagement that we have performed for you, you will seek only mediation and/or binding arbitration. Parties 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 because of this engagement shall be administered within Warren County Ohio by a randomly selected Cincinnati Bar Association remediation member, according to its mediation rules, in accordance with Ohio law. 

Your Authorization for us to Provide Services 

When you agree  verbally or via email to authorize us to prepare your personal and business income tax returns pursuant to the terms set forth in this webpage above, our document exchanges, factfinders, emails, text, and phone conversations are to be considered indicators of intent  for the service agreement with the expectation of prompt payment upon completion of services. The communications between us are to be considered as  a valid signature on  the contract terms above, in accordance with the State of Ohio commercial code,  as the acceptance of this agreement, whether referenced in an email to you by hyper-link or copied within an email as text.   For the purposes of the agreement for services, email is considered a valid signature. If we do not receive a response nor tax documents to review and file,  then we will not provide you with any professional services and will not prepare your income tax returns.

Other Important Disclosures, Disclaimers and Reminders about Your Tax Obligations and Our Services

1. It is the responsibility of every US citizen to pay their taxes in accordance with US Treasury rules and the rules of all tax jurisdictions that they are subject to. The goal of our organization is to assist you in paying your required income taxes. You are under no obligation to pay more than your required share.

2. Please note that any person or entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States (includes individuals, corporations, partnerships, trusts, and estates) having a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, bank accounts, securities, or other financial accounts having a value exceeding $10,000 in a foreign country shall report such a relationship. Although there are some limited exceptions, filing requirements also apply to taxpayers that have direct or indirect control over a foreign or domestic entity with foreign financial accounts, even if the taxpayer does not have foreign account(s). For example, a corporate-owned foreign account would require filings by the corporation and by the individual corporate officers with signature authority. Failure to disclose the required information to the U.S. Department of the Treasury may result in substantial civil and/or criminal penalties. If you and/or your entity have a financial interest in any foreign accounts, you are responsible for providing our firm with all the information necessary to prepare FinCEN Form 114 (formerly Form TD-F90-22.1) required by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on or before June 30 of each tax year. If you do not provide our [my] firm with information regarding any interest you may have in a foreign account, we [I] will not be able to prepare any of the required disclosure statements.

3. Your returns may be selected for review by one or more than one taxing authority. Any proposed adjustments by the examining agent are subject to certain rights of appeal. In the event of such a government tax examination, we will be available upon your written request to represent you during the examination and/or during any appeal. Any such representation will be the subject of, and governed by, a separate engagement letter and may be subject to additional service fees.

4. The law provides various penalties and interest that may be imposed when taxpayers underestimate their tax liability. You acknowledge that any such understated tax, and any imposed interest and penalties, are your responsibility, and that we have no responsibility in that regard.

5. We may encounter instances where the tax law is unclear, or where there may be conflicts between the taxing authorities’ interpretations of the law and other supportable positions. In those instances, we will discuss with you the reasonable alternative courses of action, including the risks and consequences of each such alternative. In the end, we will adopt, on your behalf, the alternative which you select after having considered the information provided by our organization.

6. Without disclosure in the return itself of the specific position taken on a given issue, we must have a reasonable belief that the position(s) satisfies the substantial-authority standard and that the position will be held to be the correct position upon examination by taxing authorities. If we do not have that reasonable belief, we must be satisfied that there is at least a reasonable basis for the position, and in such a case, the position must be formally disclosed on Form 8275 or 8275-R, which form would be filed as part of the return. If we do not believe there is a reasonable basis for the position, either the position cannot be taken, or we cannot sign the return. In order for us to make these determinations, we must rely on the accuracy and completeness of the relevant information you provide to us, and, in the event we and/or you are assessed penalties due to our reliance on inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information you supplied to us [me] (with or without your knowledge or intent), you will indemnify us, defend us, and hold us harmless as to those penalties.

7. We may also provide you with interim and year-end tax planning services on issues that you specifically bring to our attention in writing. Our ability to provide you with appropriate guidance on such issues will be entirely dependent on the timeliness, accuracy, and completeness of the relevant information bearing on the issue which we will rely on you to provide to us. Although we may orally discuss tax planning issues with you from time to time, such discussions will not constitute advice upon which we intend for you to rely for any purpose. Rather, any advice upon which we intend for you to rely, and upon which you will rely, will be embodied in a written report or correspondence from us to you, and any such writing will supersede any prior oral representations between the parties on the issue.

8. Our fees for this engagement are not contingent on the results of our services. Rather, our fees for this engagement, including tax planning and preparation of your returns, and any representation of your interests during an examination by a taxing authority and/or any subsequent appeal, will be based on our standard hourly rates, as set forth on the attached rate sheet. In addition, you agree to reimburse us for any of our out-of-pocket costs incurred in connection with the performance of our services. We file returns using reputable sophisticated software that is expected to operate as planned. We are not responsible for technical systematic problems that cause delays, but we will mitigate any costs or risks associated with delays.

9. If we elect to terminate our services for nonpayment, or for any other reason provided for in this letter, our engagement will be deemed to have been completed upon written notification of termination, even if we have not completed your return. You will be obligated to compensate us for all time expended, and to reimburse us for all our out-of-pocket costs, through the date of termination.

10. You are responsible for retaining all the documents, canceled checks and other data that form the basis of income and deductions.  These may be necessary to prove the accuracy and completeness of the returns to a taxing authority during an IRS audit or inquiry that can cover a ten-year period. You have the final responsibility for the income tax returns and, therefore, you should review them carefully before you sign them.

11. We take all reasonable precautions to protect your privacy and data as if it is our own. We also seek to maintain our security standards in accordance with the SEC requirements, CFP Board of Standards, the IRS requirements, and the CFA Institute. In connection with this engagement, we may communicate with you or others via email transmission and may retain records in an electronic database. As emails can be intercepted and read, disclosed, or otherwise used or communicated by an unintended third party, or may not be delivered to each of the parties to whom they are directed and only to such parties, we cannot guarantee or warrant that emails from us will be delivered and read only by the addressee. Electronic files may be hacked or stolen by third parties. Therefore, we specifically disclaim and waive any liability or responsibility whatsoever for interception or unintentional disclosure of emails transmitted or files stored by us in connection with the performance of this engagement. In that regard, you agree that we shall have no liability for any loss or damage to any person or entity resulting from the use of email transmissions, including any consequential, incidental, direct, indirect, or special damages, such as loss of revenues or anticipated profits, or disclosure or communication of confidential or proprietary information. Please review our privacy standards and data security documents on our website, www.BSBPartners.com

12. It is our policy to retain engagement documentation for a period of seven years, after which time we will commence the process of destroying the contents of our engagement files. To the extent we accumulate any of your original records during the engagement, those documents will be returned to you promptly upon completion of the engagement. The balance of our engagement file, other than a copy of your income tax return, which we will provide to you at the conclusion of the engagement, is our property, and we will provide copies of documents at our discretion, unless required by law, and if compensated for any time and costs associated with the effort.

13. If the income tax returns, we are to prepare in connection with this engagement are joint returns, and because you will each sign those returns, you are each our client. You each acknowledge that there is no expectation of privacy from the other concerning the services in connection with this engagement, and we are at liberty to share with either of you, without the prior consent of the other, all documents and other information concerning preparation of your returns. We will require, however, that any request for documents or other information be communicated to us [me] in written form. You also acknowledge that unless we are notified otherwise in advance and in writing, we may construe an instruction from either of you to be an instruction on your joint behalf. Absent a contrary written instruction in the future, from either or both of you, we will communicate with either or both of you via email address that you provided.

14. In the event we are required to respond to a subpoena, court order, or other legal process for the production of documents and/or testimony relative to information we have obtained and/or prepared during the course of this engagement, you agree to compensate us [me] at our hourly rates, as set forth above, for the time we expend in connection with such response, and to reimburse us for all of our out-of-pocket costs incurred in that regard.

15. In connection with this engagement, you authorize us to communicate with you or others via email and mobile SMS text transmission systems. As applicable, we use secure encrypted email and storage systems that we believe protect the integrity and privacy of your data. However, no organization can guarantee that emails will be delivered and read only by the intended addressee. Therefore, all parties disclaim and waive liability or responsibility for interception or unintentional disclosure of emails transmitted by/to us in connection with the performance of this engagement. All parties agree that there shall be no liability for any unintentional loss or damage to any person or entity resulting from the use of email or text transmissions, including any consequential, incidental, direct, indirect, or special damages, such as loss of revenues or anticipated profits, or disclosure of confidential or proprietary information.

16. We will prepare the returns from information which you will furnish to us. It is your responsibility to provide all the information required for the preparation of complete and accurate returns. We will furnish you with questionnaires and/or worksheets as needed to guide you in gathering the necessary information. Your use of such forms will assist us in keeping our fee to a minimum. To the extent we render any accounting and/or bookkeeping assistance, it will be limited to those tasks we deem necessary for the preparation of the returns.