We appreciate the opportunity of working with you and advising you regarding your income tax and other financial matters. To ensure a complete understanding between us, we are setting forth the pertinent information about the services which we propose to render for you. In order to comply with pandemic protocol, masks and social distancing are required in our office. Curbside service by our staff may be requested. We will prepare the Federal and State income tax returns for you for the year ended December 31, 2021 from information you provide. A copy of your returns will be provided to you via pdf in our secure portal, SmartVault. If you request a printed paper copy, one will be provided to you. We will not audit, analyze, check or verify the data submitted, although we may ask you to clarify it. We will furnish you, if requested, with an organizer to assist you in gathering the necessary information for us. Your use of the organizer will help you avoid overlooking important information and assist us in keeping our fee to a minimum. We will also render other accounting, financial services, insurance and consulting services you may request during the year ended December 31, 2021. We direct your attention to the fact that you have the responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide. Our work in connection with the preparation of your income tax returns does not include any procedures designed to discover defalcations or irregularities, should any exist. It is your responsibility to maintain the documentation necessary to support the data used in preparing your tax returns, including but not limited to auto, travel and related expenses and the required documents to support charitable contributions. It is also your responsibility to carefully examine and approve your completed tax returns. We are authorized to use our judgment in evaluating the best tax return treatment and will be available to discuss this with you. Our fees are based upon the time necessary to prepare your return and/or specific forms required, plus any additional time required for consulting, compiling or interpreting information. Invoices are upon receipt and returns will not be filed until the invoice is paid. Any past due balance under this agreement shall bear interest at the rate of 1½% per month (18% annual rate). In the event it becomes necessary to retain an attorney to collect any fee, you agree to pay any attorney's fees and costs regardless of whether suit or mediation is filed. Returned checks (NSF checks) will be assessed an additional fee of $25.00. If you wish an estimate of our fees, please request prior to commencement of our services. Your returns may be selected for review by the taxing authorities. Any proposed adjustments by the examining agent are subject to certain rights of appeal. In the event of a tax examination, we will be available upon request to represent you and will render additional invoices for the time and expenses incurred. We are not responsible for the IRS disallowance of doubtful or unsupported deductions or any resulting taxes, penalties or interest. In the case of the necessity of an amended return, notice from the taxing authorities or an audit, an additional preparation fee will occur. All returns will be filed electronically when possible after receiving signature authorization, unless written objection is received from the client. We are not responsible for any delays or electronic rejections from the taxing authorities regarding the efiling of your return and will not be financially responsible for electronic transmission or other errors arising after your return has been successfully submitted from our office. You have the final responsibility for the returns and should review them carefully before you sign and file and/or give us authority to efile them. In preparing your individual tax returns, we will rely solely on the information you provide us regarding the CARES Act, Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other acts or mandates and you agree to accept full responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of this information, as well as your compliance with all laws. CPAs, like all providers of personal financial services, are now required by law to inform their clients of their policies regarding privacy of client information. CPAs have been, and continue to be, bound by professional standards of confidentiality that are even more stringent than those required by law. Therefore, we have always protected your right to privacy. We collect nonpublic personal information about you that is provided to us by you or obtained by us. For current and former clients, we do not disclose any nonpublic personal information obtained in the course of our practice except as required or permitted by law. Permitted disclosures include, for instance, providing information, in limited situations, to unrelated third parties who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. In all such situations, we stress the confidential nature of information being shared. You agree that we shall have no liability for any loss or damage to any person or entity resulting from the use of email or other transmissions, including any consequential, direct, indirect, or special damages, such as loss of sales or anticipated profits, or disclosure or communication of confidential or proprietary information. Federal law has extended the attorney-client privilege to some, but not all, communications between a client and the client’s accountant. The privilege applies only to noncriminal tax matters that are before the IRS or brought by or against the U.S. Government in a federal court. The communications must be made in connection with tax advice. Communications solely concerning the preparation of a tax return will not be privileged. In addition, your confidentiality privilege can be inadvertently waived if you discuss the contents of any privileged communication with a third party, such as a lending institution, a friend, or a business associate. We recommend that you contact us before releasing any privileged information to a third party. If we are asked to disclose any privileged communication, unless we are required to disclose the communication by law, we will not provide such disclosure until you have had an opportunity to argue that the communication is privileged. You agree to pay any and all reasonable expenses that we incur, including legal fees, in the event we are required to respond to a subpoena, court order or other legal process for the production of the documents and/or testimony relative to information we obtained and/or prepared during the course of the engagement. 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 provide 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 as against such obligation. We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in some cases, to comply with professional guidelines. In order to guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards. Please call if you have any questions, because your privacy, our professional ethics, and the ability to provide you with quality financial services are very important to us. When records are returned to you, it is your responsibility to retain your records that form the basis of your income and deductions. The documents may be necessary to prove the accuracy and completeness of the returns to a taxing authority. You have the final responsibility for the income tax returns and, therefore you should review them carefully before you sign. Our firm is not responsible for a taxing authority’s disallowance of deductions or inadequately supported documentation, nor for resulting taxes, penalties, and interest. By your signature below, you acknowledge and agree that upon the expiration of the seven year period Charlesworth Financial Services, LLC shall be free to destroy our records related to this engagement. Joint Returns: Because 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 our services in connection with this engagement, and we are at liberty to share with either of you, without the prior consent of the other, any and 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 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 at the mailing address on the tax return. Please note that you are affirming to Charlesworth Financial Services, LLC your understanding of, and agreement to, the terms and conditions of this engagement letter by any one of the following actions: electronically signing or returning your signed engagement letter to our firm, providing your income tax information to us for use in the preparation of your returns, the submission of the tax returns we have prepared for you to the taxing authorities, or the payment of our return preparation fees. We are pleased that you have selected us to prepare your tax returns and are honored to do so. If this engagement letter fairly sets forth your understanding, please sign where indicated and return it to our office with your 2021 tax documents. We will not release any tax returns unless we have a signed copy of this letter in our files. We thank you for your business and we appreciate your referrals of friends and family. Very truly yours, Julianne M. Charlesworth Certified Public Accountant Charlesworth Financial Services, LLC Julianne M. Charlesworth*, CPA 219-531-9519 ~ Charlesworth.CPA College & Retirement Planning, Income Tax Planning & Preparation Small Business Consulting, Financial Services Fixed and Variable Annuities*, Life, Disability and Long Term Care Insurance *Securities offered through Avantax Investment ServicesSM, Member: FINRA,SIPC. Charlesworth Financial Services, LLC is not a registered broker/dealer or registered advisory firm |