The one page ‘handbook’ below contains the key policies and procedures related to membership of the Tax Advice Network. It forms part of the overall terms and conditions – which are only there in case of serious problems.
- Introduction
- Qualification for Membership
- The Services
- Joining Fee
- Monthly subscription
- Materials Conduct & Record Keeping
- Complaints Procedure
- Mediation
1 Introduction
1.1 This Handbook contains key information and mutual responsibilities as regards the Tax Advice Network (“TAN”) and Members. This Handbook forms part of the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of use and of membership of the Tax Advice Network. The full T&Cs containing all relevant definitions and more legalistic terms and conditions can be accessed through this link>>>.
1.2 This Handbook was last updated on 14 December 2016.
2 Qualification for Membership
2.1 Qualification is a matter for the absolute discretion of TAN for the purpose only of ensuring quality for the good of all Members and the users of the TAN website.
2.2 If a Tax Adviser or Tax Accountant ceases to qualify for membership, TAN will have the right to hide their profile from public view on the website.
3 The Services
3.1 The Service provided by TAN to Members is to promote actively the facility for accountants, taxpayers and business owners to access to specialist Tax Advisers (“Advisers”) and Tax Accountants (“Accountants”) through the TAN website.
3.2 TAN will provide the facility for Members to publish a profile of themselves on the TAN website so as to attract work from users of the site and from other members of the Network.
3.3 TAN has engaged Verbatim to provide a professionally answered business phone line to handle calls that come from Network generated business. Verbatim’s operators will deal with all such calls as appropriate and will transfer those for specific UK based Tax Adviser Members to each Member’s preferred phone number. Messages will be passed on as directed by the Tax Adviser Member (that is by email, text or voicemail). TAN reserves the right to replace Verbatim with an alternative supplier (including itself) at its own discretion.
3.4 In the event that Members do not provide the necessary contact information or do not respond to phone enquiries and messages within a reasonable time period TAN reserves the right to pass the message/enquiry to an alternative Tax Adviser Member.
3.5 Members will trade in their own name but, provided they comply with TAN’s requirement in relation thereto, have the right to describe themselves as Tax Adviser or Tax Accountant Members (as appropriate) of the Tax Advice Network. On request, TAN can provide a logo that Members can, provided they comply with TAN’s requirement in relation thereto, use on websites and Linkedin profiles, letterheads etc together with appropriate disclaimers.
3.6 The wider benefits to Members of belonging to the Network are set out on the Member Benefits section of the website and may vary from time to time.
4 Joining Fee
4.1 This is detailed on the website and, as of September 2021, applies only to Accountants and Overseas Tax Advisers. The Member’s profile will not be appear in search results, nor will the Member be able to enjoy other membership facilities until the Joining Fee specified on the website has been paid in full.
4.2 The joining fee is not refundable.
5 Monthly subscription
5.1 This is detailed on the website. The Member’s profile will not appear in search results, nor will the Member be able to enjoy other membership facilities if any monthly subscription payments are outstanding.
5.2 A Member may choose to hide their profile so that it doesn’t appear in search results while they are on holiday or for any other reason. The monthly subscription will continue to be payable until and unless their membership is cancelled.
5.3 The monthly subscription may be increased by TAN giving the Member 30 days notice. If the Member does not agree to and pay the increased monthly subscription their membership will cease at the end of the 30 days notice period and TAN will hide their profile so no further leads will be available.
5.4 The monthly subscription can be cancelled by a Member sending an email to TAN (admin@taxadvicenetwork.co.uk) giving 7 days notice after which time their membership will cease and TAN will hide their profile so no further leads will be available.
6 Materials and Conduct
6.1 Member’s profiles, posts, blogs or content submitted for publication on the TAN Website must comply with TAN’s requirements for publication from time to time. In particular, such content must be: civil, tasteful, constructive and polite; it must not contain any material which is disruptive, offensive, abusive, unlawful, objectionable, defamatory, harassing, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, offensive or discriminatory in relation to race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, marital, or other status or disability or otherwise offensive or otherwise objectionable or contributed with the intention of causing trouble
6.2 Tax Advisers are encouraged to ensure that their profile on the TAN website is as attractive, informative and useful as possible to users of the website. Profiles may be updated and amended as often as a Tax Adviser Member chooses.
6.3 All members are required to comply with the widely adopted Professional Conduct in Relation to Taxation – key elements of which are summarised on our site here >>>
7 Complaints Procedure
Complaints from Members are a rare occurrence and any difficulties will be resolved quickly and simply. Members are encouraged to make direct contact with Mark Lee using the Contact Us page on the website or directly by email to: Mark.Lee@TaxAdviceNetwork.co.uk
8 Mediation
In the event that a dispute arises between a Member and another member of the Network or a user of the TAN website, the Member agrees to use the mediation service provided by TAN, if any. Mediation will not be required if the dispute might reasonably be expected to result in a claim on professional indemnity insurance and under the policy the insurer does not permit mediation. If a dispute arises between a Member and TAN, both agree to use the mediation service provided by the Academy of Experts, prior to issuing legal proceedings, unless there is risk of harm to either party which requires urgent injunctive relief.