Accountant's Terms of Business (Gibraltar Template)
Updated on 6 August 2026
This is a terms of business template for a Gibraltar accountancy practice: a general part that governs the whole relationship, alongside optional service schedules where you tick only what the practice actually does. What isn't ticked isn't in scope — and that is the single most important sentence in the document.
The template is written for Gibraltar's particular shape: there is no VAT, so the usual VAT-return schedule doesn't exist in the form it takes elsewhere; the corporate tax return (CT1) and the Companies House annual accounts run on two different clocks measured from different starting points; and there is no statutory licensing gate for basic accountancy work the way there is for audit. Fill in the fields and download a clean Word or PDF file, no sign-up required.
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Terms of Business
These are the terms of business of , version , effective from . They form an integral part of the engagement for accountancy services.
- Practice:
- Professional memberships:
- Address:
- Responsible person:
- Client:
- , registration number
- Client address:
- Client contact:
- Date of agreement:
- First accounting period covered:
1. Practitioner status
holds the following professional memberships: . Gibraltar has no statutory licensing requirement for general accountancy and bookkeeping work; where statutory audit work is undertaken, it is carried out by a registered auditor under separate regulatory oversight, and the client will be told expressly when that applies.
There is no value added tax in Gibraltar. No VAT is added to fees under this engagement, and this engagement does not include VAT compliance services of any kind.
2. Scope of engagement
This engagement covers only the services for which a schedule appears below. Services not listed are not within scope, and their deadlines are not monitored by the practice. Extending the engagement requires written agreement; the new schedule then becomes part of this document.
Services are performed on the basis of records and information supplied by the client. Responsibility for their accuracy and completeness rests with the client, and the client's own statutory obligations remain the client's.
3. Bookkeeping
The practice maintains the books on the basis of records supplied by the client, and issues agreed reports. Records for the relevant period are due . Records delivered later are processed in the following period unless otherwise agreed.
4. Annual accounts
Annual accounts are prepared and filed with Companies House within thirteen months of the financial year end.
5. Audit threshold for this client
The client's turnover is below £1,750,000, so unaudited accounts with an accountant's report are acceptable, subject to the company continuing to meet the relevant thresholds.
6. Audit is not included
This engagement does not include a statutory audit or any other assurance engagement, and does not provide the assurance an audit would give. If the client requires or becomes subject to audit, appointment of an auditor and the terms of that engagement are arranged separately. Assistance to an auditor with document requests is provided on request and billed separately unless included in the agreed fee.
7. Corporate tax (CT1)
The corporate tax return (CT1) is filed with the Income Tax Office. The client reviews the return before filing. Filing requires a valid authority to act; its absence prevents timely filing.
8. Client responsibilities
The client supplies records within the deadlines set out in the service schedules, is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the information, and notifies the practice of changes to the business that affect its accounts, tax position, or filing obligations.
Services tied to statutory deadlines depend on records being supplied in time. Where records are delivered late, the practice will do what is reasonably possible within the time remaining but is not responsible for missing a statutory deadline or the consequences of doing so.
9. Fees and invoicing
Fees are a fixed monthly amount of for the services ticked above. The fee is based on an assumed volume of transactions and staff; a material change in these assumptions is reviewed jointly before a revised fee takes effect.
Fees do not include: . Such work begins only once scope and price have been agreed.
Payment is due within days of the invoice date. No VAT is added, as none applies in Gibraltar. Late payment may attract interest at the statutory rate.
10. Record retention
Form and location of records: . Records the client has supplied remain the client's property. The practice's own working papers, calculations and internal notes remain the practice's property.
Accounting records must be retained for at least six years, sufficient to demonstrate the company's financial position and track all underlying transactions; this obligation rests with the client and continues regardless of this engagement's status. On termination, client records held by the practice are available for collection within days.
11. Anti-money laundering measures
The practice is subject to applicable anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations. The client supplies information required for identification and due diligence, details of ownership structure and beneficial owners, and notifies changes to these. The obligation arises by law and does not depend on the client's consent.
12. Limitation of liability
The practice's liability under this engagement is limited to per event and in aggregate for losses arising from the same cause. This limit does not apply to fraud or to liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
The practice is not liable for loss arising from inaccurate or incomplete information supplied by the client, late delivery of records, or the absence of a valid authority to act. Work is prepared for the client and does not create obligations to third parties to whom the client provides it.
13. Confidentiality
Information obtained in the course of this engagement is confidential and is not disclosed without the client's consent, except where required or permitted by law. Confidentiality continues after termination.
Subcontractors and IT service providers bound by an equivalent duty of confidentiality may be engaged to perform services; responsibility to the client remains with the practice.
14. Data protection
In connection with payroll and other services, the practice processes personal data on the client's behalf and in accordance with its instructions. The subject matter, duration, security measures, and return or deletion of data on termination are governed by a separate data processing agreement.
15. Duration and termination
This engagement is for an indefinite term, effective from the start date. Either party may terminate it in writing with days' notice.
On termination, the parties agree, service by service, the period and deadline up to which the practice is responsible for performance. This is necessary in particular for CT1, where the cycle is longer than most but still fixed to a specific accounting period.
On non-payment, the practice may suspend work after notice. Client records are not withheld to force payment nor in a manner that would prevent compliance with a statutory deadline.
16. Governing law and disputes
This engagement is governed by the law of Gibraltar. The parties will attempt to resolve disputes amicably; failing that, the forum is .
Acceptance
Signatures confirm acceptance of these terms and of the service schedules ticked above. Services not ticked are not within scope.
For the practice
Date:
For the client
Date:
There is no VAT — so don't build a VAT clause that doesn't apply
Gibraltar sits outside the EU VAT area and does not operate a value added tax system at all. A terms-of-business template built from a UK or EU base and merely relabelled for Gibraltar will often carry a VAT-return schedule across by habit — and that schedule describes an obligation the client doesn't have.
What replaces it is direct taxation: corporate tax administered by the Income Tax Office. The clause structure in this template reflects that substitution directly — there is a corporate tax schedule, not a VAT one, and the fee schedule doesn't add VAT to invoiced amounts because there is none to add.
For a practice also serving UK or EU clients, this is worth stating explicitly rather than leaving to inference: the absence of a VAT clause is a fact about Gibraltar law, not an omission in the template.
Two deadlines, two different starting points — tax return and accounts filing are not the same clock
A Gibraltar company must submit its corporate tax return (CT1) within nine months after the end of the month in which its accounting period ends, to the Income Tax Office. Separately, it must file annual accounts with Companies House within thirteen months of the financial year end — a different registrar, a different deadline, and a longer window.
Terms of business that mention only "filing deadlines" as one item, without separating these two, invite exactly the confusion that costs a client a late-filing penalty on one obligation while they believed the other's longer runway covered both.
The audit threshold adds a third branch worth stating up front: companies with turnover of £1,750,000 or more must file audited accounts; below that threshold, unaudited accounts with an accountant's report are acceptable. A practice's engagement scope should say plainly which side of that line the client sits on, because it changes what "accounts" work actually means.
Accountancy in Gibraltar has no statutory licensing gate the way audit does
Statutory audit work requires a registered auditor, and that gate is real. General accountancy and bookkeeping work, by contrast, has no equivalent statutory licence in Gibraltar — the Gibraltar Society of Accountants is a professional membership body, not a regulator with power to admit or exclude practitioners from doing the work itself.
This matters for how a terms-of-business document should describe the practitioner's standing. A firm that implies statutory oversight of its bookkeeping and accounts-preparation work that doesn't in fact exist is overclaiming; a firm should instead describe its actual professional memberships and, separately and honestly, note that audit work (where undertaken by a registered auditor) sits under real statutory oversight while the rest does not.
This template's practitioner-status clause is written to make that distinction rather than blur it, because a client who later discovers there was no regulatory backstop behind ordinary bookkeeping work is likely to feel misled even where nothing improper occurred.
Fees and liability
For fees, the template offers three models — hourly rate, fixed monthly fee, and a fixed fee for a defined scope — and states in each what falls outside it. A fixed monthly fee with no list of excluded work is the most common reason extra work gets done without being billed for.
The liability cap is expressed as a figure, not a reference to "the insurance," and does not extend to intentional wrongdoing or to liability that cannot lawfully be limited. Professional indemnity requirements vary by the work undertaken — audit carries its own separate requirements — so check your own cover before setting the figure.
Clauses explained
- Practitioner status
- States professional memberships honestly and separates any statutory audit oversight (where a registered auditor is engaged) from the unregulated status of ordinary accountancy work.
- Scope of engagement
- The engagement is limited to the ticked service schedules; unticked services are not in scope and their deadlines are not monitored.
- Service schedules
- One optional schedule per service: bookkeeping, annual accounts, corporate tax (CT1), payroll, company secretarial filings, advisory.
- Corporate tax (CT1)
- Nine months after the end of the month in which the accounting period ends, filed with the Income Tax Office — kept separate from the accounts-filing deadline below.
- Annual accounts
- Thirteen months after the financial year end, filed with Companies House, with the audit threshold of £1,750,000 turnover stated explicitly.
- Client responsibilities and deadlines
- Document-delivery deadlines for each service, responsibility for accuracy of information, and the consequences of late delivery for statutory deadlines.
- Fees and invoicing
- Hourly rate, fixed monthly fee, or fixed fee for defined scope, each with a list of excluded work and a payment term — with no VAT added, since none applies.
- Record retention
- The six-year minimum retention period, who actually holds the records, and what happens to access after the engagement ends.
- Anti-money laundering measures
- Client identification and due diligence, updating of information, and that the obligation arises by law rather than by the client's consent.
- Limitation of liability
- A capped figure, exceptions to the cap, and confirmation that the work is prepared for the client and does not create obligations to third parties.
- Confidentiality and data protection
- Confidentiality continues after termination, and personal data processing is governed by a separate agreement.
- Duration and termination
- Notice period for either party, suspension of work after notice for non-payment, and fixing the cut-off date for each service on termination.
- Governing law and disputes
- Gibraltar law and the forum for disputes.
- Acceptance
- Signature block that turns the terms into an agreement rather than a document merely sent.
What not to overlook
Check current guidance and your own insurance cover before use.
Don't include a VAT clause
Gibraltar operates outside the EU VAT area and has no value added tax system. Terms of business adapted from a UK or EU template should drop the VAT-return schedule entirely rather than relabel it, and fee clauses should not add VAT to invoiced amounts.
Keep the CT1 and accounts deadlines separate
The corporate tax return (CT1) is due nine months after the end of the month in which the accounting period ends, filed with the Income Tax Office. Annual accounts are due thirteen months after the financial year end, filed separately with Companies House. These are two different obligations to two different registrars with two different clocks.
Gibraltar Income Tax Office — Guidance Notes for CompaniesState the audit threshold explicitly
Companies with turnover of £1,750,000 or more must file audited accounts; below that threshold, unaudited accounts with an accountant's report are acceptable. Engagement scope should state which applies to the client.
Company.gi — Gibraltar Accounts Filing GuideDon't overclaim regulatory oversight of ordinary accountancy work
There is no statutory licensing gate for general bookkeeping and accounts-preparation work in Gibraltar; the Gibraltar Society of Accountants is a professional membership body, not a statutory regulator. Only statutory audit work, undertaken by a registered auditor, carries real regulatory oversight — describe practitioner status accordingly.
Keep the six-year retention period as a floor, not a ceiling
Companies must retain accurate financial records for at least six years. Terms of business should state who actually holds the records during that period and what happens to access at termination.
Gibraltar Corporate Obligations guidanceDon't withhold client records instead of suspending work
On non-payment, the correct tool is to suspend work after notice. Records the client has supplied are the client's property; the practitioner's own working papers remain the practitioner's property. Withholding records just before a filing deadline moves a fee dispute onto ground where the practice cannot win.
How to prepare the terms
- State practitioner status honestly. Name actual professional memberships, and separate any statutory audit oversight from the unregulated status of general accountancy work.
- Tick only the services actually engaged. Each service has its own schedule. Unticked services are explicitly excluded, and their deadlines are not monitored.
- Keep CT1 and accounts filing as separate schedules. Nine months after the accounting-period month-end for CT1; thirteen months after the financial year end for accounts filing — different registrars, different clocks.
- State the audit threshold if relevant. £1,750,000 turnover is the line between audited and unaudited accounts filing.
- Set fees and the liability cap. Choose a fee model, state what's excluded, and express the liability limit as a figure — with no VAT added.
- Download, sign, and keep. Download the Word or PDF file, obtain a signature before work begins, and keep the signed copy with the client file.
Frequently asked questions
Does my accountant's terms of business need a VAT clause in Gibraltar?
No. Gibraltar operates outside the EU VAT area and has no value added tax system, so there is nothing for a VAT-return schedule to describe. Terms of business adapted from a UK or EU template should drop it entirely rather than relabel it for Gibraltar, and fee clauses should not add VAT to invoiced amounts.
What's the deadline for a Gibraltar company's corporate tax return?
Nine months after the end of the month in which the accounting period ends, filed with the Income Tax Office as form CT1. This is separate from — and shorter than — the thirteen-month deadline for filing annual accounts with Companies House, which is a different registrar entirely.
When must a Gibraltar company file audited accounts?
Once turnover reaches £1,750,000 or more, accounts must be audited. Below that threshold, unaudited accounts with an accountant's report are acceptable. Engagement terms should state explicitly which applies, because it changes the scope of the accounts-preparation service.
Is accountancy a regulated profession in Gibraltar?
Not in the way audit is. Statutory audit work requires a registered auditor and carries real regulatory oversight. General bookkeeping and accounts-preparation work has no equivalent statutory licensing gate; the Gibraltar Society of Accountants is a professional membership body rather than a regulator. Terms of business should describe actual memberships rather than imply oversight that doesn't exist.
How long must accounting records be kept?
At least six years, sufficient to demonstrate the company's financial position and track all underlying transactions. Terms of business should state who actually holds the records during that period — the client or the practice — and what happens to access once the engagement ends.
Can an accountant withhold my records until I pay an outstanding invoice?
The correct tool on non-payment is to suspend work after notice, not to withhold records. Records the client has supplied are the client's property; the practitioner's own working papers, calculations and internal notes remain the practice's property. Withholding records just before a filing deadline moves a fee dispute onto ground where the practice cannot win.
Does this engagement include a statutory audit?
Only if separately agreed with a registered auditor, and preparing accounts does not itself provide the assurance an audit gives over the same figures. The template has a separate optional clause for this, because clients often assume otherwise: if someone prepares the accounts, it's easy to assume they've also checked them.
Related templates
Disclaimer
This template and guidance are general information and do not constitute legal or accounting advice. Rules on corporate tax, company filings, and anti-money laundering obligations change, and requirements depend on the nature of the business. Check current guidance and your own insurance cover before use, and seek professional advice in the event of a dispute.
