Terms Of Service

Version 1.14.5 - Last updated 22nd March 2024

Terminology

• "Contract": means the contract for the purchase and/or subscription of all services provided by Partial exemption Ltd
• "Websites", "Software" or "Application": means both of our websites at https://vat.partialexemption.co.uk and https://partialexemption.co.uk regardless of how you use the websites including any technologies or devices available to you.
• "You" or "your": means the individual or organisation who is subscribing to the service.
• "PEL", "Us" or "We": means Partial Exemption Ltd.
• "Subscriber": means the person responsible for fully controlling how your subscription is managed and who can access it. The Subscriber is also responsible to ensure the subscription fee is paid.
• "Subscription period": means month subscription has been paid.
• "Partner": means third party accountants or tax specialists partnered with PEL.

1. Basis of Contract

The following Contract is an agreement between you, the subscriber and us, Partial Exemption Ltd. This is to set out the terms of use and is used for the protection of you and us.

1.1. Updates and changes

We reverse the right to edit or amend these terms and conditions at any time. Updates to these terms and conditions will take affect 14 days after the publishing date of new revision, which is shown at the top of this document.

2. Terms of Use

2.1. Grant and Scope of Agreement

Provided that you have made all payments due to us, and that you're complying with the terms of this Agreement, we grant to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable and non-sublicensable licence to use the Software on the terms of, and for the duration of this Agreement and for your internal business purposes only.

2.2. Undertakings

You undertake not to:

• i. use the Software in activity that is illegal, fraudulent, false, or misleading;
• ii. use the Software to build or benchmark a competitive product or service, or copy any features, functions or graphics of the Software;
• iii. use the Software in violation of any acceptable use policy or in a manner that violates applicable law, including anti-spam, export control, privacy, and anti-terrorism laws and regulations. You are solely responsible for compliance with all such laws and regulations;
• iv. modify, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise determine or attempt to determine source code for the executable code of any software forming part of the Software or to create any derivative works based on the Software or allow any third party to do so (unless expressly permitted by local law);
• v. copy any of the look and feel and/or the business logic or functionality of the software; and
• vi. not remove any copyright or other notice contained or included in any Software.
• vii. not upload, add, transmit, confirm or approve any inaccurate, false or misleading data or information to the Software.

2.3. Users

Where you permit any person, whether your employee or contractor, or (in the case of a Bureau Arrangement) an employee or contractor of your customer, to use the Software you undertake to ensure that such person does not put you in breach of this Agreement, and that such person at all times comply with the terms of any user agreement between them and us.

2.4. Training

Training is not included. We may provide training at the discretion of PEL.

2.5. Professional advice and support

PEL does not provide accounting, tax, business or legal advice. Any information on our websites is provided for information purposes only. You should consult your own professional advisors for advice directly relating to your business or before taking action in relation to any of the content provided.
We do provide a list of PEL Partners if you require any professional advice. You may contact one of our Partners as listed on our website at your own discretion. You will need to have an agreement in place between you and our Partners and fees will be agreed directly between yourselves. All fees in relation to third party advice should be paid directly to our Partners.

3. Subscriptions

3.1. Trial Subscriptions

On initial sign up, you will be offered a “free trial", this trial will be based on the terms specified at the time and will last the length of one VAT Return . If you choose to continue using our services after the trial, you will be billed as per the agreed fee. To enable you to continue using the service you must add your billing details, this is explained in more detail in 3.2 Pricing Plans.
If you choose that the service isn't for you and would wish to terminate the Subscription after the “free trial" you or PEL are able to remove the organisation from our database. PEL reserves the right to remove any accounts who do not agree to a Subscription after the “free trial" and any information uploaded could be lost.

3.2. Pricing plans

Your use of our services requires you to pay a monthly subscription fee based on your subscription type. The pricing plan consists of the subscription and subscription fees we offered you, including invoicing, payment, auto-renewal and cancellation terms.
The pricing plan includes information set out in the offer details and pricing page which are located at:

https://partialexemption.co.uk/pricing

We may update or amend the pricing plan from time to time. The terms of the pricing plan form part of these terms. As with any other changes to our terms, changes to the pricing plan won't apply retrospectively and, if we make changes and you are a subscriber, we will make every effort to let you know.
Unless otherwise stated, all fees are payable in GBP Sterling and are subject to UK VAT at the current rate.

3.3. Add-ons

Your subscription can be changed to include additional features known as “add-ons". These add-ons will be billed in addition to your monthly subscription.
Billing dates for add-ons are inline with your monthly subscription. (See 3.5)

3.4. Subscription period

3.4.1. Initial Period

Your initial subscription period will start from the earliest of the following dates:

• The date at which you subscribe.
• The start date of the VAT Return period being added to PEA.

3.4.2. Automatic Renewal

Your monthly subscription will automatically renew on the 1st of each month, provided that you continue to pay the subscription fee in accordance with the payment terms (section 3.5).

3.5. Payment Terms

Your first payment will be taken on or prorated to the start date of the initial period (See 3.4.1).
Thereafter, your subscription fee will be issued on the 1st of each calendar month. All invoices will include the subscription fee for the following period of one month of use. PEL will continue invoicing you for each calendar month until this agreement is terminated. Details of how to terminate can be found in section 3.6 termination by subscriber.
You must pay or arrange payment of all amounts specified in any invoice by the due date for payment. You are responsible for payment of all taxes and duties in addition to the subscription fee.
If PEL does not receive the subscription fee on or before the payment date then access to the account may be suspended until payment is received. If subsequent subscriptions remain unpaid then PEL reserves the right to prevent further VAT returns from being added.

3.6. Termination by Subscriber

You can cancel your subscription at any point. You can continue to add VAT returns until the end of the subscription period.

3.7. Termination by Partial Exemption Ltd

PEL may choose to terminate your subscription at any time by providing you with one month's written notice in advance. We may also terminate or suspend your subscription or access to all or any data immediately if:
you breach any of these terms and do not remedy the breach within 14 days after receiving notice of the breach,
you breach any of these terms and the breach cannot be remedied,
you fail to pay subscription fees, or
you or your business become insolvent, your business goes into liquidation or has a receiver or manager appointed over any of its assets, you become insolvent or make any arrangement with your creditors, or become subject to any similar insolvency event in any jurisdiction.

3.8. No refunds

No refund is due to you if either party terminates the subscription in accordance with these terms.

4. Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out the basis on which we will process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us. Please read it to understand how we use and protect your personal information. This policy may change from time to time so please check it periodically. It was last updated on 31st January 2024.
We are committed to protecting your personal information and being transparent about what information we hold about you. Using personal information allows us to develop a better understanding of our customers and the services we provide.
The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to give you a clear explanation about how we use the information we collect from you directly, and from third parties. We use your information in accordance with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal information. This policy explains:
What information we may collect about you
When and how we may use that information
In what situations we may disclose your details to third parties
Our use of cookies to improve your use of our websites
How we keep your personal information secure
How long we maintain it for and your rights to be able to access it

4.1 Contacting Partial Exemption VAT

For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the company details are as follows:

Partial Exemption VAT Ltd
ICO Registration Number ZB650003

If you want to know what information we hold about you, if you have any other queries in relation to this Privacy Policy, or would like to opt out of any communication, please email us using the following email address:

dataprotection

4.2. What personal information we collect

4.2.1. Information you give us

When you register on our websites we will store personal information you give us such as your name, email address, work postal address, telephone number and/or mobile number. This information will be held on our system and may be used for operational purposes, such as information regarding our services and for mailing list subscriptions (see Section 4.4. How and why we use your personal data).

4.2.2. Special categories of personal data

Data protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are more sensitive such as health information, race, religious beliefs and political opinions. We do not collect this type of information about our customers unless there is a clear reason for doing so.

4.2.3. Other Information we collect

We may also collect generic information about your visit or use of the Partial Exemption VAT websites such as your IP addresses, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views. We may use this information for security purposes as well as, but not limited to, optimising the use of the Partial Exemption VAT websites. For example, we may use third party contributors such as analytics service providers to analyse and report traffic on our websites, and to track information such as which browser, screen resolution and IP address you are using to access our websites, in addition to tracking your movements around our websites.

4.3. The legal basis we rely on to process your personal data

According to current data protection laws, there is a series of bases under which we may process your data. These include:

4.3.1. Contractual obligations

When you make a purchase from us, you are entering into a Contract with us. In order to perform this Contract, we need to process and store your data. For example, we may need to contact you by email or telephone in the case of system upgrades, or in the case of problems with your payment.

4.3.2. Legitimate interest

In certain situations we collect and process your personal information to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might be reasonably expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

We may also use your contact or previous enquiry history to send you personalised offers or marketing information by email or post about similar services and initiatives that we think may be of interest to you (you may opt-out of receiving these at any time using the contact details in section 4.1).

For research and reporting purposes (we also combine the order history of customers or prospective customers) to identify trends and ensure we provide the best possible customer service.
Please see paragraph 4.5. Disclosure of your information to check where we may use this basis for processing.

4.3.3. With your explicit consent

In certain situations, where the two bases above are not appropriate, we will instead ask for your explicit consent before using your personal information. For example, when you tick an opt-in box to receive specific communications. When collecting your personal data, we will always make clear to you which data is necessary in connection with a particular service or offer.

4.3.4. Legal compliance

If the law requires us to, we may pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity which may affect Partial Exemption VATLess commonly, we may process your personal information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent.

4.4. How and why we use your personal data

• To process or fulfil any subscriptions you place on our websites;
• To provide you with marketing information by email or text about relevant products or services that you request from us, or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes, or it is our legitimate interest to do so;
• To provide you with marketing information by post about relevant products or services that we feel may interest you, where it is our legitimate interest to do so or you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
• To provide you with marketing communications by post, email, web, text and/or phone about relevant products, services and news of other third parties that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
• To provide customer service in relation to your use of the Partial Exemption VAT websites, to deal with enquiries and complaints and to notify you about changes to our services;
• To enable you to create an account and participate in interactive features of our websites, when you choose to do so;
• To provide customer service in relation to your use of the Partial Exemption VAT websites, to deal with enquiries and complaints and to notify you about changes to our services;
• To administer, support, improve and develop our websites, ensuring that its content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
• To send you (non-marketing) communications required by law or which are necessary to inform you about our changes to the services we provide to you (eg updates to this Privacy Policy);
• To improve our websites, we may analyse information about how you use it and the content that you interact with. We may also monitor users' use of the websites to enable us to analyse customer make-up, track patterns, review other site behaviour in order to determine what other products, services and events you may be interested in, and in order to VAT us improve our business generally. We'll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interest;
• To send you surveys and feedback requests to help improve our services – participation in these is entirely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose any information which might be required. We'll do this on the basis of our legitimate business interest as this will help us make our products or services more relevant to you;
• To provide third parties with statistical information about our customers but this information will not be able to be used to identify any individual user;
• To identify and prevent fraud or any other criminal activity.

4.5. Disclosure of your information

4.5.1. Consent

Other than as expressly set out in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required or permitted by law, we will not share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.

4.5.2. Direct marketing

We aim to communicate with you about the work that we do in ways that you find relevant, timely and respectful. To do this we use data that we have stored about you, such as services you have contracted with us for in the past, as well as any preferences you may have told us about. We use your explicit consent or our legitimate organisational interest as the legal basis for communications by post and email. You may opt-out of receiving these at any time using the contact details at the beginning of this policy.

4.5.3. Email marketing

When purchasing our services, we may send you information about similar products, related services and events which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes, or it is our legitimate interest to do so. You are given the opportunity to opt out from any marketing communication on every subsequent marketing email you receive. You can also opt-out or update your contact preferences at any time by using the contact details at the start of this policy.

4.5.4. Third parties

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties, including:

• Any third party to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to provide you with any service to which you have subscribed (including, but not limited to, for the purposes of processing payments, or designing, maintaining and administering the Partial Exemption VAT websites).
• Any person to whom disclosure is necessary to enable us to enforce our rights under this Privacy Policy or under our Terms & Conditions.
• Customer research companies that may work with us to improve our services to you (in this case, all data is treated anonymously).
• Third party websites to show you products that might interest you while you are browsing the internet. This is based on your acceptance of cookies on our websites. Please refer to section 4.6. Cookies for details.
• In order to enforce any terms and conditions or agreements between us.
• As part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation (we will always notify you in advance and we will aim to ensure that your privacy rights will continue to be protected).
• To protect our rights, property and safety, or the rights, property and safety of others (this includes exchanging information with other companies, organisations and regulators for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction).

In these cases, we require that these third parties comply strictly with our instructions and with data protection laws.

4.5.5. Illegal Activities

If we are required by law or requested by the police or a regulatory or government authority investigating potentially illegal activities to provide information concerning your activities whilst using the network we shall do so. We may also disclose personal information to appropriate third parties to VAT in anti-fraud checks and investigations.
In all of the above cases we will always keep your rights and interests at the forefront to ensure they are not overridden by your own interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.
You have the right to object to any of this processing at any time. If you wish to do this, please use the contact details at the beginning of this policy. Please bear in mind that if you object this may affect our ability to carry out tasks above that are for your benefit.

4.6. Cookies

The Partial Exemption VAT websites use cookies to ensure that you get the most out of our websites. Cookies are small text files that are automatically placed onto your device by some websites that you visit. They are widely used to allow a website to function as well to provide website operators with information on how the site is being used. We use cookies to identify how the websites are being used and what improvements we can make.

Therefore, we may send a cookie which may be stored by your browser on your computer's storage. We may use the information we obtain from the cookie in the administration of the Partial Exemption VAT websites, to improve the site's usability and for marketing purposes. We may also use that information to recognise your computer when you visit the site, to monitor website traffic and to personalise the site for you.

If you do not wish us to install cookies on your computer for these purposes, you may change the settings on your internet browser to reject cookies. For more information, please consult the 'Help' section of your browser. Please note that if you do set your browser to reject cookies, you may not be able to use all of the features of our site.

As mentioned above, we may use an analytics service provider (such as Google Analytics) for website traffic analysis and reporting. Analytics service providers generate statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users' computers. The information generated relating to the site may be used to create reports about the use of the site and the analytics service provider will store this information.

4.7. Third party sites and contributors

The websites may contain links to other websites and microsites that are operated by third parties. We do not control those websites and microsites and as such this Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites and microsites. Please consult the terms and conditions and privacy policy of those third party websites and microsites to find out how they collect and use your personal data and to establish whether and for what purpose they use cookies.

4.8. Security

4.8.1. How we protect your data

• We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.
• We store all the personal information you provide, including your login and user details (where applicable), on our secure servers. All electronic transactions you make to or receive from us will be encrypted using SSL technology. The encryption of data in transit does not guarantee the security or privacy of your data. We cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet due to networks outside of our control.
• Only employees and approved contractors/sub-contractors/developers we may appoint from time to time, and who need the information to perform a specific job, are granted access to personally identifiable information.
• Our offices and data centre locations are secure and only personnel holding appropriate security passes can access areas where personal data is stored.
• When necessary, we dispose of, or delete your data securely.
• We ensure that our employees, agents, contractors and subcontractors are aware of their privacy and data security obligations and we take reasonable steps to ensure that employees of third parties working on our behalf are aware of their privacy and data security obligations.
• We limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors, subcontractors and other third parties who have a need to know.
• Regular security reviews are held by us to ensure that the site remains safe and secure for your protection.

4.9. International Data Transfer

4.9.1. Data in transit

Our servers are situated in the United Kingdom, however we collect data from wherever users are situated. The information that we collect may therefore be transferred to the UK from any other country in which you may be located and will be subject to the UK data protection laws.

4.9.2. Human access

Your personal and/or organisation data may be accessed by our staff, agents or contractors from a country outside the United Kingdom (UK) or European Economic Area (EEA) for any of the purposes set out in this policy. These countries may have in place data protection laws which may be of a lower standard than in the EEA. We will ensure that any of your information that is accessible outside the UK or EEA is handled subject to appropriate safeguards.

4.9.3. Data protection outside the UK and EEA

Certain countries outside the UK or EEA, such as Canada (commercial organisations) and Switzerland, have been approved by the European Commission as providing essentially equivalent protection to EEA data protection laws and therefore no additional legal safeguards are required. In countries which have not had such approval, we will transfer it subject to ensuring that appropriate legal safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC's) are in place. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.

4.10. Data retention – How long we will keep your personal data

We will retain your information, including your name, work address, email, phone number (where applicable), for the duration of your Contract (where applicable) and for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. We hold accounting records for a minimum of six years to satisfy our legal obligations.

Once a subscription is terminated, VAT returns can no longer be added, uploaded, edited or deleted. You can reactivate your subscription at any point by paying the subscription fees, which will allow you to once again add, upload, edit or delete VAT returns.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

4.11. Maintenance and Data Loss

We strive to maintain the availability of our services, and provide online support. However, on occasion we will need to perform maintenance and updates to our services, and this may require a period of downtime. We try to minimise any such downtime. Where planned maintenance is being undertaken, we will attempt to notify you in advance but this is not guaranteed.

Data loss is an unavoidable risk when using any technology. You are responsible for keeping copies of your data entered into our software and websites.

5. Legal Statement

PEL has taken all reasonable care to ensure that the information contained in the websites is accurate on the stated date of publication or last modification.

It is possible that the information may be out of date, incomplete or the opinion of the author. It is advisable that you verify any information from our websites before relying on it.

Please be aware that Partial Exemption VAT is a tool to help you calculate your Partial Exemption VAT calculation and the user is responsible for ensuring all calculations and information produced by our software is correct before submitting to HMRC.

PEL accepts no responsibility for the consequences of error or for any loss or damage suffered by users of any of the information or material contained on our websites, or any website you may access through our websites.

Materials contained on our websites are subject to copyright and other proprietary rights.

6. Intellectual Property Rights

All Intellectual Property used and displayed within Partial Exemption VAT is owned wholly by PEL and is not to be used or copied outside of our software.

You acknowledge that all intellectual property rights in the Software, together in our trading name Partial Exemption VAT, throughout the world belong either to us or to our third party licensors (each a Third Party, and all intellectual property rights belonging to Third Parties Third Party intellectual property rights), and that rights in the Software are licensed (not sold) to you.

You have no rights in, or to, the Software other than the right to use it in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

Use of Third Party intellectual property rights may be subject to separate licence terms imposed by the relevant third party, and you undertake at all times to comply with such terms.

In this Agreement intellectual property rights means copyright, database rights, patents, patent applications, patent rights, rights in designs, trademarks, trademark applications, trademark registrations, trademark rights, trade secrets and all other intellectual property and proprietary information rights as may exist now or hereafter come into existence, all modifications, continuations, renewals and extensions of the foregoing, and all claims, actions, causes of action, damages, costs, expenses, profits, penalties, recoveries and remedies relating to any past, present or future infringement of any of the foregoing, arising under the laws of any country, state or jurisdiction in the world.

7. Your Rights

7.1. Your data

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

• Access the information held about you (commonly known as a "data subject access request")
• Ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date.
• Ask us to erase your personal information from our files and systems where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold it.
• Object to us using your personal information to further our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) or where we are using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• Ask us to restrict or suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to establish its accuracy or our reasons for using it.
• Ask us to transfer your personal information to another person or organisation.
• You also have rights in relation to automated decision making which has a legal effect or otherwise significantly affects you. We do not carry out any automated processing, including profiling, which produces significant legal effects concerning you.
• If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us (see paragraph 4.1. Contacting Partial Exemption VAT).

7.2. Marketing and promotions

You may request us to cease sending you any marketing information at any time by updating your profile and contact preferences online or by notifying us in writing.

Withdrawing your consent to be contacted for marketing and/or promotional purposes does not prevent us from contacting you in relation to the service we provide (e.g. providing customer services, or alerting you of action required by you to maintain or secure your account).

8. Limitation of Liability

• a. Nothing in this Agreement shall exclude or in any way limit our liability to the extent that it cannot be excluded or limited as a matter of law.
• b. Subject to clauses 3.6 and 3.7 we shall not be liable under or in connection with this Agreement for:
  • i. any action, inaction and/or failure to perform of any third party (including any Third Party);
  • ii. loss of income;
  • iii. loss of business profits or contracts;
  • iv. business interruption;
  • v. loss of the use of money or anticipated savings;
  • vi. loss of information;
  • vii. loss of opportunity, goodwill or reputation;
  • viii. loss of, damage to or corruption of data; or
  • ix. any indirect or consequential loss or damage of any kind howsoever arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of Contract or otherwise.
• c. Subject to clauses 3.4.2, 3.6 and 3.7, our maximum aggregate liability under or in connection with this Agreement, or any collateral Contract, whether in Contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, shall be limited to a sum equal to 100% of an aggregate amount equal to the payment received by us from you under this Agreement in the six months preceding the occurrence of your claim.
• d. You undertake at all times to mitigate any such damage or loss.
• e. You acknowledge that this Agreement allocates risk between you and us as authorised by applicable law, and that the pricing of the Software reflects this allocation of risk and the exclusions and limitations of liability contained in this Agreement. You agree that our responsibilities under this Agreement are reasonable because they reflect that:
  • i. we cannot control how, and for what purposes, you use the Software;
  • ii. we have not developed the Software specifically for you; and
  • iii. Although we follow good industry practice, it is not economically possible for us to carry out all the tests necessary to make sure that the Software is problem or error free.
• f. The laws of some countries do not allow some or all of the limitations described above. If these laws apply to you, some or all of the above limitations may not apply to you, and you might have additional rights. If any remedy hereunder is determined to have failed of its essential purpose, all other limitations of liability and exclusion of damages set forth in this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

8.1. Maintenance and downtime

We may take the Software offline to perform scheduled maintenance or the Software may become unavailable due to a technical issue. You agree to allow up to 48 hours of total downtime per month without any refund in any form. Downtime is defined as any time at which the Software is unavailable to access, but does not include minor technical issues, such as a singular, or group or minor software features being unavailable.

8.2. Events Outside Our Control

You agree not to hold us responsible for any act or event beyond our reasonable control which may delay or prevent services.

9. Complaints

9.1. Queries and Complaints

If you have any questions about these terms and conditions or how we handle your personal information, please contact us by emailing complaints

9.2 Supervisory Authority

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant Supervisory Authority.

In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Governance Department
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: +44 0303 123 1113

10. Sustainability

PEL believes in taking care of our environment and are committed to being green. We are constantly evaluating the ways in which we work to help reduce our carbon footprint.