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Tide Accounting Terms and Conditions

Effective 11 July 2024

These terms and conditions (“Tide Accounting Terms”) govern your access to, and use of, Tide Accounting. Tide Accounting is an accounting and tax solution that provides tax estimates and insights on Tide members’ businesses. Tide Accounting is provided by Tide Platform Limited (“Tide”, “we” or “us”) to Tide members who meet Tide’s eligibility criteria and subscribe to access and use Tide Accounting. If you want to activate our offerings “Admin Essentials” or “Admin Extra” that combine Tide Accounting and Tide’s invoicing add-on Invoice Assistant, you should also read the Invoice Assistant Terms and Conditions as they apply to your use of the Invoice Assistant add-on.

By clicking the acceptance or “Subscribe” button during your Tide Accounting or Admin activation process, you are accepting these Tide Accounting Terms and if applicable, the Invoice Assistant Terms, on behalf of the company that you represent or in your capacity as a sole trader (depending on the type of business that you run). They form a legal agreement between your business , the Tide Platform Account holder (“you”), and Tide, so please make sure you read them carefully.

The applicable Tide terms governing your access to your Tide Platform Account such as the Tide Platform Terms of Use or the Tide Card Terms (collectively “the Terms of Use”) will continue to apply. You can find a link to these Terms of Use on our website (https://www.tide.co/terms/). Defined terms shall take their meaning from the respective Terms of Use unless otherwise defined herein.

1. What is Tide Accounting

Tide Accounting provides you with accounting and tax solutions for your business. To use Tide Accounting to prepare for Self Assessment, you must be a Sole Trader who is not using the construction industry scheme. If your business is registered for VAT, you can use the “VAT Manager” feature of Tide Accounting to file your quarterly VAT returns directly from your Tide account. To use Tide Accounting for submitting your VAT return, you must be a VAT registered business and not using the VAT Flat Rate Scheme. You should also be on the VAT Cash Accounting Scheme. Please also check the further eligibility criteria for the use of VAT Manager in our VAT Manager FAQs.

Tide Accounting is offered in two tiers: Accounting and Accounting Extra (both referred to as “Tide Accounting” in the Tide Accounting Terms except where explicit differentiation is made).

Accounting offers features that allow producing self assessment estimates, submission of VAT returns, bookkeeping tools.

Accounting Extra offers all standard Accounting features as well as additional tools such as opening an additional account to set aside money for taxes, granting your accountant access to Tide Accounting, connecting more than one Tide Business Account as well as non-Tide accounts provided by other banking providers to Tide Accounting and more. Further information about who is eligible to use Tide Accounting, how its features work and what services Tide Accounting includes can be found in our Tide Accounting FAQs available at Tide Accounting | Tide Business. It is important that you read these as they are incorporated into, and form a part of, these Tide Accounting Terms.

Note that the eligibility applies to your overall use of “Admin Essentials” which combines Accounting and Invoice Assistant and of “Admin Extra” which combines Accounting Extra and Invoice Assistant. This means that if you’re not eligible for either tier of Tide Accounting you cannot use Admin Essentials or Admin Extra either. However, you can still activate and use only Invoice Assistant as a stand-alone service.

2. How does Tide Accounting work?

To activate Tide Accounting, you simply need to select the subscription option on the Tide website or select Tide Accounting in the app, go through the activation journey and accept these Tide Accounting Terms.

Tide Accounting uses Member Data to provide you Tide Accounting and related services, including tax estimates and financial reports. “Member Data” means any information and other data entered or uploaded by you while using Tide Accounting as well as any data entered or uploaded by you while using other Tide products such as your Tide Business Account or Tide Invoicing and which is used within the features of Tide Accounting (that would include transaction data and financial information available to Tide). You acknowledge and agree that to provide Tide Accounting to you, we will share your Member Data with Sage Global Services Limited (“Sage”), so that they can process this data on your behalf to provide the Tide Accounting service to you. Sage provides accounting software solutions and features to Tide that enable Tide to provide members with Tide Accounting.

To be able to use the VAT Manager, you need to be set up correctly to use the Government’s Gateway services. For information on how to do that, check out the instructions from gov.uk.

Under Accounting Extra, you may open an additional account to set aside money for taxes due (the “Tax Account”). It is important to understand that this account cannot be used to make external inbound or outbound transfers. By accepting these terms you agree that the account allows movements of funds only between your main Tide Business Account and the Tax Account. You also acknowledge that the Tax Account is not a savings account. It’s an account that can be used to segregate the funds you hold in your main Tide Business Account. You must not use the Tax Account for the purpose of running another business or limited company or to segregate your business’s funds from the funds of your customers. If you downgrade to a tier that does not support this feature, you will not be allowed to add more money into the Tax Account but you can still transfer your funds back to your main Tide Business Account.

If you choose to grant access to Tide Accounting to your accountant under Accounting Extra, you would be entitling your accountant to access your information under Tide Accounting as well as to perform bookkeeping tasks. The accountant that you authorise will be fully entitled to perform all actions and rights which you have granted to them through the Tide Platform and all their actions or omissions will be binding to your business. You must review carefully what rights you will be granting before you proceed. Further information about who can be added as your accountant and what actions they can perform can be found in our Tide Accounting FAQs.

3. What are your obligations when using Tide Accounting?

You shall only use Tide Accounting in compliance with these Tide Accounting Terms. In particular:

  • you must only use Tide Accounting for internal purposes in connection with the business you operate and not for the benefit or on behalf of your customers, partners or other third parties;

  • you are solely responsible for the accuracy, quality, reliability, integrity and legality of any Member Data and you are the data controller of this data. To the extent that Tide processes personal data of third parties on your behalf, e.g.information about your employees, customers, or other third-parties, Tide will be your data processor and will process Member Data in accordance with your instructions and Tide’s Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with you that already governs your overall use of the Tide Platform Account (available at www.tide.co/terms). The DPA forms an inseparable part of the Terms of Use and these Tide Accounting Terms and shall be embedded herein by reference;

  • as data loss is an unavoidable risk when using any technology, you’re responsible for maintaining the necessary amount of copies or backups of the Member Data entered into Tide Accounting;

  • if we permit multi-user access to Tide Accounting to your employees, accountants or other professional advisors, you are also responsible for (a) any access rights granted to such users and any data or information that they input into Tide Accounting and (b) any breaches of these Tide Accounting Terms by any such users;

  • you must notify Tide immediately if you become aware, or reasonably suspect, that the security of your Tide Platform Account or access to Tide Accounting has been compromised;

  • you must not use Tide Accounting in any unlawful manner, for any unlawful purpose, or in any manner inconsistent with these Tide Accounting Terms, or act fraudulently or maliciously;

  • you must comply with all applicable international and domestic laws, rules, and regulations. These may include requirements set out by governments, regulators, payment systems or other third parties. In particular, you must comply with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, Bribery Act 2010, the General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and the Criminal Finances Act 2017. We do not provide any advice or recommendations relating to any such laws, rules or regulations;

  • you are obliged to follow instructions that Tide provides to you with respect to your use of Tide Accounting, whether such instructions are provided via the Tide Platform, email, or otherwise;

  • you must not do anything that could damage or materially impair our systems or security, or the systems or security of Sage, or Tide Accounting generally or which could interfere with any other party’s use or enjoyment of Tide Accounting. In particular, you will (a) not knowingly introduce any Malicious Code into Tide Accounting, and (b) use established best industry practices to identify, screen, and prevent the introduction of any Malicious Code into, and remove all Malicious Code from, Tide Accounting. If we become aware of any such activities, we may (a) immediately suspend or terminate your use of Tide Accounting with or without notice and/or (b) report the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities and share your identity and the identity of anyone else involved.

In these Tide Accounting Terms, the reference to “Malicious Code” means any code or other element that does or could in any way disable, damage, allow unauthorised access or in any way interfere with Tide Accounting, any Tide or Sage system, hardware, software, information, or data, including any Trojan horse, trap door, back door, virus, ransomware, worm, time bomb, or cancelbot.

When using Tide VAT Manager:

  • it is your sole responsibility to collect, report, remit and pay the correct applicable value-added tax to the proper tax authority;

  • due to rapidly changing tax rates and regulations that require interpretation by your qualified tax professionals, you bear full responsibility to determine the correct rate for each invoice and the overall applicability of the output generated by the Tide VAT Manager and to confirm its accuracy.

4. What fees does Tide charge for using Tide Accounting?

At present, we charge the following fees for your use of Tide Accounting or the Admin offerings:

  • £9.99 per month + VAT for Accounting;

  • £12.99 per month + VAT for Admin Essentials (combining Accounting and Invoice Assistant);

  • £19.99 per month + VAT for Accounting Extra;

  • £22.99 per month + VAT for Admin Extra (combining Accounting Extra and Invoice Assistant).

5. Billing

Monthly subscription fees will be billed in the first week of each calendar month in advance, typically on or around the 4th day of each month. Unless a promotional offer applies, your first month’s subscription fees will be debited from your Tide Business Account on a pro-rata basis on the day you sign up to use Tide Accounting. For example, if you sign up on 15 July, your first payment covering approximately half of the monthly fees will be taken from your Tide Business Account on 15 July. If you sign up on or around 4 August, you will then be charged the full subscription fees for August.

6. Changes to fees and billing

Occasionally, we may offer time-limited promotional fee discounts or other incentives, so please make sure to read any notices we give you regarding such promotional terms. We may withdraw or change promotional offers at any time.

From time to time, Tide may change the subscription fees and billing terms. Such changes will be notified to you by email or in-app. You can cancel your subscription at any time after such notice has been given but if you continue using the service, we will treat this as an acceptance of the new fees by you.

7. Renewals and cancellations

Your subscription will automatically renew each month unless you cancel before the end of the calendar month. You can cancel at any time by clicking on the “Cancel subscription” button in your Tide account, by contacting our member services at hello@tide.co or through the in-app chat.

When you cancel your subscription, you will continue to have access to the add-on(s) that you have activated and the applicable terms will remain active until the end of the calendar month in which you cancelled. At the end of the month, access will be removed and the applicable terms will terminate.

You will be charged subscription fees in full for the month in which you cancelled your subscription. There will be no pro-rata refund of subscription fees in case of early cancellation. To avoid incurring next month’s subscription fees, you should cancel your subscription before the end of the calendar month.

8. Authorisation of Tide for Debit

You authorise Tide to debit your Tide Business Account (including any additional accounts you open under your main Tide Business Account) for all subscription fees. If there are not enough funds in any of your accounts to pay your fees, then you must pay the amount due immediately upon demand, together with any processing and collection fees and costs, and any interest incurred. We reserve the right to suspend your access to Tide Accounting if we are not paid on time any monies owed to us by you.

9. How will Tide contact you?

If we need to contact you, we may contact you through the Tide app, email, phone or using your home address. It is therefore important that you ensure that your contact details are always up to date. You can contact us through the in-app chat or by email to hello@tide.co.

All of the documents relating to Tide Accounting, and all of our communications with you, will be in English.

10. Amendments

We will generally give you at least one (1) month’s prior notice of any changes to the Tide Accounting Terms. This will normally be provided through the Tide Platform, although in some cases, other methods such as e-mail might be used. The date when the change will take effect will be included in the notice.

In some cases, we may not notify you in advance of a change being made, for example:

  • if the change benefits you (e.g., we introduce new features that improve our service);

  • if we make a change to comply with law, rule or regulation or related guidance and we’re not reasonably able to provide advance notice; or

  • if there are minor changes to Tide Accounting or the way the service operates that do not affect the quality of the service, the functions or your rights under the Tide Accounting Terms.

Unless you’ve told us otherwise before any change takes place, we’ll assume that you’ve accepted the change. If you do tell us that you do not accept any change, your notification will be deemed to be a notice that you wish to terminate the Tide Accounting Terms and your right to use Tide Accounting on the date upon which the changes are due to take effect (or any other date that you request in advance of the changes taking effect).

11. Termination

These Tide Accounting Terms will remain in place indefinitely until terminated by you or us. You may terminate the Tide Accounting Terms and your subscription at any time by contacting our member services at hello@tide.co or through the in-app chat. Any termination will take effect on the last day of the calendar month in which you terminated (or such other date that we may communicate to you).

We will normally give you written notice at least one (1) month prior to our termination of these Tide Accounting Terms and your right to use Tide Accounting. However, we may terminate these Tide Accounting Terms and your use of Tide Accounting with immediate effect on the expiration of the free trial period.

We may terminate these Tide Accounting Terms and your use of Tide Accounting without liability with immediate effect upon notice to you if Sage is unable or unwilling to provide Tide with the services, tools or features necessary for Tide to provide you with Tide Accounting for any reason, including the bankruptcy or insolvency of Sage.

We may also terminate these Tide Accounting Terms and your use of Tide Accounting without liability with immediate effect upon notice to you if we have reason to believe that any of the following occurred:

  • you have been suspended from your Tide Platform Account for a period of 90 days and you have failed to remediate the cause for suspension;

  • you violated these Tide Accounting Terms, any of the Terms of Use or our Acceptable Use Policy;

  • we reasonably think that you might put us in violation of any law or regulation;

  • we discover that any of the information you’ve provided is false or misleading in any way;

  • you have infringed on Tide’s, Sage’s or any third party’s intellectual property, including, without limitation, any third-party copyrights and patents;

  • you are subject to a bankruptcy, insolvency, winding up or other similar event.

Instead of exercising our termination right in respect of any of the events listed above, we may alternatively suspend or restrict your access to Tide Accounting, pending resolution of any of our concerns.

The termination of the Tide Accounting Terms and your use of Tide Accounting shall not automatically lead to the termination of any of the Terms of Use relating to your Tide Platform Account unless we inform you otherwise. However, your or Tide’s provision of notice to terminate the Tide Platform Terms of Use or the closure of your Tide Business Account shall additionally constitute a notice of termination of these Tide Accounting Terms and such termination will be effective on the same date as the termination of the Terms of Use or the closure of your Tide Business Account. Furthermore, if you terminate the Bank Account Terms and/or the Tide Card Terms, we may, in our sole discretion, decide to terminate these Tide Accounting Terms. There will be no pro-rata refund of subscription fees for the calendar month in which cancellation or termination takes place.

The termination of the Tide Accounting Terms will not affect any rights accrued by you or us arising under these Tide Accounting Terms prior to termination.

12. Effects of termination

If your access to Tide Accounting and your use of Tide Accounting are terminated for any reason or the Tide Accounting Terms are terminated (either by you or us) you agree that:

  • you will continue to be bound by Tide Accounting until any outstanding liabilities and obligations between you and us have been settled;

  • the intellectual property licence we granted you under these Tide Accounting Terms will terminate;

  • we may delete all of your information, account data and records, unless we are required to retain such information under applicable law. If you would like a copy of the Member Data that you inputted into Tide Accounting, please contact us at hello@tide.co or via the in-app chat. We may charge an administrative fee for processing your request.

In addition, the following provisions under these Tide Accounting Terms shall survive the expiration or termination of these Tide Accounting Terms for any reason: Privacy, Warranties, Liabilities, Indemnification, English Law and Miscellaneous.

13. What other important legal provisions do you need to know?

Privacy

You can find our Privacy Policy here. By accepting these Tide Accounting Terms, you agree to Tide collecting, using, and disclosing your information in accordance with Tide’s Privacy Policy.

You acknowledge and agree that to the extent that Tide processes personal data of third parties on your behalf, e.g. information about your employees, customers, or other third-parties, such data will be processed by Tide on your behalf as a data processor and this shall be governed by Tide’s Data Processing Agreement (DPA) struck with you available at www.tide.co/terms and embedded herein by reference.

You consent that all data shared by you with Tide (including all Member Data), may be shared with Sage in connection with the provision of Tide Accounting to you. If you no longer want us to use your information, we will stop providing Tide Accounting to you but may still use your data or information (including Member Data) where we have lawful grounds to do so, for example because we need to retain records for regulatory purposes.

14. Warranties

Tide Accounting is provided on an “as is”, “as available” basis and without any representation or warranty, whether express, implied or statutory. In particular:

  • Unless required by law, Tide does not provide any implied warranties, such as the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary rights and warranties arising from a course of dealing, usage or trade practice;

  • Tide does not warrant that availability or performance of Tide Accounting will be uninterrupted or error free;

  • Tide shall not be responsible for any interruptions, including, but not limited to, system failures or other interruptions that may affect the receipt, processing, acceptance, completion or settlement of transactions;

  • Tide makes no representation or recommendation as to and accepts no responsibility for any services, tools or features provided by third parties, including Sage;

  • Tide does not warrant that Tide Accounting will meet your individual requirements or produce particular outcomes or results or that the results comply with applicable legal, regulatory and industry requirements and standards;

  • Tide is not responsible or liable for any issues with Tide Accounting that arise from the Member Data;

  • Tide does not guarantee that it will correct any errors in Tide Platform, Tide Accounting, API, materials, documentation, or data;

  • Tide does not guarantee that Tide Accounting is free of Malicious Code.

15. No Professional Tax or Accounting Opinion or Advice

You acknowledge and agree that Tide does not provide professional advice, including accounting or tax opinions or advice. Although Tide strives to ensure that data and information contained in the Tide Platform, Tide Accounting, or other materials, documentation, or data are current, Tide is dependent on third parties, such as state and local governmental agencies, to timely update and provide information that affect such data and information. You are responsible for your own tax policies and tax reporting positions, and for conducting your own due diligence. You are encouraged to conduct due diligence and seek the assistance of qualified tax counsel or accounting professionals on matters requiring professional advice.

16. Liabilities

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Tide is not liable, and you agree not to hold it responsible, for any damages or losses (including, but not limited to, loss of money, goodwill, or reputation, profits, or other intangible losses or any special, indirect, or consequential damages) relating to Tide Accounting or resulting directly or indirectly from your use of Tide Accounting.

In particular (but without limitation), Tide is not liable for damages or loss resulting directly or indirectly from:

  • persons acting under your authorisation in accordance with these Tide Accounting Terms and the limitations imposed upon them;

  • your use of third party services;

  • your inability to use Tide Accounting for whatever reason;

  • delays or disruptions in Tide Accounting;

  • you being denied access to Tide Accounting for any reason;

  • Sage’s bankruptcy or insolvency;

  • Malicious Code obtained by accessing Tide Accounting, the Tide websites or any associated site or service;

  • glitches, bugs, errors, or inaccuracies of any kind in the services, including non-compliance with applicable legal, regulatory and industry requirements and standards;

  • the content, actions, or inactions of any third parties, including Sage;

  • a suspension or other action taken with respect to Tide Accounting or your Tide Platform Account;

  • your need to modify practices, content, or behaviour, or your loss of or inability to do business, as a result of changes to these Tide Accounting Terms, Tide Accounting or Tide’s policies;

  • illegal actions and operations of any third parties performed using counterfeited and/or illegal documents or illegally received data;

  • a deletion of your information, account data and records, including any Member Data, under these Tide Accounting Terms.

Except for liability for death or personal injury or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or for any liability that cannot be excluded or amended by law, AND TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL TIDE’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TIDE ACCOUNTING TERMS OR TIDE ACCOUNTING, WHETHER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR OTHERWISE, EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO TIDE PURSUANT TO THESE TIDE ACCOUNTING TERMS IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM. The essential purpose of this provision is to limit the potential liability of Tide arising out of Tide Accounting and these Tide Accounting Terms whether for breach of contract, negligence, or otherwise. These limitations shall apply regardless of any failure of essential purpose of any limited remedy.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, Tide is not liable for a delay or failure to perform its obligations under these Tide Accounting Terms by reason of any cause or event beyond its reasonable control including but not limited to any action or inaction by you or any third party, any market disruption, acts or restraints of government(s) or public authorities, any pandemic, war, revolution, strikes or other industrial action, fire, flood, natural disaster, explosion, terrorist action, the suspension or limitation of trading by any execution venue, or any breakdown, failure, defective performance or malfunction of any telecommunications or other equipment or system, interruptions in the Internet, bank delay, postal delay, failure or delay of any fax or electronic transmission, any accident, emergency, act of god or any abnormal or unforeseeable circumstances.

17. Indemnification

You are responsible, and shall defend and indemnify Tide from any damages or liabilities, including reasonable legal and accounting fees and expenses, arising out of any third-party claim related to, or in connection with (a) your use of Tide of Accounting, (b) any violation by you of these Tide Accounting Terms, (c) Member Data or (d) your violation of any law, rule or regulation. Tide reserves the right, at your expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter for which you are required to defend and indemnify Tide and you agree to cooperate with Tide’s defence of any such claims. Tide will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any such claim, action, or proceeding upon becoming aware of it.

18. Intellectual Property Rights

We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right, without the right to grant sublicences, to use Tide Accounting during the term of these Tide Accounting Terms solely for your internal business operations. Tide Accounting and the Tide websites and all intellectual property rights contained therein, including but not limited to any content, are owned or licenced by us. Intellectual property rights mean copyrights, trademarks, domain names, design rights, database rights, patents and all other intellectual property rights of any kind whether or not they are registered or unregistered (anywhere in the world). Tide’s intellectual property includes all logos related to Tide Accounting. In addition, all page headers, custom graphics, button icons, and scripts are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of Tide. You may not copy, imitate or use Tide’s intellectual property rights without Tide’s prior written consent.

We reserve all of our rights in any intellectual property in connection with these Tide Accounting Terms. This means, for example, that we remain owners of them and are free to use them as we see fit.

Any feedback, user reviews, comments, and suggestions you may provide for improvements to Tide Accounting or the Tide business (“Feedback”), whether provided directly to Tide or on user review websites such as TrustPilot, is given entirely voluntarily and you grant Tide a permanent right to use or not use any such Feedback in any way that Tide wants and without having to pay you anything. For example, Tide may use your user reviews provided on TrustPilot in its marketing material without obtaining further consent from you. We have no obligation (a) to maintain any Feedback in confidence or (b) to respond to any Feedback.

19. Notices

You can contact us through the in-app chat or by email to hello@tide.co. If applicable, your notice will be deemed received on the same working day it is received if before 17:00 London time or if not, the next business day.

20. Complaints

If you would like to log a complaint with us, please email us at complaints@tide.co. Our complaints procedure sets out the process for submitting and resolving any complaints. You may request a copy of our complaints procedure at any time by contacting us.

21. English Law

These Tide Accounting Terms shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales and any claim or dispute under these Tide Accounting Terms shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

22. Miscellaneous

You may not transfer or assign or sell any rights or obligations you have under these Tide Accounting Terms. Tide reserves the right to transfer or assign these Tide Accounting Terms or any right or obligation under these Tide Accounting Terms at any time.

If we fail to enforce any of our rights under these Tide Accounting Terms, or applicable laws, it shall not be deemed to constitute a waiver of such right.

Unless stated otherwise in these Tide Accounting Terms, if any provision of these Tide Accounting Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck and the remaining provisions shall be enforced.

You acknowledge and agree that Tides does not provide any accounting, taxation, financial, investment, legal or other advice to you, your users, or any third-party, and you accept that it is your responsibility to ensure that the Tide Accounting service meets your requirements. Any information we provide is meant for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as professional advice. Tide Accounting is not a substitute for a professional accountant and any information presented does not constitute accounting advice or tax advice. Consult the services of a competent professional when you need this type of assistance.

These Tide Accounting Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire and exclusive agreement between Tide and you regarding Tide Accounting (excluding any services for which you have a separate agreement with Tide that is explicitly in addition or in place of these Terms).