211 W Jefferson Street
Madison, Georgia 30650
Cell 770.377.5537
Fax 770.200.9241
E-mail mmartin@amandamartincpa.com
Website www.amandamartincpa.com
Amanda C. Martin, CPA, LLC is pleased to provide the professional services described below. This letter is to confirm our understanding of the
terms and objectives of our engagement and the nature and limitations of the service we will provide. This engagement between you and our
firm will be governed by the terms of this letter. We will perform our services in accordance with the Statement of Standards for Tax Services
issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Scope of Engagement
We will prepare the following federal and state income tax returns for the year ended December 31, 2015:
1040
500
U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
Georgia Individual Income Tax Return
We will not prepare any tax returns except those identified above, without your written request, and our without written consent to do so. We
will prepare your tax returns based on information and representations you provide to us. We will not audit or otherwise verify the data
submitted to us, although we may ask for clarification of some of the information. We will prepare the tax returns solely for filing with the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state and local tax authorities as identified above. Our work is not intended to influence any third party either
to obtain debt or equity financing or for any other purpose.
As a result, you agree to indemnify and hold our firm and any of its partners, principals, shareholders, officers, directors, members, employees,
agents or assigns harmless with respect to any and all claims arising from the use of the tax returns for any purpose other than filing with the IRS
and state and local tax authorities regardless of the nature of the claim, including the negligence of any party.
You agree that you will not and are not entitled to rely on any advice given to you by us unless your request and our response are provided in
writing.
Client Responsibilities
You will provide us with supporting data needed to prepare your tax returns. It is your obligation to provide us with accurate and complete
information, including income from sources outside the United States of America. We will provide you with a tax organizer to assist you in
gathering this information at your request upon request.
Documentation
You are responsible for maintaining adequate documentation to substantiate the accuracy and completeness of your tax returns. You should
retain all documents that provide evidence and support for your reported income, credits and deductions on your returns as required under tax
law. You are responsible for the adequacy of all such documents. You represent that you have such documentation and can produce if it needed
to respond to any audit of inquire by taxing authorities. You agree to hold us harmless with respect to any additional, taxes, penalties or interest
imposed on you by taxing authorities resulting from the disallowance of tax deductions due to inadequate documentation.
Personal expenses
You are responsible for ensuring that your personal expenses, if any, are segregated from business expenses and expenses such as meals, travel,
entertainment, vehicles use, gifts and related expenses are supported by necessary records required by the IRS and other taxing authorities. At
your request, we are available to answer your questions and advise you on the types of records required.
Other income, losses and expenses
If you realized income, loss or expense from a business or supplemental income or loss, these are subject to the reporting requirements of federal
and state income tax authorities. You are responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations pertaining to such operations,
including the classification of workers as employees or independent contractors and related payroll tax and withholding requirements.
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State and local filing obligations
You are responsible for determining state or local tax filing obligations with any state or local tax authorities, including, but not limited to
income, franchise, sales, use, and property taxes. You agree that we have no responsibility to research these obligations or to inform you of
them. If it comes to our attention that there may be an obligation to file additional income tax returns, we will notify you of this in writing and
ask you to contact us. If you ask us to prepare these returns, we will confirm this matter in a separate engagement letter and delineate the
additional charges for this service.
US filing obligations related to foreign investments
As part of your filing obligations, you are required to report the maximum value of specified foreign financial assets, which include financial
accounts with foreign institutions and certain other foreign non-account investment assets that exceed certain thresholds. You are responsible for
informing us of all foreign investments, so we may properly advise you of your filing obligations.
These assets include any ownership interests you directly or indirectly hold in businesses located in a foreign country, and any assets or financial
accounts located in a foreign country, and any assets or financial accounts located in a foreign country over which you have signatory authority.
Based on the information which you provide, this information will be used to calculate any applicable foreign tax credits. We will also use this
data to inform you of any additional filing requirements, which may include FinCEN 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
(FBAR). Failure to file required forms can result in the imposition of both civil and criminal penalties, which can be significant. The FBAR is not
a tax return and its preparation is not within the scope of this engagement. If you ask us to prepare the FBAR, we will confirm this matter in a
separate engagement letter and delineate the additional charges for this service.
Foreign filing obligations
You are responsible for complying with tax filing requirements of any other country. You acknowledge and agree that we have no responsibility
to discuss these issues with you. If you have specific questions regarding your tax filing obligations, please contact us to schedule an appointment
to discuss your concerns.
Ultimate responsibility
You have the final responsibility for your income tax returns. We will provide you with a copy of your electronic income tax returns and
accompanying schedules and statements for review prior to filing with the IRS and state taxing authorities (as applicable). You agree to review
and examine them for accuracy and completeness before you sign them.
You will be required to verify and sign a completed Form 8879, IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 1040, and any similar state
equivalent authorization form before your returns can be electronically filed.
In the event you do not wish to have your income tax returns filed electronically, please contact our firm. Additional procedures will apply. You
will be responsible for reviewing the paper returns for accuracy, signing them and filing them timely with the taxing authorities.
CPA Firm Responsibilities
We will perform our services in accordance with the Statements on Standards for Tax Services issued by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants.
We will prepare your returns based on your filing status (single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household or qualifying
widow[er] with dependent child) as reflected in your income tax returns for last year. If your marital status has changed, you want to change your
filing status, or you have questions about your filing status, please contact us immediately.
Additional filing obligations
If information comes to our attention when preparing your return indicating that you may have additional filing obligations, we will notify you
accordingly and schedule a time to discuss these obligations. We will follow up this discussion with a letter or e-mail summarizing the discussion
and delineate any additional charges for additional filing obligations.
Arguable positions
We will use our judgment to resolve questions in your favor where a tax law is unclear if there is reasonable justification for doing so. Whenever
we are aware that a possible applicable tax law is unclear or that there are conflicting interpretations of the law by authorities [e.g., Internal
Revenue Service and courts], we will explain the possible positions that may be taken on your return. We will follow whatever position you
request, so long as it is consistent with the current codes and regulations and their interpretations. If the IRS or state tax authorities should later
contest the position taken, there may be an assessment of additional tax, interest and penalties. We assume no liability for any such additional
taxes, interest and penalties or other fees and assessments.
Bookkeeping assistance
We may deem it necessary to provide you with accounting and bookkeeping assistance solely for the purpose of preparing the income tax returns.
We will request your approval in writing before rendering these services. These services will be performed solely in accordance with the AICPA
Code of Professional Conduct. Additional charges will apply for such services.
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Management responsibilities
Amanda C. Martin, CPA, LLC, in its sole professional judgment, reserves the right to refuse to take any action that could be construed as making
management decisions or performing management functions on your behalf. However, we may provide advice and recommendations to assist
management in performing its functions and making decisions.
Errors, fraud or theft
Our engagement does not include any procedures designed to discover errors, fraud or theft. Therefore, our engagement cannot be relied upon to
disclose such matters.
Estimated tax payments
You may be required to make quarterly estimated tax payments. We will calculate these payments for the 2016 tax year based upon the
information you provide to prepare your 2015 tax returns and have no obligation to update recommended payments after the engagement is
completed as defined in Timing of the Engagement.
Brokerage or investment advisory statements
If you provide our firm with copies of brokerage (or investment advisory) statements, we will use the information from these statements solely in
connection with the preparation of your income tax returns. We will rely on the accuracy of the information provided in the statements and will
not undertake any action to verify this information. We will not monitor investment activity, provide investment advice, or supervise the actions
of the entity or individuals performing investment activities on your behalf. We recommend you review all brokerage (or investment advisory)
statements promptly and carefully, and direct any questions regarding activities on your account to your broker (or investment advisor).
Tax planning services
Our engagement does not include tax planning services, which are available as a separate engagement. During the course of preparing tax returns
identified above, we may bring to your attention certain available tax saving strategies for you to consider as possible means of reducing income
taxes in the current and subsequent tax years. However, we have no responsibility to do so, and will take no action with respect to any such
recommendations, as the responsibility for implementation remains with you, the taxpayer.
Government inquiries
This engagement does not include responding to inquiries by any governmental agency or tax authority. If your tax return is selected for
examination or audit, you may request that we assist you in responding to such inquiry. In that event, we will confirm this in a separate
engagement letter and delineate how additional charges for this service will be calculated.
Third-party verification requests
We will not respond to any request from banks, mortgage brokers or other lenders for verification of any information reported on these tax
returns.
Timing of the Engagement
We expect to begin the preparation of your returns upon receipt of all required tax documents requested by our office including this executed
agreement and completed tax organizer (if applicable).
If your return is electronically filed, our services will conclude upon the earlier of:

the filing and acceptance of your 2015 tax returns by the appropriate taxing authorities or

one year from the execution of date of this agreement.
If you have the option to file a paper return and choose to do so, our services will conclude upon the earlier of:

delivery to you of your 2015 tax returns for your review and filing with the appropriate taxing authorities, or

one year from the execution date of this agreement.
Extensions of Time to File Tax Returns
The original filing due date for your income tax returns is April 15, 2016. Due to the high volume of tax return compliance services
performed by our firm, the information needed to complete the tax returns must be received no later than March 15, 2016 to provide us
with adequate time to prepare your returns for filing by the due dates.
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It may become necessary to apply for an extension of the filing deadline if there are unresolved tax issues or delays in processing, or if we do not
receive all of the necessary information from you on a timely basis. Applying for an extension of time to file may extend the time available for a
government agency to undertake an audit of your return or may extend the statute of limitations. All taxes owed are due by the original filing due
date. Additionally, extensions may affect your liability for penalties and interest or compliance with government or other deadlines.
To the extent you wish to engage our firm to apply for extensions of time to file tax returns on your behalf, you must notify us of this in
writing. Our firm will not file these applications unless we receive either a signed copy of this engagement letter or your express written
authorization to do so. In some cases, your signature may be needed on such applications prior to filing. Failure to timely file for an
extension of time to file can result in penalties for failure to file tax returns, which accrue from the original due date of the returns, and can
be substantial.
We are available to discuss this matter with you at you request at our regular hourly fee should the need arise.
Penalties and Interest Charges
Federal, state and local taxing authorities impose various penalties and interest charges for non-compliance with tax law, including for example,
failure to file or late filing of tax returns and underpayment of taxes. You as the taxpayer remain responsible for the payment of all taxes,
penalties, and interest charges imposed by taxing authorities.
We rely on the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide to us in connection with the preparation of your tax returns. Failure to
disclose or inadequate disclosure of income or tax positions can result in the imposition of penalties and interest charges.
Professional Fees
Our professional fee for the services outlined above will be based upon the complexity of the work to be performed and our professional time to
complete the work. Additionally, this fee is dependent on the availability, quality, and completeness of your records. You agree that you will
deliver all records requested by our staff to complete this engagement on a timely basis.
In the event your records are not submitted in a timely manner or they are incomplete or unusable, we reserve the right to charge additional fees
and expenses for the services required to correct the problem. If this occurs, we will contact you to discuss the matters and the anticipated delay
in completing our engagement prior to rendering further services.
We will bill you for our professional fees, expenses and out-of-pocket costs as of the date we deliver our work product to you. Payment is due
upon receipt of the billing statement. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate our work for non-payment of fees.
You agree that in the event your payment of tax is not received by the due date of the returns, we will not be responsible for your failure to meet
government and other filing deadlines, for any penalties or interest that may be assessed against you resulting from your failure to meet the
deadlines, and for any other damages (including, but not limited to, consequential damages, indirect, lost profits or punitive damages) incurred as
a result of the late filing or non-filing of the tax returns.
Privacy Policy
In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission rule, Privacy of Consumer Financial Information, we are required to inform you of our policy
regarding privacy of client information.
CPAs, like all providers of personal financial services, are now required by law to inform their clients of their policies regarding privacy of client
information. CPAs have been and continue to be bound by professional standards of confidentiality that are even more stringent than those
required by law. Therefore, we have always protected your right to privacy.
Types of Nonpublic Personal Information We Collect
We collect nonpublic personal information about you that is provided to us by you or obtained by us from third parties with your authorization.
Parties to Whom We Disclose Information
For current and former clients, we do not disclose any nonpublic personal information obtained in the course of our practice except as required or
permitted by law. Permitted disclosures include, for instance, providing information to our employees, and in limited situations, to unrelated
third parties who need to know that information to assist us in providing services to you. In all such situations, we stress the confidential nature
of information being shared.
Protecting the Confidentiality and Security of Current and Former Clients’ Information
We retain records relating to professional services that we provide so that we are better able to assist you with your professional needs and, in
some cases, to comply with professional guidelines. To guard your nonpublic personal information, we maintain physical, electronic and
procedural safeguards that comply with our professional standards.
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Electronic Data Communication and Storage
In the interest of facilitating our services to your company, we may send data over the Internet, store electronic data via computer software
applications hosted remotely on the Internet, or allow access of data through third-party vendors’ secured portals or clouds. Electronic data that
is confidential to your company may be transmitted or stored using these methods. We may use third-party service providers to store or transmit
this data, such as providers of tax return preparation software. In using these data communication and storage methods, our firm employs
measures designed to maintain data security. We use reasonable efforts to keep such communications and data access secure in accordance with
our obligations under applicable laws and professional standards, and we require all of our third-party vendors to do the same.
You recognize and accept that we have no control over the unauthorized interception or breach of any communications or data once it has been
sent or has been subject to unauthorized access, notwithstanding all reasonable security measures employed by us or our third-party vendors, and
consent to our use of these electronic devices and applications during this engagement.
To enhance our services to you, we will use CS Thomson Reuters Client Portal (the Portal), a collaborative, virtual workspace in a protected,
online environment. The Portal allows for real-time collaboration across geographic boundaries and time zones and allows us and you to share
data, engagement information, knowledge and deliverables in a protected environment. To use the Portal, you will be required to execute a client
portal agreement and agree to be bound by the terms, conditions, and limitations of such agreement. You agree that Amanda C. Martin, CPA,
LLC has no responsibility for the activities of CS Thomson Reuters and agree to indemnify and hold harmless with respect to any and all claims
arising from or related to the operation of the Portal.
Responding to Subpoenas
All information you provide to us in connection with this engagement will be maintained by us on a strictly confidential basis. If we receive a
summons or subpoena which our legal counsel determines requires us to produce documents from this engagement or testify about this
engagement and we are not prohibited from doing so by law or regulation, we agree to inform you of such summons or subpoena as soon as
practical.
You may, within the time frame permitted for our firm to respond to any request, initiate such legal action as you deem appropriate at your own
expense to attempt to limit discovery. If you take no action within the time permitted for us to respond, or if your action does not result in a
judicial order protecting us from supplying requested information, we may construe your inaction or failure as consent to comply with the
request. If we are not a party to the proceeding in which the information is sought, you agree to reimburse us for our professional time and
expenses, as well as the fees and expenses of our counsel incurred in responding to such requests.
Responding to Outside Inquiries
We may receive requests for information in our possession arising out of this engagement. The requests may come from governmental agencies,
courts, or other tribunals. If permitted, we may notify you of any request for information prior to responding. In certain proceedings, an
accountant-client privilege may exist. You agree that we are not under any obligation to assert any privilege to protect the release of information.
You may, prior to our response to any request, initiate legal action to prevent or limit our response. Unless you promptly initiate such action after
we notify you at your last known address, as reflected in our files, we will release the information requested.
Accountants’ Privilege
Internal Revenue Code §7525, confidentiality privileges related to taxpayer communication, provides a limited confidentiality privilege covering
certain tax advice embodied in taxpayer communications with federally authorized tax practitioners in certain limited situations.
These protections are limited in several important respects. For example, this privilege does not apply to your records, which you are required to
keep in support of your tax return. Additionally, it does not apply to state tax issues, state tax proceedings, private civil litigation proceedings, or
criminal proceedings. While we will cooperate with you with respect to the privilege, asserting the privilege is your responsibility. Inadvertent
disclosure of otherwise privileged information may result in a waiver of the privilege. Please contact us immediately if you have any questions
or need further information about this matter.
Tax Advice
Our advice is based on facts, assumptions, and representations as stated and authorities that are subject to change. We will not update our advice
for subsequent legislative or administrative changes or future judicial interpretations.
Termination
Any claim arising out of this agreement shall be commenced within one year of the delivery of the work product to you, regardless of any longer
period of time for commencing such claims as may be set by law.
We reserve the right to withdraw from this engagement without rendering services for any reason, including but not limited to, if you fail to
comply with the terms of this engagement letter, or if documents requested by our office are not timely provided to our firm. Further, we reserve
the right to withdraw from this engagement without completing the returns if you fail to comply with the terms of this engagement letter, if you
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disagree with our recommendations regarding tax return filing and reporting obligations, tax return positions to be taken or disclosures to be
made in the returns or if we determine professional standards required our withdrawal for any other reason.
At the completion of our engagement, the original source documents will be returned to you. Work papers and other documents created by us are
our property. Such original work papers will remain in our control, and copies are not to be distributed without our prior written consent.
If any portion of this agreement is deemed invalid or unenforceable, said finding shall not operate to invalidate the remainder of the terms set
forth in this engagement letter.
Entire Agreement
This engagement letter, including any attachments, encompasses the entire agreement of the parties and supersedes all previous understandings
and agreements between the parties, whether oral or written. Any modification to the terms of this engagement letter must be made in writing
and signed by both parties.
We appreciate the opportunity to be of service to you. Please date and sign the enclosed copy of this engagement letter and return to us to
acknowledge your agreement with its terms. It is our policy to initiate services after we receive the signed copy of this engagement letter from
you.
Very truly yours,
Amanda C. Martin
Amanda C. Martin CPA, LLC
ACCEPTED BY:
__________________________________
[Taxpayer Signature]
__________________________________
[Taxpayer Printed Name]
__________________________________
[Spouse Signature]
__________________________________
[Spouse Printed Name]
__________________________________
[Date]
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