Terms of Service

Important Notice

Please read these terms of service carefully as they contain important information about your legal rights, remedies, and obligations.

Definitions

Client means the person or entity that engages, requests, authorises, or receives services from Aries, including an authorised representative acting on that person's or entity's behalf.

Company means a company or other entity for which Aries provides services.

Aries means Aries CPA & Co.

Person includes an individual, company, partnership, body corporate, unincorporated association, or other legal or organisational entity, as the context permits.

Services include accounting, audit and assurance, tax compliance and advisory, CPA reports and financial documentation, client due diligence, compliance, and other professional services that Aries agrees to provide, subject to the applicable engagement terms.

Business Activities

Aries may refuse, delay, suspend, or terminate a service or decline an instruction where a client is or becomes an excluded person, engages in illegal or prohibited activity, does not provide satisfactory information, or creates an unacceptable legal, regulatory, sanctions, professional, fraud, or reputational risk.

Aries may request further identity, ownership, control, business, source-of-funds, source-of-wealth, transaction, tax, or supporting information; conduct continuing client due diligence; retain compliance records; and make disclosures or reports to competent authorities where required or permitted by anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, sanctions, tax, company, court, law-enforcement, professional, or other applicable requirements. Aries may be prohibited from notifying the client of a review, report, or disclosure.

Excluded Persons include:

• Persons who have been imprisoned or convicted of any criminal offense
• Persons who have been proven to act fraudulently or dishonestly in any civil proceedings
• Persons who have demonstrated moral corruption in any way

Illegal or prohibited activities include:

• Illegal or other activities related to money laundering, receiving proceeds from drug trafficking, terrorist activities, or criminal activities
• Trading with countries excluded from time to time by banks and financial institutions

Business activities not approved by Aries include but are not limited to:

• Industrial espionage
• Weapons and arms trade
• Human, human or animal organs, biological materials or nuclear materials
• Pornography, gambling
• Any other purposes that are illegal under the law of the place of incorporation or establishment of the company
• Engaging in business or other purposes that are unacceptable to Aries

Fees and Direct Expenses

The client undertakes to pay the agreed service fee charged by Aries upon receipt of Aries's invoice. Fees are as described in the applicable quotation, engagement terms, or fee schedule and may change from time to time.

The client undertakes to pay direct expenses and government, tax, certification, translation, payment-processing, or external professional charges reasonably incurred for the agreed services. Aries is not liable for fines, penalties, or other liabilities incurred by the client, and the client remains responsible for paying them.

If the client does not require a recurring service, the client should notify Aries within thirty days of receiving the renewal invoice. If the client fails to notify Aries within that period, the client shall be deemed to have agreed to pay the invoice in full.

Except where required by law or agreed otherwise in writing, fees already earned, work already performed, and non-cancellable costs or commitments are not refundable. Any refund or credit will be assessed under the applicable engagement terms, the work performed, costs incurred, and mandatory law.

Government bodies, payment processors, technology providers, and other third parties may change their charges, requirements, processing times, availability, or decisions outside Aries's control. Unless Aries agrees otherwise in writing, the client is responsible for applicable third-party costs, failed or reversed payments, chargebacks, foreign-exchange differences, and third-party outages or delays.

General Provisions

The client shall provide all instructions or requests regarding the engagement to Aries in writing. Aries may agree to act on instructions given by another method, but is not responsible for a resulting misunderstanding or error unless those instructions are confirmed in writing.

Service communications are deemed to have been correctly communicated to the client if sent to the postal or email address that the client has notified Aries.

Aries is not liable for failing to comply fully or partially with instructions it did not receive, or for consequences caused by missing, incomplete, or late instructions.

General information on Aries's website and in other materials does not constitute legal, tax, or other professional advice.

The client must provide true, complete, accurate, and current identity, ownership, control, contact, business, source-of-funds, source-of-wealth, instruction, and supporting information. Aries may rely on that information when preparing filings, professional records, service documents, accounting and tax work, audit services, CPA reports, compliance work, and communications.

The client must promptly notify Aries of changes to directors, shareholders, beneficial owners, controllers, signatories, addresses, contact details, business activities, tax position, risk profile, or any other information relevant to the service, KYC, client due diligence, or legal and professional compliance.

Term

Aries may update these website terms from time to time. The current version takes effect when posted and generally applies prospectively, subject to any separate engagement letter, signed agreement, mandatory law, or notice that states otherwise. Where appropriate, Aries may notify affected clients of a material change.

Dispute Resolution

These terms are governed by the laws of Hong Kong. Any dispute, controversy, difference, or claim arising out of or relating to these terms, including their existence, validity, interpretation, performance, breach, or termination, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration administered by the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules in force when the Notice of Arbitration is submitted. The seat of arbitration shall be Hong Kong, and the award shall be final and binding on the parties.

Refund Policy

Except where required by law or agreed otherwise in writing, annual or recurring service fees are priced for the agreed service period and are generally non-refundable after the service period or work has commenced. If the client cancels or changes provider during the period, any refund or credit will be assessed under the applicable engagement terms, taking into account work performed and non-cancellable costs.

For ad-hoc or document-preparation work cancelled after work begins, the client remains responsible for work performed and expenses incurred up to cancellation. Any document-preparation or cancellation charge will follow the applicable quotation, engagement letter, or fee schedule communicated to the client.

Use of Cloud Infrastructure and Data Location

Aries uses reputable third-party technology and data-infrastructure providers, which may include Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Amazon Web Services, and MongoDB, to support communications, document handling, storage, databases, security, resilience, and service delivery.

Depending on the provider, service configuration, support arrangement, and backup architecture, personal data may be processed or stored in Hong Kong or other jurisdictions, including elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. Provider locations and subprocessors may change over time.

Aries handles these arrangements in accordance with its Privacy Policy and takes reasonably practicable steps to select suitable providers and apply appropriate contractual, access, security, retention, and deletion controls. Use of a particular service does not reduce any rights or protections that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Accounting Records, Financial Statements and Audit

Hong Kong companies must keep sufficient accounting records and prepare financial statements in accordance with the Companies Ordinance and applicable accounting standards, subject to any exemption that applies to the company. The directors and client remain responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the records, information and explanations provided.

Whether an audit is required, the applicable reporting framework, the financial period and the form of the auditor's report depend on the entity's status, activities and circumstances. Any accounting or audit work undertaken by Aries is limited to the scope, responsibilities, timetable and deliverables stated in the relevant quotation or engagement letter.

Accounting preparation is not an audit, and an audit provides reasonable rather than absolute assurance. Neither service guarantees that every error, omission or fraud will be detected, or that a filing, tax position or claim will be accepted by the IRD or another authority.

Tax Compliance

Tax compliance and advisory services depend on the relevant facts, supporting documents and applicable law. Aries may assist with returns, computations, elections, objections, IRD enquiries or other matters only to the extent agreed in the applicable quotation or engagement letter. The client remains responsible for providing complete, accurate and timely information, approving filing positions and paying tax by the applicable deadlines.

Hong Kong generally applies a territorial source principle to profits tax, but an entity's place of incorporation, bank account, invoicing address or customer location does not by itself establish that profits are offshore. An offshore profits claim requires a review of the relevant profit-producing operations and supporting evidence. Specified foreign-sourced income may also fall within the foreign-sourced income exemption regime. Eligibility for any exemption, deduction, concession, treaty treatment, filing extension or objection depends on the facts and the IRD's application of the law.

Tax planning or advice is based on the information supplied and the law and published practice available at the time. Implementation may require separate legal or other specialist advice. Aries does not guarantee that the IRD will accept a position or that a particular tax saving will result, and ongoing monitoring or future filings are included only where expressly agreed.