General Conditions of Services

Sept. 2025

§ 1 Scope of our Services

We specialize in providing tailored tax services to private international clients, offering a comprehensive range of expertise to address their unique needs. The specific scope of our services is detailed in our "List of Tax Services and Fees", which forms part of our terms and conditions. This two-page summary outlines the scope and pricing of the services we provide, including:

Income Tax Declarations: Preparation of income tax returns and related documentation for individuals.
Individual Tax Services: Specialized assistance with personal tax matters, including specific consultations.
Inheritance and Gift Tax: Preparation of declarations and advice related to inheritance and gift taxation.

While this service offering is available for all private individuals, there are additional service offerings specifically designed to meet the needs of freelancers ("Freiberufler") and small businesses ("Kleinunternehmer"):

Preparation of relevant tax declarations, such as income tax, simplified profit and loss statement (EÜR), sales tax, and trade tax.
Individual business-related tax services tailored to specific needs.
Bookkeeping and tax reporting services.
New Business Starter Package to assist entrepreneurs.
Tax due diligence (mandatory for new clients).

Please note that due to our specialization we currently do not support commercial businesses ("Gewerbe"). The mandate for our services is granted by signing the power of attorney for German tax advisors. The power of attorney is issued in a separate document, in compliance with the requirements of the tax authorities, and is electronically recorded in the power of attorney database of the German Federal Chamber of Tax Consultants. By signing the power of attorney, you agree to our terms and conditions outlined, including the services listed in our "List of Tax Services and Fees". These services can be utilized as needed, and you may request any of the specific services listed in the document as your tax needs arise.

§ 2 Rights and Duties of the Tax Advisor

The contract shall be executed in accordance with the principles of proper professional practice. Activities outside the scope of a tax consultation are not part of the subject matter of this contract. No legal advice shall be provided.
Pursuant to Section 62a StBerG, the Tax Advisor shall be entitled to engage employees, expert third parties and data processing companies for the execution of the services. This includes, among other, professional telecommunication and service firms such as Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft, and DATEV. In doing so, the Tax Advisor shall ensure that they undertake to maintain confidentiality in accordance with the regulations applicable to the Tax Advisor. If other professionals (e.g. tax consultants, auditors, lawyers) are involved, the prior consent of the Tax Advisor shall be required.
The intellectual property of the Tax Advisor's services shall remain with the Tax Advisor.

§ 3 Confidentiality

The Tax Advisor undertakes to maintain confidentiality about all facts coming to its knowledge in connection with the execution of the services. This shall only not apply if the Client releases him from this obligation in writing.
The Tax Advisor shall only hand over reports, expert opinions and other written documents on the results of the Tax Advisor's activities to third parties with the consent of the Client.
The duty of confidentiality shall also apply to the same extent to the Tax Advisor's employees. It shall continue to apply after termination of the contractual relationship.
Furthermore, there shall be no duty of confidentiality if disclosure is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the Tax Advisor.
Statutory rights to information and rights to refuse to give evidence shall remain unaffected (§ 102 AO, § 53 StPO, § 383 ZPO).

§ 4 Rights and Obligations of the Client

The Client shall be obliged to cooperate in the execution of the order to the extent necessary for the proper completion of the order. He shall hand over to the Tax Advisor in full and in due time all evidence, documents and records required for the execution of the order which are related to the tax matters to be handled by the Tax Advisor. This shall also apply to the provision of information on all circumstances which may be of significance for the execution of the order.
The Tax Advisor shall assume the facts stated by the Client, in particular figures, to be correct; unless the incorrectness is obvious without further investigation. There shall be no verification of the correctness as a whole, unless the client issues a written order for this purpose, which shall also be remunerated separately.
If the Client fails to provide the cooperation incumbent upon it or defaults in accepting the services offered to it, the Tax Advisor shall be entitled to set a reasonable deadline with the declaration that it will refuse to continue the contract after the deadline has expired. After unsuccessful expiry of the deadline, the Tax Advisor shall be entitled to terminate the contract without notice and shall be entitled to compensation for the additional expenses incurred by it as a result of the delay or the failure to cooperate on the part of the Client as well as for the damage caused.

§ 5 Remuneration

The remuneration (fees and expenses) shall be calculated in accordance with the Tax Consultant Remuneration Ordinance (StBVV). Otherwise, the Client shall owe the agreed remuneration or the customary remuneration (cf. §§ 612 (2), 632 BGB).
A higher or lower remuneration than the statutory remuneration may be agreed in text form (Section 4 (4) StBVV).
The remuneration is regularly invoiced when the tax return is completed and submitted to the client for signature and is due before submission of the tax return. A consulting service is regularly invoiced as soon as the service has been rendered and is due in accordance with the statutory regulations. For new clients an advance payment of EUR 190 plus VAT is required.
The Tax Advisor shall be entitled to demand an appropriate advance payment for remuneration and expenses incurred and expected to be incurred in accordance with § 8 StBVV. If the Client does not pay the advance, the Tax Advisor may suspend its activities after prior notification until the advance has been paid.

§ 6 Offsetting and Right of Retention

Offsetting by the Tax Advisor against the Tax Advisor's claim to remuneration shall only be permitted with undisputed and legally established claims.
Pursuant to Section 66 (3) StBerG, the Tax Advisor shall be entitled to refuse to surrender the hand files until the Tax Advisor has been satisfied with regard to the fees and expenses owed by the Client. This shall not apply if the withholding of the reference files would be unreasonable under the circumstances.

§ 7 Removal of Defects

The Client shall be entitled to have any defects remedied. The Tax Advisor shall be given the opportunity to remedy the defect. Until justified defects have been remedied, the Client shall be entitled to withhold an appropriate part of the remuneration. If the Tax Advisor fails to remedy the claimed defects within a reasonable period of time or refuses to remedy the defects, the Client may demand a reduction of the remuneration or rescission of the contract or remedy of the defects by a third party at the Tax Advisor's expense.
If the Tax Advisor's errors result from the fact that the Client has provided incomplete or incorrect information, the Client shall bear the costs of correcting the errors alone.
Obvious inaccuracies (e.g. typing errors, calculation errors) may be corrected by the Tax Advisor at any time. Other defects may be corrected by the Tax Advisor vis-à-vis third parties with the consent of the Client or if there are justified interests of the Tax Advisor.

§ 8 Liability and Limitation of Liability

The Tax Advisor shall be liable for its own fault and for the fault of its vicarious agents. If this is to be deviated from in individual cases, this shall require a written agreement. The limitation of liability results from the following regulations:
The claim of the Client arising from the contractual relationship existing between him and the Tax Advisor for compensation for damage caused by negligence shall be limited to € 1,000,000.00 (i.e. four times the minimum insurance sum of € 250,000.00). Excluded from the limitation of liability are claims for damages arising from injury to life, body and health.
The liability arising from the client-lawyer relationship shall only extend to the above-mentioned client. Claims against the Tax Advisor by third parties are excluded; this applies in particular to managing directors and shareholders of the Client. The mandate shall not have any protective effect in this respect.

§ 9 Document Retention

The Tax Advisor shall accept documents exclusively by electronic means and shall have no obligation towards the Client to retain the same.
The Tax Advisor shall be entitled to retain the electronic documents for a period of 10 years after completion of the service or the time legally required.

§ 10 Termination of the Contract

The contract shall end by fulfillment of the agreed services, by expiry of the agreed term or by termination. The contract shall not terminate by death, by the occurrence of legal incapacity of the Principal or, in the case of a company, by its dissolution.
A contract concluded for an indefinite period of time may — if and to the extent that it constitutes a service contract within the meaning of Sections 611, 675 of the German Civil Code (BGB) — be terminated by either party in accordance with Sections 626 et seq. of the German Civil Code (BGB). The termination shall be made in text form. If the Client terminates the contract, they are obligated to compensate the Tax Advisor for the work already performed until the date of termination.
In the event of termination of the contract by the Tax Advisor, in order to avoid a loss of rights on the part of the Client, all actions which are reasonable and cannot be postponed (e.g. application for an extension of the deadline in the event of imminent expiry of the deadline) shall still be carried out in any case. Liability shall be governed by § 8 of this contract.
The Tax Adviser shall be obliged to return to the client everything that he receives or has received for the execution of the assignment, as well as everything that he has obtained from the business relationship. In addition, the Tax Advisor shall be obliged to provide the Client with information on the status of the matter and to render account upon request.

§ 11 Invoicing

The invoice for the agreed fee shall be sent to the Client by e-mail to the address provided by the Client.
The client thereby waives the formal requirement of § 9 para. 1 StBVV in conjunction with § 126 BGB to be sent the original of the cost invoice in writing. The invoice is valid without signature.

§ 12 Final Provisions

Only German law shall apply to the service, its execution and claims arising therefrom. The place of performance shall be the place of the Tax Advisor's place of business.
If the Client is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the parties agree that the place of jurisdiction shall be the Tax Advisor's place of business.
If individual provisions of this contract are and become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected thereby. The invalid provision shall be replaced by the parties with a valid provision that comes as close as possible to the intended objective. The same shall apply to any uncertainties in the contract.
Amendments and supplements to this contract must be made in text form. This shall also apply to any amendment of this clause itself.

Cancellation Policy

Right of Withdrawal

As a consumer, you have the right to revoke the order placed with us within fourteen days without giving any reason.

The revocation period is fourteen days from the date of the order.

In order to exercise your right of revocation, you must inform us of your decision to revoke this contract by means of a clear declaration (e.g. a letter sent by post to Prinz.tax Steuerberatung GmbH, Postfach 180212, 40569 Düsseldorf or by e-mail to welcome@prinz.tax). For this purpose, you may use the enclosed sample revocation form, which, however, is not mandatory.

In order to comply with the revocation period, it is sufficient that you send the notification of the exercise of the right of revocation before the expiry of the revocation period.

Consequences of the Revocation

If you revoke this contract, we shall reimburse you for all payments we have received from you without undue delay and at the latest within fourteen days from the day on which we received the notification of your revocation of this contract. For this repayment, we will use the same means of payment that you used in the original transaction, unless expressly agreed otherwise with you; in no case will you be charged any fees because of this repayment.

If you have requested that the services begin during the withdrawal period, you must pay us a reasonable amount that corresponds to the proportion of the services already provided by the time you notify us of the exercise of the right of withdrawal with respect to this contract compared to the total scope of the services provided for in the contract.

Sample Cancellation Form

If you want to revoke the contract, please fill out this form and send it back.

To Prinz.tax Steuerberatung GmbH:
I/we (*) hereby revoke the contract concluded by me/us (*) for the provision of the following service (*).
Ordered on (*)/received on (*)
Name of the consumer(s)
Address of the consumer(s)
Signature of consumer(s) (only in case of paper communication)
Date(s)

(*) Delete where not applicable.

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