Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a legally binding contract between you and Chartered Books ("Chartered Books", "we", "us") for the Chartered Books cloud accounting service, including the web application, APIs, mobile views, documentation and related features (the "Service"). By ticking the agreement box when you sign up, or by using the Service, you accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy. This is an electronic contract made under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and does not need a physical or digital signature.

You confirm that you are at least 18 years old, competent to contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and, if you sign up for an organisation, that you have authority to bind that organisation. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

• "Organisation" means the business or person for whom an account is created. "Account Owner" is the person who created it.
• "Authorised Users" means the people the Account Owner or an administrator invites to use the Service under a role with specific permissions.
• "Customer Data" means all data you or your Authorised Users enter, import, upload or generate in the Service, including ledgers, invoices, bills, payroll and timesheet records, bank statements, documents and the personal data of your own customers, vendors and employees.

• Give accurate sign-up information and keep it current. One account may not be shared between people; invite each person as an Authorised User.
• You are responsible for everything done through your account and your Authorised Users, for assigning roles and permissions sensibly, and for keeping passwords and authentication codes confidential.
• Tell us promptly at the contact address below if you suspect unauthorised access. We may require a password reset or additional verification to protect an account.

The Service is offered on subscription plans with different features and limits (for example number of companies, users, storage and usage). The plan you choose, and its limits, are shown in the application and on our pricing page. A free trial, where offered, lasts for the period shown at sign-up and may be limited in features or usage.

We may improve, change or retire features. We will not remove a feature that is central to a paid plan without reasonable notice and, where appropriate, a pro-rata refund of the affected prepaid period.

• Paid plans are billed in advance, monthly or yearly, at the price shown when you subscribe. Prices exclude Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other applicable taxes, which are added as required under the CGST Act, 2017 and related laws. We issue a GST-compliant tax invoice for every payment; keep your billing GSTIN up to date if you want input tax credit.
• Payments are processed by third-party payment providers (such as Stripe). We do not store your full card details. A failed payment may lead to suspension after reasonable notice.
• Unless the law requires otherwise or we state otherwise in writing, fees already paid are non-refundable, and cancelling stops renewal from the end of the current billing period. You can change or cancel your plan from the Billing page.
• We may change prices for future billing periods by giving you at least 30 days’ notice. The new price applies from your next renewal.

You own your Customer Data. You give us a limited, non-exclusive licence to host, process, back up and transmit it only as needed to provide, secure, support and improve the Service for you, and as the law requires. We do not sell Customer Data and do not use it to advertise to you or others.

You are responsible for the accuracy, quality and legality of Customer Data and for having the rights and any consents or notices needed to put it into the Service, including personal data of your customers, vendors and employees. For that personal data you are the "Data Fiduciary" under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) and we act as your "Data Processor", processing it on your instructions. Our Privacy Policy explains the details.

You can export your data from the Service at any time while your account is active. Please do not enter data you are not permitted to hold, and avoid entering identifiers you do not need (for example, do not store full Aadhaar numbers unless you are legally permitted and need to).

Chartered Books is software. Its reports, tax calculations, return working papers, reconciliations, payroll computations and similar outputs (including GST, TDS and TCS, income tax, PF, ESI, professional tax and labour welfare fund features) depend on the data and settings you provide and on rates, slabs and rules that change from time to time. We work to keep statutory defaults up to date, but you must review them and the outputs before relying on them or filing anything.

• We are not a chartered accountant, tax practitioner, GST Suvidha Provider or legal adviser, and nothing in the Service is professional advice. You, or your professional adviser, remain responsible for maintaining your books of account, filing returns, paying taxes and making statutory deposits on time and for the correctness of what is filed.
• Where the Service records an audit trail of changes to accounting entries (as contemplated by the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014), you must not try to disable, bypass or tamper with it.
• Laws require many businesses to keep records for several years (for example under the CGST Act, 2017, the Companies Act, 2013 and income-tax law). You are responsible for retaining the records you are required to keep, including after you stop using the Service.

You must not, and must not allow anyone else to:

• use the Service for anything unlawful, fraudulent or in breach of any person’s rights, including to maintain false books, evade tax or launder money;
• upload malware, or probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the Service, or try to access another customer’s data or accounts;
• overload or disrupt the Service, or bypass plan limits, rate limits or security controls;
• copy, resell, white-label, reverse engineer or build a competing product from the Service, except where the law allows it despite this restriction;
• send spam or unlawful content through the Service’s email or messaging features.

The Service can connect to third-party services you choose to use, such as bank feeds, Google sign-in, payment providers, email, the GST portal and e-invoicing or e-way bill systems. Those services are governed by their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for their availability, accuracy or conduct. By connecting one you authorise us to exchange the data needed for the integration, and you can disconnect it at any time.

The Service, its software, design, trademarks and documentation belong to us or our licensors. We give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the Service for your own business during your subscription. These Terms do not transfer ownership of any of it to you, and your Customer Data stays yours. If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without restriction or payment.

We aim to keep the Service available and to back up data regularly, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free operation. We may carry out planned maintenance and will try to give notice of any that is likely to cause significant downtime. Support is provided by email and in-app channels during business hours in India, unless your plan states otherwise.

• You may stop using the Service and close your account at any time. Closing an account does not by itself cancel amounts already due.
• We may suspend or end your access, with notice where practical, if you materially breach these Terms, do not pay fees when due, create a security or legal risk, or if we are required to by law or by an order of a court or authority.
• After termination you will have 30 days to export your Customer Data. After that we will delete it from our live systems, and it will be removed from backups in the ordinary backup cycle, except for what we must keep to comply with law, resolve disputes or enforce these Terms.
• Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including payment, intellectual property, disclaimers, liability limits, indemnity and governing law) will survive.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not give any warranty, express or implied, including of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy or non-infringement, except those that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, goodwill or data, arising out of or relating to the Service. Our total liability for all claims relating to the Service in any period is limited to the fees you paid us for the Service in the 12 months before the event that gave rise to the claim. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited under law, including for fraud or wilful misconduct.

You are responsible for penalties, interest and late fees imposed by any tax or regulatory authority; they are not losses we are liable for unless caused by our breach of these Terms and within the cap above.

You will defend and compensate us against third-party claims, and related losses and reasonable costs, arising from your Customer Data, your breach of these Terms or of law, or your Authorised Users’ misuse of the Service. We will tell you promptly of any claim and reasonably cooperate, at your cost.

Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, epidemics, war, government action, failure of public networks or power, or failures of third-party cloud infrastructure, but payment obligations for services already received continue.

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. First, please write to us at the contact address below and we will try to resolve any dispute in good faith within 30 days. If it is not resolved, the dispute will be referred to and finally settled by arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 by a sole arbitrator appointed by mutual agreement (or, failing agreement, as the Act provides). The seat and venue of arbitration is [City], India, the language is English, and the courts at [City] have exclusive jurisdiction over matters not subject to arbitration and for the enforcement of awards. Nothing here limits any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 or other law that cannot be waived by contract.

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will give at least 15 days’ notice by email or in the application before they take effect. If you keep using the Service after the effective date, you accept the updated Terms; if you do not agree, you may close your account before then. The version and date at the top of this page show when these Terms were last updated.

• These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the Service and replace earlier understandings.
• If any part is held unenforceable, the rest continues in effect. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
• You may not assign these Terms without our written consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of the business.
• We may give you notices by email to your registered address or within the application, and you may give us notices at the contact address below.

Chartered Books, [Registered office address]. Email: info@charteredbooks.com. Grievance Officer: [Name and designation]. We acknowledge complaints within 48 hours and aim to resolve them within 30 days.