Terms of Service

1. The Service

You must be at least 18 years old to use PenaltyProof. By using this service you confirm you meet this requirement.

PenaltyProof provides automated monitoring of UK public registry data and sends email alerts when deadlines are overdue or approaching. The service is operated by Chavannes Ltd (Company No. 17198260), a private limited company registered in England and Wales. Specifically, PenaltyProof monitors:

• UK Companies House — filing deadlines (annual accounts and confirmation statements), company status changes, and PSC/officer changes.
• Charity Commission annual return due dates — if charity monitoring is enabled on your account.
• CIS monthly return deadlines — the standard 19th of each month, if CIS monitoring is enabled on your account.
• Auto-enrolment pension re-enrolment dates — calculated as staging date + 3 years, based on the staging date you provide.

Important: PenaltyProof is an automated alerting tool. It is not a substitute for professional accounting advice, and you remain responsible for ensuring your clients meet all statutory deadlines.

2. Plans and pricing

Prices may change with 30 days' written notice. Continued use after the notice period constitutes acceptance of the new price.

3. Payment

Payment for paid plans is handled by Stripe. By subscribing, you agree to Stripe's Terms of Service. Your subscription renews automatically each calendar month. You may cancel at any time — access to the service continues until the end of the current billing period. No partial refunds are issued for unused time.

4. Accuracy and liability

Monitoring data is sourced from UK public registries and, where applicable, from information you provide. Sources include: Companies House (an executive agency of the UK Government) for filing deadlines, company status, and PSC/officer data; the Charity Commission public API for charity annual return dates (if charity monitoring is enabled); HMRC's published CIS schedule (19th of each month) for CIS deadline reminders (if enabled); and pension staging dates you enter in your account for re-enrolment calculations. PenaltyProof has no control over the accuracy or availability of third-party public-source data.

Subject to the Deadline Miss Guarantee below, we are not liable for:

• Errors or delays in Companies House public data.
• Missed alerts caused by API downtime, email delivery failures, or infrastructure interruptions.
• Any penalties, fines, or losses arising from a missed or late filing.

5. Deadline Miss Guarantee

If you receive a Companies House late-filing penalty notice for a filing that we ought to have alerted you about and did not, we will credit your account with up to 12 months of your subscription fees. The remainder of this section sets out exactly when this applies.

Eligibility

A claim is eligible only if all of the following apply:

• The account was on a paid plan (Starter, Pro, or Practice) at both the scheduled alert date and the filing deadline. Accounts on the Free plan or in trial without successful payment are not covered.
• The company in question was on your active list at least 35 days before the filing deadline (so that the 30-day advance alert was due to be sent while the company was being monitored).
• The email address registered on the account was valid and was not bouncing at any point in the 30 days before the deadline. "We emailed you" means our system dispatched the message from our outbound mail provider — it does not require delivery, opening, or reading on your end.
• The filing deadline fell at least 30 days after the company first appeared in the public Companies House API.
• Companies House issued a late-filing penalty for the specific filing we failed to alert you about (the guarantee does not extend to other consequences such as strike-off action for missed confirmation statements, which carry no fixed monetary penalty).
• The claim is submitted within 30 days of the date of the Companies House penalty notice, with a copy of that notice attached.

Remedy and cap

The remedy is a service credit applied to your PenaltyProof account, not a cash refund. The credit is the lesser of (a) the amount of the Companies House penalty actually issued and (b) 12 months of your most recent subscription fees. Aggregate credits applied under this section in any 12-month period are capped at 100% of the fees you have paid PenaltyProof in that period. This guarantee is your sole and exclusive remedy in respect of the failure described, and is offered in addition to (not in derogation of) any non-excludable statutory rights. Nothing in this guarantee limits any statutory rights you may have as a consumer.

How to claim

Email hello@penaltyproof.co.uk within 30 days of the Companies House penalty notice. Include: the affected company number, the deadline date, a copy of the Companies House penalty notice, and the email address registered on your PenaltyProof account.

Automated Reminder Disclaimer

PenaltyProof's CIS monthly return, pension re-enrolment, and charity annual return alerts are calendar-based reminders only and do not constitute professional tax, pensions, or charity law advice. You remain responsible for:

• CIS: Verifying the correct filing deadline for each client. PenaltyProof uses the standard 19th of the month; deferrals, exemptions, and deemed-contractor rules may change your client's actual deadline.
• Pensions: Confirming the re-enrolment date matches your client's actual staging date. PenaltyProof calculates re-enrolment as staging date + 3 years using the date you provide; changes to that date must be updated manually.
• Charities: Checking the annual return due date on the Charity Commission register. Filing extensions or regulatory changes may not be reflected in our cached snapshot.

Consult HMRC, The Pensions Regulator, or the Charity Commission for authoritative guidance. PenaltyProof is a reminder service, not a compliance guarantee. The Deadline Miss Guarantee (if applicable) applies only to Companies House late-filing penalties and does not extend to CIS, pension, or charity compliance.

6. Limitation of liability

Subject to the Deadline Miss Guarantee, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, our total liability to you for any claim arising under these Terms shall not exceed the greater of: (a) the total fees paid by you to PenaltyProof in the 12 months preceding the claim, or (b) £100.

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be limited by law.

7. Acceptable use

PenaltyProof is intended for UK accountants and bookkeepers monitoring filing deadlines for clients they act for in a professional capacity. You must not:

• Use the service to harvest bulk data from Companies House for any purpose other than monitoring your own clients' deadlines.
• Share account access with third parties outside your practice.
• Attempt to circumvent rate limits or otherwise abuse the service.

8. Account deletion

You may delete your account at any time via /delete-account. All personal data associated with your account will be permanently and irreversibly deleted. Deletion does not entitle you to a refund of any prepaid subscription fees.

9. Termination

You may cancel your subscription and delete your account at any time without cause. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that breach these Terms (in particular the Acceptable Use section) without prior notice. Where suspension is due to suspected abuse, we will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable.

10. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email with at least 14 days' notice before they take effect. Continued use of the service after that date constitutes acceptance.