Terms of Use

1. Accepting these terms

These Terms of Use are a binding agreement between you and Startup Consultancy LLC ("Startup Consultancy", "we", "us"). They cover this client portal and every service you order through it. You accept them by creating an account, by signing in, or by placing an order, whichever happens first.

If you accept on behalf of a company, you confirm that you are authorised to bind that company, and "you" means both you and it.

Each service you order is also covered by our Client Service Agreement (version 3), which you accept in the portal. If these Terms and the Client Service Agreement differ, the Client Service Agreement applies to that service.

Our Privacy Policy is part of this agreement and explains what we do with the information you give us.

2. Who we are and what we do

We are a US tax and compliance firm. We prepare and file US federal tax returns, apply for ITINs as an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, and form and look after US companies. We prepare tax returns in professional tax software and e-file them with the IRS when the IRS accepts them electronically. Forms the IRS accepts only by fax or mail are sent that way.

For the services you order, we work out which US filings you need and how your income should be reported, based on the answers and documents you give us (see section 6). That advice covers the service you ordered.

What we are not: we are not a law firm or a firm of certified public accountants, and nobody here acts as your lawyer. Using this portal or talking to our team creates no attorney–client relationship or privilege. We don't give legal, immigration or investment advice, and we don't handle disputes between owners or matters already before a court or agency. For those, we will tell you to see a qualified professional.

Guides, emails and answers from STARTUP AI are general information. Only our team's written answer about your own order is advice for your situation.

We cannot guarantee ITIN approval, a refund, IRS or state processing times, that a company name will be available, or any decision by a bank or payment company. Others decide those.

3. Who may use the portal

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a contract.

You must be the person you say you are. Accounts are for a named individual: don't share your login, and don't open an account with another person's identity or email address.

You must be allowed to receive our services under the law that applies to you, including sanctions rules (see section 22).

An account can't be transferred. If the person responsible for a company changes, tell us so we can update the record, rather than passing a login on.

4. Your account and your email address

Your email address is how we deliver what matters: documents, IRS and state letters, invoices, deadlines and messages. So:

You must confirm your email address before your first sign-in. Until you open the confirmation link, the account can't be used.

Disposable or temporary mailboxes are not accepted, because they can't reliably receive your documents.

Keep the address current. Changing it needs your password, and we tell the old address about the change. If you lose access to it, contact us. Don't open a second account.

You are responsible for everything done through your account. Use a password you use nowhere else, turn on two-step sign-in (Account > Security), and tell us at once at [email protected] if you think someone else has used your account.

We may end sessions and require a password reset where we reasonably believe an account has been compromised.

5. The services we provide

Depending on what you order, we may: prepare and file US federal tax returns (Form 5472 with pro forma 1120, 1040-NR, 1065, 1120, 1120-S, 1040) and extensions; apply for ITINs through our Certifying Acceptance Agent; apply for EINs; form companies and provide a registered agent and business address; file annual reports, franchise tax reports and other state filings; file amendments, reinstatements and dissolutions; register for and file sales tax; help with bank and payment account applications; prepare IRS notice responses and penalty relief letters; and file BOI reports for companies formed outside the US and registered in a US state.

The exact scope is what is described on the service you ordered, on your invoice and in your Client Service Agreement schedule. Anything else is a separate order. A conversation, a message or an answer from STARTUP AI doesn't change the scope of a paid order.

We may use carefully chosen subcontractors and agents, such as a registered agent network in a state where we have no office. We remain responsible to you for the service.

6. What we need from you

Almost every delay comes from missing or wrong information. You agree to:

• give us complete, accurate and current information, including the full legal names, countries, addresses and ownership percentages of every owner;
• answer our questions about your business truthfully and completely (what you sell, where your stock is kept, who works for you, and any work done while in the US). We decide how your income is taxed and which forms to file from these answers, and you confirm they are true before we file;
• send documents and answers by the dates we give you; IRS and state deadlines are not ours to move;
• tell us when something changes: address, owners, company name, bank, registered agent, residency, or a decision to close the company;
• review and sign your own return or form. You are responsible for what is in it;
• never ask us to file anything you know is false, and never use a company for an unlawful purpose.

We rely on what you tell us and don't independently verify it. Tax, penalties, interest, rejections and re-filing fees caused by wrong or incomplete information are your responsibility, and re-filing is charged.

7. Prices, government fees and payment

Our fee and government fees are different things. Where a price says "state fee included", it includes that state's fee as published when you order, and it may change if the state changes its fee. Government, expedite and third-party fees may change without notice. If a change affects an order you've placed, we tell you before going ahead.

Invoices are due on receipt. Our standard is payment in full before we start work. If we agree a split with you (for example 50% before we start), the rest is due before we file. We never file or submit anything until every invoice for it is paid.

We take bank transfers in USD (ACH or international wire), and in PKR where your invoice shows a PKR account. The details are on each invoice. Please send the exact invoice amount. Bank charges and currency conversion costs are yours. If a payment is reversed after we have filed, you still owe the fee and any cost the reversal causes us.

Credits in your Balance (for example referral credits, call credits, or a refund kept as credit) are applied to your invoices. They are not a deposit, earn no interest, can't be exchanged for cash, and expire on the date shown in your Balance.

Recurring services (registered agent, address service, annual compliance) renew for another term unless you cancel before the renewal date shown in the portal.

8. Cancellations and refunds

• Before we start work: full refund of our fee, minus payment-processing charges.
• After we start but before we file: we refund the part of our fee for work not yet done, and we list what was done.
• After we file or submit: no refund of our fee. Government and third-party fees already paid are never refundable.
• A rejection caused by our mistake is corrected and re-filed at our cost. A rejection caused by information you gave us is charged.
• A decision by the IRS, a state, a bank or a payment company is not a reason for a refund.

Recurring services can be cancelled for the next term. A term already started isn't pro-rated.

9. Turnaround times

Any time we give is an estimate of our own work, counted from the day we have everything we need from you. The IRS, state offices and banks work at their own pace, which changes with the season and is outside our control. We are not responsible for how long an agency takes, for an agency's system outage, or for a backlog.

10. Tax return services

• Draft and approval: we send your draft in the portal. You check it, then approve it or ask for changes. Every revised draft comes back to you for approval.
• Signature: for e-filed returns, you sign the IRS e-file signature authorization (Form 8879, or the matching form for business returns). For returns sent by fax or mail, you sign the return. Print the form, sign it with a pen, and upload a clear photo or scan in the portal.
• Cut-off: documents, approval, signature and payment must reach us by two days before each IRS deadline (13 March, 13 April and 13 June). After that, we file an extension (a separate service) and file your return afterwards.
• Your tax return information: US federal law (Internal Revenue Code section 7216) limits how we use and share it. See Privacy Policy section 13. Any consent we ask for is optional.

11. Registered agent and business address

Where you order a registered agent or business address service:

• The address is for the lawful business use of the company named on the order. It isn't a personal mail service or a residence, and it must not be used for personal mail, for another business, or to claim residency or eligibility for anything.
• We receive legal papers and official letters for the company and pass them to the contact details you've given us. Keep those current: a notice we can't deliver still counts as served on your company.
• We may scan and upload mail to the portal and dispose of the paper after a reasonable time. We don't hold, forward or store parcels or goods unless your plan says so.
• If the service lapses or is cancelled, we resign as registered agent as the state requires. Appointing a new agent is then your responsibility; without one, the company falls out of good standing.
• We may decline or end the service if the address is used unlawfully or misleadingly.

12. Government agencies and other third parties

To do what you ask, we send your information to third parties: the IRS, state filing and tax offices, FinCEN (only for BOI reports), registered agent networks, banks and payment companies. Their decisions, forms, fees and processing times are theirs, not ours. Much of what they hold becomes public record; a company's registered agent and address, for example, are public in most states. We are not responsible for a third party's act, mistake, outage or change of policy.

13. Acceptable use of the portal

You agree not to:

• use the portal for anything unlawful or fraudulent, or to hide who owns or controls a company from a lawful authority;
• upload malware, or content you have no right to upload;
• try to access another client's data or account, or any part of the system you haven't been given;
• probe, scan or test the portal's security, run automated attacks, or try to get around rate limits or sign-in. If you find a security problem, tell us and we'll thank you;
• scrape or bulk-extract data, or use automated means to open accounts or place orders;
• reverse engineer or copy the portal, or use it to build a competing service;
• resell our services as your own without a written agreement with us (see our partner program);
• impersonate anyone, or misrepresent your authority to act for a company.

We log activity in the portal for security and audit, and may suspend access straight away where we reasonably believe this section has been broken.

14. STARTUP AI

STARTUP AI is an information tool. It can't commit us to anything. Nothing it says is a quote, a promise, a filing confirmation, a deadline extension, or a change to this agreement. Only a written message from our team, or a document issued on your order page, binds us.

It answers general questions about US taxes, ITINs, companies, our services and the portal. It can be wrong: check anything important with our team.

Don't type sensitive information into the chat: passwords, bank details, SSNs, ITINs, passport numbers, or anyone else's personal data. Use the secure uploads on your order page.

Conversations are sent to our AI provider to produce the answer, stored in your account, and may be read by our team for quality and support (see Privacy Policy section 5).

Don't use STARTUP AI to try to extract its instructions, to produce content unrelated to our services, or for anything unlawful. Misuse can cost you access to it.

If it can't help, send us a message in Messages and a person will answer.

15. Your documents and information

Your documents and data remain yours. You allow us to store, copy, send and process them only as far as needed to provide your services, to comply with the law, and to keep the records we must keep.

We treat your non-public information as confidential and share it only as described in the Privacy Policy, or where the law requires. Tax return information has extra protection under federal law (Privacy Policy section 13). Keep your own copies of important documents: this portal is not your archive of record.

16. Our intellectual property

The portal, its design, text, templates, and our name and logo belong to us or our licensors. You may use them only to use the service. Documents we prepare for your company are yours to use for that company; our templates, checklists and know-how remain ours.

17. Emails

Service messages (order updates, messages from our team, invoices, payment reminders, deadline reminders, security alerts, and changes to these terms) are part of the service. You can switch some of them off in Account > Notifications, but security and legal messages always go out.

Tips and offers by email are sent only if you tick "Send me tips and offers by email". You can change that at any time in Account > Notifications or with the unsubscribe link in any such email.

18. Suspension and closure

You can close your account at any time by asking us. Closing it doesn't cancel an order in progress, doesn't refund fees except under section 8, and doesn't remove records we must keep.

We may suspend or close an account, or refuse an order, where an invoice is unpaid, information given to us is false, section 13 or 22 has been broken, the law or an agency requires it, or continuing would expose us to legal or regulatory risk. Where we can, we give notice. If we suspend for non-payment, we tell you what is owed and give you a reasonable chance to pay.

19. Disclaimers

We provide our services with reasonable skill and care. Beyond that, and as far as the law allows, the portal and its content are provided "as is" and "as available", without other warranties of any kind. We don't promise the portal will always be available or error-free, or that general information in it fits your situation.

20. Limitation of liability

As far as the law allows:

• we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, lost profits, lost business or lost data, however caused;
• we are not liable for taxes, government fees, penalties or interest you would have owed anyway, or for an agency's decision or processing time;
• our total liability for any claim about a service is limited to the fee you paid us for that service, not counting government fees and third-party charges we passed on.

Nothing here limits liability that the law doesn't allow us to limit, such as for fraud.

21. Indemnity

You will cover us, our team and our subcontractors against claims, losses, penalties and reasonable costs arising from: false, incomplete or misleading information you gave us; your use of a company, address or agent service we provided; your breach of this agreement; or a claim that content you supplied infringes someone's rights.

22. Lawful use, sanctions and reporting

We don't act for anyone we are prohibited from acting for, and we don't help hide who owns or controls a company. We may refuse, pause or end a service, and may report to the relevant authority without telling you, where the law requires it or where we reasonably suspect money laundering, sanctions evasion, terrorist financing, tax evasion, identity fraud or another serious crime. You confirm that neither you nor any owner of your company is a sanctioned person, and that the money you pay us is lawfully yours.

23. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as our services or the law change. The current version is always on this page, with its version and date at the top. If a change materially affects your rights, we tell you by email or in the portal before it takes effect. If you keep using the portal after that, you accept the new terms; if you don't accept them, stop using the portal and tell us. An order already placed is governed by the terms in force when it was placed.

24. Resolving problems and general terms

Before starting any formal proceedings, both sides agree to raise the matter in writing and spend thirty days genuinely trying to resolve it. Most problems are a misunderstanding about scope, and talking fixes them faster.

If any part of this agreement is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. Not enforcing a provision doesn't waive it. You may not transfer this agreement without our consent; we may transfer it as part of a transfer of our business. These terms, the Client Service Agreement, the Privacy Policy and your order pages are the entire agreement between us.

25. How to contact us

• Messages in the portal (fastest; keeps everything with your order)
• Email: [email protected]
• WhatsApp: +1 512 690 8755
• Hours: Monday to Saturday, 8 am – 2 pm US Eastern from November to mid-March, 9 am – 3 pm from mid-March to early November.

26. Our public website

These terms also apply to our public website, startupconsultancyofficial.com.

• The guides and answers on the website are general information, not legal or tax advice for your situation. Fees, dates and rules change; each guide shows the date we last checked it, and the official source wins if they differ.
• Reading the website, sending us a question or chatting with us doesn't make you a client. You become a client when you accept our Client Service Agreement in the client portal and we accept your order.
• Prices on the website are the same as in the client portal. If they ever differ, the price on your portal invoice applies, and we'll fix the website.
• Questions you send through a form on the website may be answered publicly as a general question on our guides, without your name or any detail that identifies you.
• The website's text, guides, images and logo belong to Startup Consultancy LLC. You may quote a short passage with a link to the page; please don't copy whole pages.
• Links to other websites are for convenience. We aren't responsible for their content.