These rules exist so that a consultation is safe for both sides. They apply to anyone who books a consultation and to the certified accountant who gives it.
For everyone
- Respect. No insults, threats, harassment, sexual comments or gestures, and no discrimination on grounds of origin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, age or any other personal characteristic.
- Nobody records. You do not record, photograph or capture the screen of the consultation, not even with another app or another phone. Recording someone's words without their consent is a crime (Portuguese Criminal Code, Article 199). TaxAtivo does not record consultations either.
- Passwords, never. Nobody asks for or shares the password of the Tax Portal (Portal das Finanças), Social Security Online (Segurança Social Direta) or the bank, nor confirmation codes (text message, Chave Móvel Digital). If someone asks you for one, refuse and tell us.
- Share your screen with care. Share only the window you need, not the whole screen. Close everything else and turn off notifications first. Stop sharing whenever you are about to type a password.
- Only the data needed. Show and ask only for what the question needs. Other people's data (your household, clients, colleagues) stays out whenever possible.
- Payments only through TaxAtivo. A consultation booked on TaxAtivo is paid on TaxAtivo. Paying outside takes away your invoice, your refund and our help with a complaint.
- Nothing illegal. Hiding income, false invoices, tax evasion or handling money of doubtful origin are out. The accountant refuses and may end the consultation.
- You are you. One account per person, with true details. You do not pretend to be someone else.
For anyone booking a consultation
- You must be 18 or over.
- The answer depends on the facts you give. Tell them truthfully and completely. If something is missing or wrong, the answer may not fit your case.
- Choose a place where you can talk freely. What you say is about your tax life: check who is listening.
- Respect the time. What happens if you are late, do not show up or cancel is in the cancellation, no-show and refund policy.
- If something went wrong, talk to us first. We solve it faster than a chargeback with your bank, and you do not lose any right by doing so.
For the certified accountant
The consultation is yours: we do not tell you how to answer, what script to follow, how to present yourself or how long to spend on each topic. You open only the hours you want, set your prices and may cancel a booked consultation, with a message to the client. The rules below are those that the law, the Statute of the Order of Certified Accountants and the Code of Ethics already impose on you, plus those that protect clients, data and payments.
- Professional secrecy, also after the consultation and after you leave TaxAtivo, with the exceptions the law imposes on you.
- Within your competence. If you do not know, say so, and confirm later in writing. If the question belongs to another profession (a dispute, a complaint or challenge, representation before the Tax Authority, Social Security or a court), you tell the client what professional to look for.
- Client data is only for this consultation. You do not use it to win clients or for any other purpose, while you are on TaxAtivo or afterwards. You keep only what the law requires you to keep.
- You do not charge outside for a consultation booked on TaxAtivo and you do not move it to another channel. If a client contacts you on their own initiative for another service, such as an ongoing accounting contract, you are free to accept.
- When you share your screen, data of other clients never appears: only the consultation window, with notifications turned off.
- You refuse illegal requests, and your legal reporting duties (for example, on money laundering) still apply on TaxAtivo.
- Keep your insurance policy valid, with cover for consultations for people who are not your accounting clients.
- You may cancel for any reason, except a discriminatory one.
If something goes wrong in a consultation
- Either side can end the consultation. The accountant can also remove someone from the room.
- Write to us at info@taxativo.pt, right away or in the following days, and tell us what happened. If there is immediate danger, call 112.
- What we do:
- we keep what we already have about that consultation (the times at which each of you entered the room and what both sides write to us) until the case is closed;
- we hear both sides;
- a person at TaxAtivo decides, never an automated system, and explains in writing what they decided and why;
- you can reply and ask for the decision to be reviewed: we decide again, in writing, taking your reply into account;
- while we look into it, the payment to the accountant for that consultation is withheld.
- The money: if the accountant behaved badly, we refund you the full amount. If it was the client, we decide based on what had already been provided. This does not take away the rights the law gives you.
- Crimes: if the law requires it, or if there is a threat to someone's life or safety, we hand the information over to the authorities.
What can happen to an account
Only for these reasons, after hearing the person (except in urgent cases), with a human decision and the reasons in writing:
- Client: harassment, threats or discrimination; recording a consultation; asking for or sharing other people's passwords; payment fraud; fake accounts. Measures: a warning, suspension or closure of the account.
- Accountant: registration with the Order suspended or cancelled; insurance policy lapsed; breach of secrecy; use of client data for another purpose; charging outside or diverting consultations; harassment, threats or discrimination; recording a consultation; asking for passwords; fraud; repeated no-shows to accepted consultations. Measures: suspending new bookings or ending the contract. Ending the contract comes with 30 days' notice. Without notice only when the law prevents the accountant from continuing (registration with the Order suspended or cancelled, insurance policy lapsed), in case of fraud, harassment, threats, discrimination or breach of secrecy, or when the same breach happens again after a written warning.
Ratings, response times and other metrics never suspend or end an account on their own.