Terms of Service

Bart - Your Personal AI Accountant

Effective Date: 4 February 2026 | Last Updated: 4 February 2026

1. Introduction and Acceptance

1.1 Agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") constitute a legally binding agreement between you ("User", "you", or "your") and HELLO BART LTD, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16844864 with registered office at 64a Cathnor Road, London, W12 9JA ("we", "us", "our", or "Company").

By accessing or using Bart ("Service", "Application", or "Bart"), you confirm that you:

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.

1.2 Service Description

Bart is a software application that assists self-employed sole traders in the United Kingdom with:

1.3 Important Notice: Not Tax Advice

BART IS A SOFTWARE TOOL, NOT A TAX ADVISER, ACCOUNTANT, OR TAX AGENT.

The Service provides automated categorisation suggestions and facilitates submissions to HMRC. It does not constitute tax advice, financial advice, or professional accounting services. You remain solely responsible for:

We strongly recommend consulting a qualified accountant or tax adviser for complex tax matters.

2. Definitions

In these Terms:

3. Eligibility

3.1 User Requirements

To use Bart, you must meet ALL of the following criteria:

Requirement Details
Self-employed individual You operate as a sole trader in the UK
UK resident You are a resident of the United Kingdom
Valid NINO You hold a valid National Insurance Number
MTD registered You are signed up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Standard accounting period Your accounting period runs 6 April to 5 April
Cash basis accounting You use the cash accounting method
Annual turnover under £90,000 Your sales for the tax year are below £90,000
Open Banking compatible bank Your business bank account supports Open Banking

3.2 Exclusions

The Service is NOT suitable for:

3.3 Verification

You warrant that all eligibility information provided is accurate. We reserve the right to terminate your Account if you do not meet the eligibility criteria.

4. Account Registration and Security

4.1 Account Creation

To use the Service, you must create an Account by providing:

4.2 Authentication

We use passwordless authentication. You may sign in via:

4.3 Account Security

You are responsible for:

We will never ask for your HMRC Government Gateway password. We use OAuth 2.0 for secure authorisation.

4.4 One Account Per User

Each Account must represent a single individual. You may not create multiple Accounts or share Account access with others.

5. HMRC Integration

5.1 Authorisation

By connecting Bart to HMRC, you authorise us to:

This authorisation is granted via HMRC's OAuth 2.0 process through your Government Gateway account. You may revoke this authorisation at any time through your HMRC online account.

5.2 Your Responsibilities

Before each submission to HMRC, you must:

Each submission is made in YOUR name. You bear full legal responsibility for the accuracy of submissions to HMRC.

5.3 HMRC Recognition

Bart is HMRC recognised software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment. This means the software meets HMRC's technical requirements. It does not mean HMRC endorses, accredits, or approves the Service or any tax treatment.

5.4 Submission Confirmations

Upon successful submission, you will receive:

You should retain these confirmations as proof of submission.

5.5 HMRC System Availability

HMRC systems may occasionally be unavailable for maintenance or due to technical issues. We are not responsible for delays caused by HMRC system unavailability, but we will notify you of known outages and retry failed submissions.

6. Open Banking and Financial Data

6.1 Open Banking Provider

We use Finexer as our Open Banking provider to retrieve your bank transaction data. Finexer is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP).

6.2 Consent

By connecting your bank account, you consent to:

6.3 Data Retrieved

We retrieve:

We do NOT retrieve or store:

6.4 Scope of Data

Transaction data is retrieved only for periods covered by open HMRC obligation periods. Historical data outside current obligation periods is not retrieved unless required for tax calculations.

6.5 Revoking Access

You may disconnect your bank account at any time through the Bart app settings. This will:

To request deletion of transaction data, see our Privacy Policy.

7. AI Categorisation

7.1 How It Works

Bart uses artificial intelligence to suggest categories for your transactions:

  1. Income - Business revenue
  2. Allowable Expense - Tax-deductible expenses per HMRC rules
  3. Disallowable Expense - Non-deductible expenses
  4. Other Transaction - Personal, transfers, or uncategorised items

7.2 AI Limitations

AI categorisation is a suggestion tool. It may:

You must review and verify all categorisations before submission.

7.3 Manual Override

You may manually categorise or re-categorise any transaction at any time. Your manual categorisations override AI suggestions.

7.4 Chat Assistance

You may chat with Bart to clarify categorisations. Chat responses provide general guidance based on HMRC rules but do not constitute tax advice.

7.5 AI Processing

Transaction data and chat conversations are processed using Anthropic's Claude AI. See our Privacy Policy for details on data processing.

8. Subscription and Payment

8.1 Subscription Fee

The Service is offered at £10 per month (inclusive of VAT where applicable).

8.2 Billing

8.3 Payment Methods

We accept payment via:

Payment processing is handled by Stripe. We do not store your full card details.

8.4 Free Tier

The Service offers a free tier that allows you to:

Once you have categorised more than 10 transactions using Bart's AI, a paid subscription is required to continue using AI categorisation features. You may continue to manually categorise transactions without a subscription, but AI-assisted categorisation and chat features will be unavailable until you subscribe.

8.5 Price Changes

We may change subscription prices with 30 days' notice. Price changes will not affect your current billing period. Continued use after a price change constitutes acceptance of the new price.

8.6 Failed Payments

If a payment fails:

9. Cancellation and Refunds

9.1 Cancellation by You

You may cancel your subscription at any time through:

Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period. You will retain access until then.

9.2 No Prorated Refunds

We do not provide prorated refunds for partial months. If you cancel mid-month, you retain access until the end of that billing period.

9.3 Statutory Rights

Your statutory rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 are not affected. If you are a consumer, you have the right to cancel within 14 days of your initial subscription for a full refund, provided you have not used the Service to make an HMRC submission.

9.4 Cancellation by Us

We may cancel your subscription or terminate your Account if:

9.5 Effect of Termination

Upon termination:

10. Data Retention and Tax Records

10.1 Legal Requirements

HMRC requires you to keep business records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline. We retain your data to help you meet this obligation.

10.2 Our Retention Periods

Data Type Retention Period
Transaction data 6 years from end of tax year
HMRC submissions 6 years from submission date
Account information Duration of account + 6 years
Chat conversations 2 years

10.3 Data Export

You may export your data at any time through the app. We recommend maintaining your own records.

10.4 Data Deletion

You may request deletion of your data subject to our legal retention obligations. See our Privacy Policy for details.

11. Intellectual Property

11.1 Our Rights

The Service, including all software, design, branding, and content (excluding your Content), is owned by or licensed to us. All rights are reserved.

11.2 Limited Licence

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service for your personal tax management purposes in accordance with these Terms.

11.3 Restrictions

You may not:

11.4 Your Content

You retain ownership of your Content. By using the Service, you grant us a licence to use your Content solely to provide and improve the Service.

12. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

12.1 Service Provided "As Is"

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

12.2 No Guarantee of Accuracy

We do not warrant that:

12.3 Tax Disclaimer

WE DO NOT PROVIDE TAX ADVICE. THE SERVICE DOES NOT REPLACE PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANCY SERVICES.

We are not responsible for:

12.4 Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

(a) Our total liability to you for any claims arising from or relating to the Service shall not exceed the total subscription fees you have paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

(b) We shall not be liable for any:

12.5 Exceptions

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for:

12.6 Consumer Rights

If you are a consumer, you have legal rights under consumer protection legislation that cannot be excluded or limited. These Terms do not affect those rights.

13. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claims, damages, losses, or expenses (including legal fees) arising from:

14. Security and Fraud Prevention

14.1 Our Security Measures

We implement security measures including:

14.2 Fraud Prevention Headers

In compliance with HMRC requirements, we collect and submit fraud prevention data with MTD API requests. This may include device information and connection metadata. See our Privacy Policy for details.

14.3 Reporting Security Issues

If you discover a security vulnerability, please report it to support@hellobart.com. Do not publicly disclose security issues before we have addressed them.

14.4 Your Security Obligations

You must:

15. Changes to Terms

15.1 Modifications

We may modify these Terms at any time. Material changes will be notified via:

15.2 Continued Use

Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms. If you do not agree, you must stop using the Service and cancel your subscription.

15.3 Review

We encourage you to review these Terms periodically. The "Last Updated" date indicates the most recent revision.

16. General Provisions

16.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any disputes.

16.2 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced herein, constitute the entire agreement between you and us.

16.3 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in effect.

16.4 Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision does not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

16.5 Assignment

You may not assign your rights under these Terms. We may assign our rights to any affiliate or successor.

16.6 Third-Party Rights

These Terms do not create any rights for third parties under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

16.7 Force Majeure

We are not liable for delays or failures due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, government actions, or HMRC system outages.

17. Contact Information

For questions about these Terms or the Service:

HELLO BART LTD

For data protection enquiries, see our Privacy Policy or contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@hellobart.com.

For security issues, contact support@hellobart.com.

18. Complaints

18.1 Internal Complaints

If you are dissatisfied with the Service, please contact us at support@hellobart.com. We aim to resolve complaints within 14 days.

18.2 External Resolution

If we cannot resolve your complaint, you may be able to use:

By using Bart, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to these Terms of Service.

Document Version: 1.0