Terms of use

What the Ledger is

A place to keep the books of self-employed work: income, expenses, receipts, driving and invoices, packaged for your accountant at tax time. It is not accounting or tax advice. It does not calculate or file your tax, and the totals and mileage figures it shows are a convenience, to be checked by you or a professional before you rely on them.

Your founding account

A founding account is free for as long as the Ledger runs, in return for your honest feedback when we ask for it. No card is taken. If the Ledger ever charges for accounts, founding accounts stay free.

Your records are yours

We claim nothing in what you put into the Ledger. You can take it out at any time with the tax-time export, or ask us for a full copy.

Your clients' information

You decide whose details go into the Ledger, and you are responsible for having a reason to hold them, as you would in a paper ledger. We hold them on your behalf only to do what you ask: send the invoice, take the request, keep the record. We do not contact them except through what you send, and we never use their details for anything of our own. We keep them protected, we tell you without delay if they are ever exposed, and when your account closes we delete them or hand them back to you.

Payments

Your clients pay you through your own Square or Stripe account, under that company's own terms between you and them. We never hold your money. An invoice is marked paid on your processor's word.

What you agree not to do

• Keep somebody else's books without their say.
• Send an invoice or a request that is false, or use the Ledger to send anything that is not about real work between you and the person receiving it.
• Try to reach another account's records, or to get around how the Ledger keeps them apart.

If the Ledger changes or closes

The Ledger will grow and change, and some of what it does today may work differently tomorrow. If it is ever going to close, we tell you at least 60 days before, so that you have every chance to take your records out.

Limits

We work to keep the Ledger accurate and running, but we cannot promise it will never be wrong or unavailable, so keep your own judgement about any figure before you file. As far as the law allows, we are not responsible for indirect losses, and what we owe for any claim is limited to what you have paid us for the Ledger in the twelve months before it.

Ending your account

You can stop using the Ledger at any time and ask us to close your account. We may close an account that breaks these terms, after telling you why and giving you your records, unless the law stops us.

Changes to these terms

If these terms change in a way that matters, we email you at least 30 days before the change takes effect.

The law that applies

These terms are governed by the laws of British Columbia and of Canada that apply there, and the courts of British Columbia hear any dispute about them.