BMS Terms of Use

1. What BMS is — and what it is not

BMS is a software tool. It helps you capture bank transactions, match receipts and invoices, categorise spending, track compliance deadlines, and produce bookkeeping reports.

BMS is not:

• a registered accountant, auditor, or accounting officer;
• a registered tax practitioner (as contemplated in the Tax Administration Act);
• a financial services provider or financial advisor (as contemplated in FAIS);
• a substitute for professional advice.

Nothing produced by the Service — reports, figures, categorisations, reminders, or generated documents — constitutes accounting, tax, legal, or financial advice.

2. Your figures need professional review

Every figure the Service produces is derived from data you supply (bank statements, receipts, invoices, and settings you enter). If your inputs are incomplete or wrong, the outputs will be too.

Before submitting anything to a statutory body — including SARS returns (VAT, PAYE, provisional and annual income tax), CIPC filings, or financial statements — you must have the figures reviewed by a suitably qualified professional (e.g. a registered accountant or tax practitioner).

3. You remain responsible for compliance

Deadline reminders and compliance checklists in the Service are aids, not guarantees. You remain solely responsible for:

• registering for the correct tax types;
• filing accurate returns with SARS, CIPC, the UIF, and any other authority, on time;
• paying amounts due;
• retaining the underlying records required by law.

Missed deadlines, penalties, or interest arising from reliance on the Service remain your responsibility.

4. Your data is yours

• All data you load into your workspace (transactions, documents, contacts, reports) belongs to your business ("your tenant").
• We process it only to provide the Service to you.
• You may request an export of your data at any time, and we will supply it in a commonly used machine-readable format within a reasonable period.
• On termination of your workspace we will, at your choice, export or delete your data, subject to any records we must retain by law.

5. Privacy and POPIA

We process personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA):

• What we process: account details (name, email, phone), your business's financial records, and technical logs needed to run and secure the Service.
• Why: to provide the Service, secure accounts, meet legal obligations, and communicate service messages.
• Who sees it: your workspace's data is isolated per tenant. We do not sell personal information. Sub-processors (e.g. hosting, email delivery) are bound to process it only on our instructions.
• Security: passwords are stored hashed; access tokens are stored hashed; data in transit is encrypted.
• Your rights: you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information we hold, subject to legal retention duties.

6. Availability

The Service is provided on a best-effort basis. On free or pilot plans there is no uptime service-level agreement. We may perform maintenance, and features may change. We will take reasonable care but do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free. Keep independent copies of source documents (bank statements, receipts) — the Service is not your only record.

7. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the Service to store or transmit unlawful content, to attempt to access other tenants' data, to resell the Service without our written agreement, or to interfere with its operation. We may suspend workspaces that put the Service or other users at risk.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law (including the Consumer Protection Act where it applies):

• The Service is provided "as is" and "as available".
• We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or special damages, loss of profits, or statutory penalties arising from your use of the Service.
• Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of or related to the Service is limited to the fees you paid us in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim (and if you paid no fees, to R0, except where the law does not permit such exclusion).

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for gross negligence or wilful misconduct.

9. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified in the app or by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date is acceptance of the updated Terms.

10. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction over any dispute arising from them.

11. Contact

Questions about these Terms or your data: contact the workspace support address published in the app.