Agreement to These Terms
These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a binding agreement between you and The SMB Tool("we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of The SMB Tool, including our website, applications, APIs, data feeds, emails, and related services (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, joining the waitlist, or otherwise using the Service, you represent that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.
If you are using the Service on behalf of a business or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms, and "you" refers to both you and that entity.
Not Legal, Tax, or Professional Advice
Nothing in the Service is legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice, or professional counsel of any kind. Compliance obligations, deadlines, fee estimates, filing instructions, and informational guidance are provided for general informational purposes only. They are not tailored to your specific legal, tax, or business circumstances.
You should consult a qualified attorney, certified public accountant, enrolled agent, or other licensed professional for advice specific to your business. Use of the Service does not create an attorney-client relationship, accountant-client relationship, or any other professional or fiduciary relationship between you and The SMB Tool.
What the Service Is (and Isn't)
The SMB Tool is a software tool that (a) catalogs compliance obligations for small businesses, (b) builds a calendar of deadlines based on the business details you provide, (c) sends reminders, and (d) provides related document and record-keeping features.
The Service does NOT:
- File tax returns, annual reports, licenses, or any other documents with any government agency on your behalf;
- Submit payments to any government agency on your behalf;
- Guarantee that every obligation applicable to your business has been identified or included;
- Guarantee that deadlines, fees, penalties, or filing instructions are current, complete, or correct at any given time;
- Replace the advice of a licensed professional; or
- Constitute an official notice from any government agency.
Your Responsibility
You are solely responsible for your compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and agency requirements. Before taking any action in reliance on the Service, you must independently verify — with the issuing government agency or a licensed professional — every deadline, fee, penalty amount, filing method, filing address, required form, and exemption that applies to your business.
A reminder, calendar entry, health score, risk assessment, or other output from the Service does not constitute an official government notice, an extension, a waiver, or a determination of compliance. You assume all risk arising from your reliance on the Service.
Data Accuracy & Currency
We make reasonable efforts to keep compliance obligation data accurate and current. Wherever possible, obligation data is sourced from official government websites; where a filing runs through an authorized third-party portal or publisher, we may source from there instead, and we link to the specific source we used. Each obligation carries a source URL for your verification.
However, we do not warrant that the data is complete, current, accurate, or free from error. Regulations, fees, penalty amounts, filing forms, agency names, and contact information change frequently and without notice. Agency websites go offline, restructure, or contain errors. Our automated monitoring and re-verification schedules reduce but do not eliminate the risk that information you see in the Service is outdated or incorrect. You must independently verify every obligation before acting on it.
Accounts & Acceptable Use
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must provide accurate, current information when creating an account and keep it up to date. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account.
You agree not to:
- Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of these Terms;
- Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit the Service without our prior written consent;
- Scrape, reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the Service;
- Upload malicious code, interfere with the Service, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to any system or data;
- Misrepresent your identity, business, or authority when using the Service; or
- Use the Service to infringe any third party's intellectual property, privacy, or other rights.
We may suspend or terminate your account at any time, with or without notice, for any violation of these Terms or for any other reason we deem appropriate.
Intellectual Property
The Service — including its software, obligation database, interface, designs, logos, trademarks, and content (other than content you upload) — is owned by The SMB Tool and its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service in accordance with these Terms, solely for your own internal business purposes. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
You retain ownership of content you upload. By uploading content, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, process, and display that content solely to operate and improve the Service for you.
Fees, Beta Access & Billing
The SMB Tool is currently offered in a closed beta at no cost. We may introduce paid plans at any time. Paid plans, when available, will be billed in advance on a recurring basis at the rate disclosed at the time of subscription. You authorize us (and our payment processor) to charge your payment method for all fees. Except where required by law, fees are non-refundable.
We may change fees, features, or plan structures at any time with reasonable notice. If you do not agree to a change, your sole remedy is to cancel your subscription before the change takes effect.
Third-Party Services
The Service integrates with third-party providers for authentication, email delivery, payment processing, cloud storage, hosting, and analytics. These providers operate under their own terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for the acts, omissions, outages, or security practices of third parties. Government and agency websites linked from the Service are outside our control; we are not responsible for their content, availability, or accuracy.
Email Communications
By creating an account or joining the waitlist, you consent to receive transactional and informational emails from The SMB Tool, including compliance reminders, weekly digests, account notifications, product updates, and service communications. You may adjust email preferences in your account settings or unsubscribe from non-transactional emails at any time. We do not sell or rent your email address.
Email delivery depends on third-party providers and infrastructure outside our control. We do not guarantee that any particular reminder will arrive in your inbox, arrive on time, or not be filtered as spam. Do not rely on email reminders as your only deadline-tracking mechanism.
Disclaimer of Warranties
The Service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The SMB Tool disclaims all warranties, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, completeness, currency, reliability, uninterrupted or error-free operation, security, and any warranties arising from course of dealing or usage of trade. We do not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements, that it will detect every obligation applicable to your business, that reminders will be delivered on time, that data will be current, or that any filing or payment deadline will be met by using the Service.
Limitation of Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, The SMB Tool and its owners, officers, employees, contractors, agents, affiliates, and licensors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, business opportunity, or use, arising out of or related to your use of the Service or these Terms, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, or any other theory, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
This includes, without limitation, any damages arising from: missed filing deadlines; late-filing penalties, fines, or interest; incorrect, outdated, or incomplete obligation data; failed or delayed email or push reminders; inability to access the Service; loss of uploaded documents; a data breach of the Service or any third-party provider; errors in risk scores, health scores, or scenario planner output; or any reliance on information presented in the Service.
Our total aggregate liability to you for all claims arising out of or related to the Service or these Terms is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid to The SMB Tool in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred US dollars ($100).
Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain warranties or damages. To the extent those laws apply to you, some of the above limitations may not apply, and our liability will be limited to the greatest extent permitted.
Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The SMB Tooland its owners, officers, employees, contractors, agents, affiliates, and licensors from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) content you upload or submit to the Service; (c) your violation of these Terms; (d) your violation of any law or of any third party's rights; or (e) your reliance on any information provided by the Service, including any missed deadline, late-filing penalty, or compliance failure.
Termination
You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time through your account settings or by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, for any reason. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ends immediately. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including Not Legal, Tax, or Professional Advice, Disclaimer of Warranties, Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, and Governing Law — will survive.
Governing Law & Jurisdiction
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. You agree that any dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service will be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in King County, Washington, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. You waive any objection to venue in those courts.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will notify registered users by email or by a prominent notice in the Service. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when these Terms were most recently revised. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the revised Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and delete your account.
Severability & Entire Agreement
If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. Our failure to enforce any right or provision is not a waiver of that right or provision.
These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and The SMB Tool regarding the Service and supersede any prior agreements on the same subject.
Contact
If you have questions about these Terms or believe any obligation data is inaccurate, please use the "Something wrong?" reporting feature on any obligation detail page, or contact us at support@thesmbtool.com.