TERMS OF SERVICE
I. ​OVERVIEW OF OUR SERVICES
II. USEFUL TERMS
III. TERMS OF SERVICE
1. User Obligations
2. SEA Membership
2.1. Member Plans Overview
2.2. Subscription Features in Detail
2.3. Forum
2.3.1. ​Forum Rules
2.3.2. Forum Profile
2.3. Registration
2.5. Subscription Payment
3. Sale & Delivery of Electronic and Physical Products
4. Refund
5. Promotion of Partner Services:
Business/tax consultations /accounting services
Business registration package
Business address registration
6. Fees and Taxes
7. Liability
8. Warranty
9. Copyrights
10. Personal Information
11. Gifts and Coupons
12. Applicable Law/Place of Jurisdiction
13. Severability Clause, Written Form
14. ​Dispute Resolution
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I. OVERVIEW OF OUR SERVICES:
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Providing Information:
We offer comprehensive information on self-employment in Austria through a range of resources. These include articles, instructions, infographics, reviews, and online events. Our platform provides both free content for all visitors and premium content exclusively available to subscribed users on our paid plans. All articles are meticulously crafted by qualified professionals and experienced self-employed collaborators. Additionally, we offer guidebooks in electronic and paperback versions, which can be conveniently purchased through our trusted external platform, www.payhip.com.
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SEA Forum
Our platform features a vibrant community of individuals who are either registered or interested in registering their self-employment in Austria. Upon subscription, each member gains access to a personal Forum Profile where they can customize their public information, such as business details, bio, photo, and social media links. Members can actively participate in discussions by creating posts on various self-employment topics and engaging with existing posts. The Forum serves as a valuable resource for affordable assistance from our partner experts in business and tax consultancy. Moreover, it facilitates knowledge-sharing among self-employed professionals. Members can also explore job opportunities in different fields through our dedicated job channel.
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SEA Premium Content:
Subscribed members can unlock a wealth of exclusive and in-depth premium articles, designed to provide deeper insights into self-employment in Austria.
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Sale of Electronic and Physical Products:
Periodically, we introduce new guidebooks written by industry professionals, covering various aspects of self-employment in Austria. These guidebooks are primarily available for purchase on the external platform, Payhip.com.
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Promotion of Partner Services:
We have established partnerships with reputable tax and legal consultants who offer a range of services to support self-employed individuals. These services include business and tax consultations, accounting services, business registration packages, and business address registration. Our partners are Miglena Hofer, Severina Ditzov, Christopher Grass, Alexandra Kaspar, and Benedek Vikker.
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II. USEFUL TERMS:
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"The Platform", "Platform" - www.self-employed.at
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"SEA", "We" - SEA Services for self-employed.E.u; SEA Services for self-employed. E.u and partners/collaborators
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"Subscription" - subscription to a membership plan offered on www.self-employed.at/user-plans
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"Network" - a group of all subscribed users on our platform as well as the forum, and members of our Facebook Group
III. TERMS OF SERVICE
I. User Obligations
By accessing or using our digital platform, you are bound by the following obligations:
Compliance with Forum Rules:
Users must adhere to the established rules and guidelines governing our platform's forums, discussions, and interactive features. This entails refraining from engaging in disruptive behaviour, posting offensive content, or violating the rights of other users.
Accurate Personal Information:
When registering or providing personal information, users must ensure the accuracy, completeness, and currency of the provided details. Users are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their account credentials and will be held liable for any unauthorized activity on their account.
Respecting Intellectual Property Rights:
Users must respect and uphold all intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Uploading, sharing, or distributing content that infringes upon the intellectual property rights of others without obtaining necessary permissions or licenses is strictly prohibited.
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Prohibited Activities:
Users are prohibited from engaging in illegal, harmful, or unethical activities while using our digital platform. These activities include, but are not limited to:
a. Unauthorized access, hacking, or circumvention of security measures.
b. Distribution of malware, viruses, or any other malicious content.
c. Harassment, defamation, or threats towards other users or individuals.
d. Participation in fraudulent or deceptive practices.
e. Promotion or engagement in any illegal activities
We hereby notify all users of our digital platform that adherence to the following obligations is of utmost importance. Failure to comply with these obligations may result in the suspension or termination of user accounts. Users shall bear full responsibility for any consequences that may arise from their non-compliance with these obligations.
By accessing or utilizing our digital platform, you hereby acknowledge and explicitly agree to abide by the user obligations, recognizing them as an indispensable condition for your continued use of our services
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2. SEA Membership
2.1. MEMBER PLANS OVERVIEW
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Member Plan: Basic Monthly
7.9€/month (no VAT)
This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Community Meetups
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Member Plan: Basic
49.9€/year (no VAT)
This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Partner Discounts
- Community Meetups
- 20 mins free call with a tax or business consultant
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Member Plan: Plus Monthly
16.9€/month (no VAT)
This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Community Meetups
- Webinar recordings
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Member Plan: Plus
99.9€/year (no VAT)
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This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Partner Discounts
- Community Meetups
- Webinar recordings
- 20 mins free call with a tax or business consultant
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Member Plan: Pro Monthly
39.9€/month (no VAT)
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This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Partner Discounts
- Community Meetups
- Live webinars/ workshops
- Webinar recordings
- Legal and tax support in the forum
- Professional Profile
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Member Plan: Pro
149.9€/year (no VAT)
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This package includes:
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- Premium Articles
- Partner Discounts
- Community Meetups
- Live webinars/ workshops
- Webinar recordings
- Legal and tax support in the forum
- Professional Profile
- 20 mins free call with a tax or business consultant
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Subscription to each plan triggers automatic renewal. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time - you can turn off the auto-renewal for your subscription whenever you'd like, and if you do that at least 24 hours prior to your renewal date, you will not be charged for subsequent billing periods after that.
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Members with archived plans (at the moment Monthly, Annual, Annual Pro, and Professional) keep their original plan fees and features until we decide to terminate those plans. If that's the case, the members with these plans will be notified at least one month in advance.
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2.2. Subscription Features in Detail
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20-Minute Free Consultation Call:
As an annual subscriber of one of the three available annual plans, you are eligible for a complimentary 20-minute call with one of our partner Tax Consultants or Business Consultants once per year. This call allows you to seek information related to self-employment in Austria, providing you with a general overview of the legal and tax processes involved. To schedule the call, please contact us at hi@self-employed.at. Our consultants will confirm the date of the call within 5 business days. However, please note that the consultant reserves the right to decline the request for valid concerns such as safety or communication issues. If your request is declined, you will receive an email notification. The refusal of the call does not automatically trigger a refund of the annual subscription fee.
Access to the SEA Forum:
As a member, you gain access to the SEA Forum, a platform where you can connect with other self-employed individuals in Austria. This forum enables you to ask questions related to self-employment, view and post job opportunities, and receive general guidance and feedback from professional business consultants and tax advisors. Every member can publish up to 5 threads per month.
Live Webinars/Workshops:
We regularly host live webinars and workshops featuring experts in various fields such as law, tax, administration, and business. During these events, you have the opportunity to engage with the speakers and ask questions directly during the Q&A sessions. Immediate answers will be provided, or you may receive follow-up responses in the SEA Forum.
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Community Meetups:
Our community meetups offer in-person gatherings where you can meet other self-employed individuals and learn from their experiences. While admission to these meetups is free, each attendee is responsible for their own expenses. Detailed information about each meetup will be communicated via email.
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Webinar Library:
The Webinar Library on our platform provides access to recorded sessions of selected webinars and workshops. Recordings are usually uploaded within a few weeks after the respective event. For inquiries regarding specific events being recorded and uploaded, please reach out to hi@self-employed.at. Please note that any guest footage (voice, picture, or personal information) is removed from the uploaded recordings for privacy reasons.
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Premium Articles and Content:
By subscribing to our newsletter or visiting our platform, you will gain access to premium articles, updates on changing laws and rates, and other valuable content, such as future resources, infographics, videos, and events. If you wish to unsubscribe from receiving updates, kindly contact us at hi@self-employed
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Professional Profile
At our members' requests (whose subscription plan includes a Professional Profile), we create a dedicated subpage where we present the professionals - education, qualifications, certificates, experience, and the date of the official self-employment registration in Austria, for full transparency. This feature is optional and the professional profiles can be built and taken down at the profile owner's convenience.
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2.3. Forum
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The SEA Forum provides access to a Forum with self-employed individuals and professional consultants to those who have subscribed as a member.​
The forum consists of different categories based on different topics such as insurance, taxes, registration etc.
Each of the categories shares the same core rules that every member has to follow.
SEA reserves the right to block access to the forum for everyone who violates the rules, either temporarily or permanently depending on the violation. If you are banned you have the right to cancel your subscription at any moment in case you don’t want to wait to be unblocked or access to only premium articles is simply not enough for you. In such cases, we do not refund the fee for the annual subscription. We reserve the right to remove any content whether it’s a comment or a post that violates the rules of our Forum. ​
Every Subscribed Member of the platform can publish up to 10 questions for a tax or business consultant per month.
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2.3.1. Forum rules
Self-employed in Austria is a place that empowers people to share and grow their knowledge on self-employment in Austria. The following rules help everyone on this Platform have a safe experience:
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Be Nice, Be Respectful
Follow SEA's Be Nice, Be Respectful policy ("BNBR"), which includes the following:
Engage with Others in a Constructive Way
Assume everyone on SEA Forum is here to make the platform a great resource with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions. It is OK to disagree, but please be civil, respectful, and considerate to other posters.
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No Hate Speech
SEA Forum is a place for civil discourse and does not tolerate content that attacks or disparages an individual or group based on race, gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, political group, sexual orientation or other similar characteristic. Any generalisations about these topics should be phrased as neutrally as possible.
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No Harassment and Bullying
Abusive behaviour directed towards private individuals is not allowed. Repeated and unwanted contact constitutes a form of harassment. Content should not make threats against others or advocate violence, including self-harm.
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Respect the Rights of Others'
Identity and Deceptive Activity
Your Forum Profile should use accurate and truthful credentials and should follow our name policy. Do not use SEA Forum to impersonate another person, act as another entity without authorization, or create multiple accounts with the intention of violating SEA's policies.
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Intellectual Property and Personal Rights
Do not post content that infringes any intellectual property or personal rights of another party. Writing taken from another source should be properly attributed and block quoted.
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English only
At this moment in the SEA Forum we only use the English language. When you create a post try to double-check your writing and be as clear as possible. For the single legal/ technical terms it is ok to use German.
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Stick to the topics
Our Forum is sorted by topics, try to be as accurate with the topic as possible. If you think that what you want to post doesn’t fit any of the categories just post it in the room Other Topics. We aim to regularly clean up and sort the forum and we might also open new categories. To request opening a new category contact us at hi@self-employed.at.
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Self-promotion
Every user has a limit of two self-promotion posts per month, exceeding this amount will result in the removal of the posts.
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Respect the SEA Platform & Forum
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No Spam
Do not use SEA to post or attract spam.
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No Malicious or Illegal Activity
Do not contribute viruses, malware, and other malicious programs or engage in activity that harms or interferes with the operation of SEA or seeks to circumvent security or authentication measures. Do not use SEA to engage in an unlawful activity or to promote illegal acts.
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Abide by Other SEA Policies
Follow SEA’s other policies, which SEA may add or change from time to time.
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Reporting Problems
If you see something on the SEA Forum that you believe violates our guidelines or policies, please report it to us at hi@self-employed.at.
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Everyone who's interested in posting or commenting in the SEA Forum has to follow the rules. Violating the Acceptable Use Policy may result in the removal of content, or in the limitation or termination of a user's access to SEA Forum.
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2.3.2. Forum Profile
To use the SEA Forum you have to first create a Forum Profile.
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Information that you must include in the public profile:
Your Profile Name. Please refer to the Profile Name rules:
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Once you’ve created it you will see different tabs:
Bio - please add at least a short bio, let us know at what stage you are, if you’re only interested in self-employment right now, if you’ve already registered, what do you do. Feel free to let us know about your business!
Forum Comments - overview of all your comments
Forum Posts - overview of all your posts
My subscriptions - View and manage the subscriptions you've purchased
My Account - View and edit your personal info below.
Settings - Choose the notifications you want to get​
Notifications - the list of all notifications
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Intellectual Property and Personal Rights: Do not post content that infringes upon the intellectual property or personal rights of others. Properly attribute and block quote any content taken from another source.
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English Only: The SEA Forum currently operates in the English language. Please ensure your posts are clear and well-written. It is acceptable to use German for legal or technical terms.
2.4. Registration
After you've completed filling out the registration form and the payment for your subscription plan you will be subscribed right away, and the invoice will follow by email.
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2.5. Subscription Payment
When subscribing to one of our plans you will be asked to provide your bank/PayPal / debit/credit card information.
SEA accepts payment via the current payment method indicated at the time of purchase, which may include debit/ credit card, PayPal, Apply Pay and any other form of payment that we make available to you from time to time. You agree to abide by any relevant Terms of Service or other legal agreement whether with Stripe, Paypal or another third party, that governs your use of a given payment processing method. Prices for Member Services may change at any time, and SEA does not provide price protection or refunds in the event of a price reduction or promotional offering. You agree to pay for any Member Services that you order. If you purchase any automatically renewing subscriptions, you agree that SEA will charge the payment method on file on the first day of each billing period for the relevant subscription, and if the payment method on file becomes invalid due to an expired credit card or other similar reason and we are unable to charge you on the next billing period, SEA reserves the right to immediately revoke your access to any Member Services you have ordered until you update your payment method. If you fail to update your payment method within a reasonable amount of time, SEA may cancel your subscription.
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3. Sale & Delivery of Electronic and Physical Products
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SEA - Services for self-employed engages in providing services and selling goods such as electronic and physical guidebooks. Our online shop is located on the external platform Payhip.com. Our shop --- www.payhip.com/seaservices. The payment process takes place on Payhip and the Payhip provides you with the electronic products as well as invoices and the privacy policy you have to accept to make a purchase. right after the purchase of an ebook, Payhip sends you an email with the download credits. You will be able to download the ebook 2 times. Pay attention that each ebook you purchase on Payhip is marked with your email address on every page of the PDF. This is a way of preventing the illegal distribution of ebooks. If you didn't receive the email with your download credits from Payhip, contact us at hi@self-employed.at and we will take care of the issue immediately.
Payhip, Stripe Payment and Paypal are responsible for any technical issues during the payment process, but we assist you with solving any issue related to the process.
In case of any problem with payment or your package just contact us at hi@self-employed.at and we will take care of your problem immediately. We are happy to inform you that so far there have been 0 cases of a failed payment, a technical issue with a payment, or downloading an ebook or a package. All the partner platforms cooperate with us smoothly and without issues.
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When it comes to physical products, Payhip runs the transaction process but it’s us at SEA who pack and send the paperbacks. For shipment of all physical products, we use the services of the Austrian Post. Right after sending the package, we send you an invoice via email. We will assist you in case of a shipment issue.
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4. Refund
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Guidebooks
In the case of physical products, we accept returns within 7 days from the purchase date, we do not, however, accept refunds for ebooks because those cannot be returned.
In case of any problem that is on our side, we declare to resolve the issue or offer you discount coupons if you can prove that the product hasn't met your needs. So far we have 0 requests for refund.
To receive a refund on a physical product, please return the product to us within 7 days at the following address:
SEA - Services for self-employed
Apollogasse 4/7
1070 Vienna
Austria
You receive the refund within 14 business days from the moment we've received the package. The refund will be sent to your original payment method.
Membership
General Refund Requests
SEA will refund your payment for a subscription fee if it was requested within 14 days from the purchase date, and no benefits such as a 20 mins free call or free guidebook access were requested.
After the consumer has accessed or consumed the digital product or service immediately upon purchase, their right to a refund of the membership fee may be limited. By downloading the free ebook, utilizing the 20-minute free call, or attending a live webinar offered within the membership plan, the consumer acknowledges and explicitly waives their right to cancel or request a refund for the membership fee.
Once the consumer has accessed or utilized any of the aforementioned features, they understand and agree that no refunds will be provided for the membership fee, even if the cancellation or refund request is made within 14 days.
This provision is in place to account for the immediate access or use of the digital product or service, and the consumer's acknowledgement of this condition serves as a waiver of their right to a refund for the membership fee.
Refund request in case of a Forum Ban
SEA reserves the right to block access to the forum for everyone who violates the rules, either temporarily or permanently depending on the violation. If you are banned you have the right to cancel your subscription at any moment in case you don’t want to wait to be unblocked or access to only premium articles is simply not enough for you. In such cases, we do not refund the fee for the annual subscription.
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Non-Compliance with Refund Conditions:
Refunds for our digital products are subject to compliance with the following refund conditions. Failure to meet these conditions may result in the denial of a refund:
- Refund requests must be submitted within 14 days from the date of purchase.
- The digital product must not have been accessed, downloaded, or utilized by the consumer (live webinar, free guidebook, 20 mins free call).
- Proof of purchase, such as an order number or receipt, must be provided when requesting a refund.
- Any additional services or features associated with the digital product, such as live events, once utilized, are not eligible for a refund.
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By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you acknowledge and accept that non-compliance with the above refund conditions may result in the denial of a refund. Our refund policy is designed to ensure fairness and protect the integrity of our digital products. We reserve the right to make the final determination regarding refund eligibility based on these conditions.
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5. Promotion of Partner Services
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Business/ Tax consultations / Accounting services
All consultations featured on our Platform are run independently by our partners: Miglena Hofer, Severina Ditzov, Benedek Vikker, Christopher Grass, and Alexandra Kaspar. SEA is not responsible for the terms and conditions or privacy policy of its partners or the outcome of the consultation sessions. The business consultants and advisors mentioned above are not employees of SEA, but those individuals are registered separately under separate companies and licences.
Terms and conditions of business consultations of Miglena Hofer and Severina Ditzov: https://www.self-employed.at/_files/ugd/bd7209_b301fe4e0e11425d999e10994f55fc43.pdf.
A consultation fee is charged after the consultations.
Price:
1h for SEA Members (the first hour) - 150€ incl VAT
1h for non-SEA Members - 165€ incl VAT
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To gain access to the terms and conditions of tax consultations with Benedek Vikker and Christopher Grass please request them before the meeting by sending your request at: office@eggaurea.com.
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Business Registration Package
For those who don't want to go through the long process of business registration, our partners created the „no headache“ package for the registration of a business license.
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The package includes:
- Registration of the business license (recognition of qualification is not included)
- Registration with the social security fund
- Registration with the tax office
- One follow-up hour (it can be a consultation, emails, phone or video calls)
Cost: €350 incl. VAT (for SEA Members); €390,00 incl. VAT (for non-SEA Members)
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CONTACT:
The Collaboratory
Apollogasse 4/7, 1070 Vienna
0677 63816572
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Terms and conditions of business consultations of Miglena Hofer and Severina Ditzov: https://www.self-employed.at/_files/ugd/bd7209_b301fe4e0e11425d999e10994f55fc43.pdf
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Business Address Registration
The service of Business address registration is run independently by the
The Collaboratory
Apollogasse 4/7, 1070 Vienna
0677 63816572
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To gain access to terms and conditions related to Business address registration at the collaborator please contact The Collaboratory at the following email address:
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6. Fees and Taxes
You are responsible for paying the listing fees of your chosen plan. We do not charge VAT due to the Austrian Small Business Regulation.
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7. Liability
SEA - Services for self-employed is not liable for any delay in delivery or non-delivery of guidebooks under the following circumstances:
If the payment card issuer or bank refuses to authorize payment to us;
If such delay or failure is due to circumstances beyond our control or the control of our subcontractors and agents, including but not restricted to war, electricity power failure, utility failure, failure of telecommunications links, failure of transport infrastructure, fire, flood, government act, an act of God, legislative constraints, strikes, labor disputes or malicious damage involving employees.
Our liability to you in the event of guidebooks being lost in dispatch shall be at our discretion be limited either to replacement of the missing issues or refund of the cost of the missing issues, to be the extent permitted by law we exclude all other liability to you. Our exclusions of liability shall not apply to any damages arising from death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of any of our employees or agents. These terms and conditions do not and shall not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
We will not be responsible if you fail to receive the written confirmation because you have supplied us with an incorrect postal or e-mail address. We reserve the right not to accept or process your order for any reason. All orders are subject to validation checks and authorization by your payment card issuer. If we cannot accept your order and your credit card has already been debited, we will notify you and refund your card in full immediately.
​In the event that our business is closed or unable to operate, and you have already utilized certain features of the membership, such as attendance in a webinar, legal/tax support in the forum, access to the free guidebook, or utilized the free 20 minutes call, while refunds may not be available after 14 days from the date of purchase, we are committed to providing alternative options to mitigate any inconvenience caused.
In such circumstances, we will offer one or more of the following alternatives, at our discretion:
A credit toward future services or products equal to the remaining unused portion of your membership.
The option to reschedule missed live attendance in a webinar or legal/tax support session to a future date, subject to availability.
Extension of your membership for a duration equal to the period of business closure or inability to operate.
We will make reasonable efforts to communicate any business closures or inability to operate in a timely manner, and we will promptly notify you of the available alternatives. These alternatives are provided as a gesture of goodwill and in consideration of the potential inconvenience caused, and they do not create an obligation for us to issue a refund.
By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you acknowledge and accept that the above-mentioned alternatives are the sole remedies available to you in such circumstances.
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8. Warranty
If the delivered goods are defective, general Austrian warranty rights apply.
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9. Copyrights
As a subscriber, you do not have the right to copy nor distribute SEA articles, the content of the guidebooks, the webinar recordings, or to record live webinars or other SEA contents thereof for any purposes.
You agree not to archive, reproduce, distribute, modify, publicly perform, publish, license, create derivative works from or offer for sale, content and information contained on or obtained from or through our Platform. We may terminate or restrict your use of our service if you violate the copyright of these Terms and Conditions or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the service.
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10. Personal Information
We may only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.
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11. Gifts and Promotions
If the subscription offer includes a welcome gift voucher or promotion coupon, this is subject to availability and will be delivered separately after your first payment. SEA Services for self-employed reserves the right to supply an alternative gift of the same or higher value if the intended gift is not available. Gifts are only available to subscribers residing in Austria.
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12. Applicable Law/ Place of Jurisdiction
These terms and conditions are subject exclusively to Austrian law. The court whose jurisdiction is the place of residence, habitual residence or place of employment of the customer is responsible for any legal disputes.
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13. Severability Clause, Written Form
Should individual provisions of these terms and conditions be or become wholly or partially ineffective or void, this does not affect the effectiveness of the remaining terms and conditions. Existing statutory provisions replace any ineffective or void provisions.
Changes or additions to these terms and conditions must be made in written form.
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14. ​Dispute Resolution
In the event of any dispute or disagreement arising from or related to your use of our digital platform or these terms and conditions, we encourage the parties involved to first seek a resolution through good-faith negotiations. We believe that most issues can be resolved amicably and efficiently through direct communication.
If the parties are unable to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution through negotiation, any unresolved disputes shall be submitted to mediation. Mediation is a voluntary and non-binding process where a neutral third party assists the parties in reaching a resolution.
If mediation is unsuccessful or not preferred by the parties, any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or in connection with this agreement, including its interpretation, validity, performance, or breach, shall be settled by arbitration.
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Both parties agree to participate in the dispute resolution process in good faith and shall bear their own costs and expenses, including legal fees, related to the resolution of any dispute.
By accessing or using our digital platform, you acknowledge and agree to the above dispute resolution process as the exclusive means of resolving any disputes arising from or related to these terms and conditions.