Terms of Service

Last updated: September 1, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Alice Ledger (the "Service"), bookkeeping and invoicing software for Hong Kong sole proprietors. Alice Ledger is operated by Syntax Code Lab, a sole proprietorship registered in Hong Kong ("Syntax Code Lab," "we," "our," or "us"). The product name Alice Ledger stays in Latin characters.

How these Terms become binding. The binding act is the scroll-to-end clickwrap in the Service (first on workspace setup, and again in the app if we publish a new document version). You must scroll to the end of each document, tick the checkbox, and confirm. Public pages at /terms and /privacy, and links on the sign-in screen, are for reading only — they are not the binding act, and signing in with Google does not by itself accept these Terms.

If you do not agree, do not complete the clickwrap and do not use the Service. If you use the Service on behalf of a business, you represent that you have authority to bind that business, and "you" refers to both you and that business.

2. Eligibility

The Service is offered only to the owner of a Hong Kong sole-proprietorship business (獨資經營 / 独资经营), not to limited companies, partnerships as such, or businesses whose place of business is outside Hong Kong.

We cannot verify sole-proprietor status or Hong Kong place of business against the Inland Revenue Department or the Companies Registry. Eligibility is based on:

• your attestation at workspace setup that you are that owner;
• an 8-digit Hong Kong Business Registration Number you enter (self-reported, used as a de-duplication key, not verified with the IRD);
• these Terms.

A Business Registration Number is also used by companies. Entering one does not prove you are a sole proprietor. If we reasonably believe you are not eligible, we may suspend or close the workspace.

You must keep the Google account used to sign in secure. You are responsible for activity under your workspace. This version of the Service supports the Owner role only.

3. Description of the Service

The Service provides software tools to record, organise, and report on your business's financial transactions, including double-entry bookkeeping, clients and vendors, invoicing and bills, manual bank entry and CSV/statement import, fixed assets, Hong Kong tax working papers (including two-tier Profits Tax computations and BIR60 worksheet support), and a static FPS QR on HKD invoices when you upload one.

This version does not connect to your bank (no Open Banking). Bank data enters only by your typing or file upload.

Alice Ledger is software, not a bookkeeping, accounting, or tax service performed on your behalf. You remain solely responsible for the accuracy of data you enter and for your own compliance obligations.

4. No Professional Advice

Alice Ledger is bookkeeping software. It is not a substitute for, and does not constitute, licensed accounting, auditing, tax, or legal advice. Tax computations, working papers, and reports (including BIR60-related figures) are for your convenience and are based solely on data you enter. They are not a guarantee of accuracy, completeness, or compliance with the Inland Revenue Ordinance or any other law.

Consult a licensed accountant, tax representative, or solicitor before relying on any figure, report, or filing, and before submitting any return to the Inland Revenue Department ("IRD") or other authority. We make no warranty that use of the Service will satisfy your statutory obligations, including record-keeping under section 51C of the Inland Revenue Ordinance ("IRO").

5. Your Data, Roles, and Responsibilities

Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance ("PDPO") speaks of a data user — the person who controls the collection, holding, processing or use of personal data. As between you and us:

• You are the data user of the business, financial, and personal data you enter or upload (for example client and vendor details, invoices, journals, bank files, receipts). You decide what to collect and why. We process that data only to provide, maintain, and secure the Service, on your instructions as expressed through your use of the Service and our Privacy Policy.
• We are the data user of your account information received from Google Sign-In (name, email, profile picture) as needed to operate and secure the Service.
• You are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and completeness of data you enter, including that you have any rights or consents needed from your own clients, vendors, or contacts.
• You retain ownership of data you enter ("Your Data"). We do not claim ownership of Your Data and will not use it except to provide the Service and as described in the Privacy Policy (for example aggregated, de-identified operational metrics).

6. Fees

The Service is currently offered free of charge. We may introduce paid plans or usage-based fees later. If we do, we will give advance notice and, where the change is material, a fresh in-app clickwrap before fees apply to your workspace. We do not promise that the Service will remain free indefinitely.

7. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose, including fraud, money laundering, or tax evasion;
• Enter data belonging to, or impersonate, a business you are not authorised to act for;
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to another workspace;
• Interfere with, disrupt, or reverse-engineer the Service, or probe it for vulnerabilities without authorisation;
• Use the Service to store or transmit malicious code, or to violate the intellectual property or privacy rights of others.

We may suspend or close workspaces that violate this section.

8. Data Export

You may export posted journals and invoices for a date range from Reports (JSON, and CSV for Excel). Closing a workspace requires a ZIP takeout from Settings first. That ZIP includes every tenant table we store for the workspace (JSON), Excel CSVs of journals and invoices, and files already in our storage (invoice PDFs that were generated, bill/journal/asset documents, logo, chop, W-8BEN, FPS QR images). We do not generate missing invoice PDFs at close. Bank CSV import files are not stored. Google Account data is not included. If the ZIP would exceed our size limit, contact privacy@aliceledger.com instead of closing. You are responsible for keeping copies sufficient for your statutory duties, including IRO s.51C.

9. Closing Your Workspace

You may close your workspace at any time from Settings in the Service, after downloading the ZIP takeout.

Closing ends your access, deletes your books and files on Alice Ledger, and we stop using your Google Sign-In profile to provide the Service. IRO s.51C record-keeping is your obligation as the person carrying on the business. We do not keep your ledgers after close so that we are not substituted as your archive. Guest invoice links die with the workspace.

For 90 days after close, the same Google account and the same Business Registration Number cannot open a new workspace (anti-abuse). After that waiting period you may set up again. If you closed in error during the wait, contact privacy@aliceledger.com — we will not have your old books to restore.

We may suspend or close access if you materially breach these Terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service (with reasonable advance notice where practicable).

This does not delete your Google Account — only our use of Sign-In data for Alice Ledger.

10. Intellectual Property

We and our licensors own the Service, including software, design, and documentation. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Service for your eligible business during the term of these Terms. You may not copy, modify, or create derivative works of the Service except as the law allows.

11. Third-Party Infrastructure

The Service depends on third parties, including Google (Sign-In), Supabase (database, authentication, storage), Vercel (hosting, including aggregated usage and performance analytics as described in the Privacy Policy), and Resend (transactional email). Their outages, acts, or omissions are outside our reasonable control. An interruption or error at a provider is not, by itself, a breach of these Terms by us.

12. Security and Residual Risk

We apply technical and organisational measures described in the Privacy Policy. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure. You acknowledge the residual risk of unauthorised access, hacking, data loss, or corruption. Keep your own export/backup of records you cannot afford to lose. We do not warrant that the Service is free of security vulnerabilities or that Your Data cannot be lost or disclosed.

If we become aware of a security incident affecting your workspace, we will notify you as soon as practicable using the email on the Google account we have, and will take steps we reasonably consider appropriate. That notice is not an admission of liability.

13. Disclaimers

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not warrant uninterrupted or error-free operation, and we do not offer a service-level agreement (SLA). We do not warrant that any report, computation, or output will be accurate or will satisfy any regulatory, tax, or audit requirement.

14. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by the laws of Hong Kong, Syntax Code Lab (including the proprietor) shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or reconstruction cost, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the Service — including loss from inaccurate tax computations, reports, or filings based on data you entered, and including loss from a security incident, hacking, or data leak.

Our total aggregate liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Service shall not exceed the total fees you paid us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or HK$100 if you have not paid any fees.

Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for:

(a) death or personal injury caused by negligence;

(b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or

(c) any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the laws of Hong Kong (including the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance).

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your violation of applicable law, or your misuse of the Service, including claims by your clients or vendors about data you entered.

16. Changes to the Service or These Terms

We may update the Service or these Terms. We will notify you of material changes by email and/or an in-app notice. A new document version is not binding until you complete a fresh clickwrap in the app. Continued use without that clickwrap does not constitute acceptance. Non-material operational notices (for example scheduled maintenance) may appear as an in-app banner and do not change these Terms.

17. Force Majeure

We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including infrastructure or communications failures, cyber attacks on us or a provider, labour disputes, or government action.

18. General

These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service and supersede prior understandings on that subject. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a reorganisation or sale of the operation.

19. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Disputes arising out of these Terms or the Service are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong.

20. Contact

Syntax Code Lab, a sole proprietorship in Hong Kong.

• Legal: compliance@aliceledger.com
• Privacy: privacy@aliceledger.com