The Wolters Kluwer CCH Software terms for the UK and Ireland govern desktop and server tax and accounting software sold by Wolters Kluwer (UK) Limited, or by Wolters Kluwer (Ireland) Limited trading as CCH Software. They cover licence fees and an Annual Support Fee, and form the legal base for products such as CCH Accounts Production, CCH Personal Tax and CCH Practice Management.[1] Cloud services such as CCH iFirm are sold on separate service-specific terms that sit on top of general terms for Wolters Kluwer cloud services.[2]
Contract structure
The Agreement comprises some or all of the Terms and Conditions, the Order Form or Sales Order, and a Deliverables Statement, in that order of precedence. The terms prevail over other terms between the parties, and variations are void unless agreed in writing and signed by a director; emails or calls purporting to change an Order Form have no contractual force.[1] Quotations are non-binding and expire after 30 days, and a contract exists when Wolters Kluwer accepts a signed Order Form. Once signed, an Order Form is “non- cancellable post Order date, non-refundable” and remains payable in full.[1] See Signed Order Forms are non-cancellable and non-refundable.
Part of the software, the “Licensed Software” listed in Schedule 1 (including CCH Central, CCH Reporter and CCH Personal Tax products), is distributed under licence from MYOB Technology Pty Limited.[1]
The licence
Wolters Kluwer grants “only the right to a non-exclusive non- transferable and personal licence to use the Program Materials”, which ends when the agreement ends.[1] The customer may use the Program Materials solely to process data relating to its own business, to a third party with a bona fide association, or to a third party for whom it provides professional business services. Without express authorisation it must not allow any third party to use the software. The software may be used only at the Designated Sites, which unless otherwise agreed must be in the United Kingdom and/or Ireland. Reverse engineering and derivative products are barred. See Licence is non-exclusive, non-transferable and personal, Data processing is limited to the customer, associated third parties and professional clients and Designated Sites must be in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
Copies are free: “there is no restriction on the number of copies of the Software which you may make for your use provided that the usage of the Software does not exceed the User Entitlement”.[1] The control is the entitlement rather than the install count.
User Entitlement
The definition of “User Entitlement”, also called Quantity or QTY, names a different counting basis per product:
| Basis | Products named in the definition |
|---|---|
| Number of PCs the software is loaded on, or workstations accessing | CCH Accounts Production (VAP), CCH PROcost, CCH Strategic Planning |
| Concurrent users | CCH Accounts Production, CCH PROcap, CCH Personal Tax, CCH CGT and Dividend Scheduling, CCH PerTAX, CCH SecTAX, CCH Taxpoint, CCH CorTAX, CCH Taxmaster, CCH Trust Accounts, CCH Personal Tax IE, CCH Corporation Tax IE, CCH Scan |
| Named users | CCH Practice Management, CCH Document Management, CCH Document fx, CCH Document Scan, CCH Singleview, CCH Insolvency |
| All employees accessing, restricted to clients of Designated Sites | Audit Automation (each location must have at least one partner) |
| Large and small portfolios processed | CCH Gains |
| Personal tax returns updated | CCH Autofill |
| Sets of financial statements updated with iXBRL tags | CCH iXBRL Review & Tag |
| Clients per format | CCH Accounts Production Group, Trust, Charity, Pension, LLP, Farm, IFRS and Academy formats |
| Entities whose funds are processed, and users | CCH Equity |
[1] The mix matters in a review. A firm that counts only installed PCs under-counts products metered by concurrent users, clients, returns or portfolios, and one that counts named users for a PC-metered product over-counts. Because the definition states one basis per product, the Order Form line should be read against it. See User Entitlement is counted per product by PCs, concurrent users, named users or volumes, Listed tax products are counted by concurrent users, Practice management products are counted by named users and Accounts format modules are counted per client.
Term, renewal and exit
The Agreement starts on the Effective Date and continues indefinitely, subject to payment of the licence fee and Annual Support Fees. A Minimum Term set by the Order Form (a number of Years from the Commencement Date) runs first, then one-Year periods follow automatically.[1] Notice mechanics:
- The customer may terminate at or after the Minimum Term or any Year end by written notice at least 12 weeks before the expiry, and absent notice the agreement continues for another Year.
- “you may not terminate the Support and Maintenance Services without terminating the entire Agreement.”
- Reductions to the User Entitlement are allowed on written notice at least 12 weeks before the end of any Minimum Term or Year, with fees recalculated at prevailing rates.
- Wolters Kluwer may terminate on 3 months notice at any time.
- Wolters Kluwer may terminate on 30 days notice unless revised prices are agreed, if the customer uses the software to provide an outsourced service to a third party, or if Wolters Kluwer decides that use has substantially increased, “whether as a result of any merger with, or acquisition of, other businesses or otherwise”.[1]
See Termination needs 12 weeks notice before the end of the Minimum Term or Year, Support and maintenance cannot be terminated separately, Reductions in User Entitlement need 12 weeks notice and are repriced and Wolters Kluwer may reprice or terminate on 30 days notice after outsourcing or a substantial increase in use. On termination the licence ends at once, and the customer must return all copies within seven days or keep paying fees.[1]
Fees and the Annual Support Fee
The Annual Support Fee is the payment for the on-going licence to use the Program Materials and for the services. Terms of payment:
- 25% of the Total Amount Payable is due on the Commencement Date; other charges are due within 30 days of invoice, and queries must be raised within 5 days of the invoice or it is deemed accepted.
- The Annual Support Fee can be paid periodically or by monthly direct debit if agreed beforehand. If a payment is missed, the unpaid balance for that Year becomes immediately due, and under the direct-debit option the existing Registration Number expires 30 days after the end of each Year.
- Overdue sums bear interest at 4% a year above the Bank of England base rate.
- Subject to the Order Form, Wolters Kluwer “may increase the Annual Support Fee every Year by 5% or the Retail Price Index (RPI) (or such other index as replaces RPI from time to time), whichever is the greater”, and may charge additional fees for material changes needed to implement legislation or professional rules.[1]
See Annual Support Fee may rise by 5% or RPI, whichever is greater.
Support, warranty and liability
Support and maintenance covers telephone and email assistance between 09:00 and 17:30 on weekdays excluding UK public holidays, correction of faults, updates, documentation, and updates needed to comply with English statutory law. Exclusions include running a non-current release, altering the software, hardware failures and virus contamination.[1] The software warranty runs six months from the Commencement Date. Wolters Kluwer’s aggregate liability is capped at the Total Amount Payable paid in the twelve months before the first claim, with the usual statutory exceptions for death, personal injury and fraud. English law and the courts of England and Wales apply.
CCH iFirm
CCH iFirm is the UK cloud service for Personal Tax, MTD for Income Tax, Accounts Production, AML checks, Time & Fees and Document Management. Its Service Specific Terms, last updated on 12 August 2026, sit under the TAA Cloud Services General Terms, which prevail in case of conflict, and Wolters Kluwer may update them at any time by publishing them.[2]
Units
Fees are charged “at the price, rate, band, package, volume or other unit” (Units) for each service in the Order, plus any amount for Units above the initially ordered level at the price lists applicable from time to time. The customer pays in full for the selected Units whether or not it uses them, and “NO ROLL-OVER OF UNUSED UNITS ARE PREMITTED FROM ONE TERM TO THE NEXT TERM.” Services renew on a rolling basis for the same services, fees and period.[2] See iFirm Units are paid in full and do not roll over and iFirm Units above the ordered level are charged at current price lists.
Changes and monthly collection
Upgrades, downgrades or cancellations are possible only at the end of the current term, if all fees for the term are paid and Wolters Kluwer receives at least 30 days written notice before the renewal term; otherwise the last Order’s Units renew by default. Unless the Order says otherwise, “NO MID-TERM CHANGES TO THE CURRENT UNIT LEVEL ARE PERMITTED.”[2] Where the customer pays by monthly direct debit, instalments are collected on the 28th, a failed collection is retried after 5 days and a second failure can lead to suspension, and exceeding the Unit level automatically increases the direct debit. See iFirm Unit level cannot change mid-term and iFirm changes need 30 days notice before renewal.
Dual Platform Licence
A Dual Platform Licence is available to CCH Central customers with active licences and no outstanding debt, for migrating part of the CCH Central database to iFirm or running both. It is governed by the CCH Software terms, the General Terms and the iFirm terms, and the annual DPL Fee in the Order rises annually until full migration. Wolters Kluwer may increase it at its sole discretion once iFirm reaches feature parity with CCH Central, and “reserve[s] the right to withdraw, revoke, restrict and/or terminate” the DPL “at any time for any reason”.[2] See Dual Platform Licence can be withdrawn at any time for any reason.
Free services and trials
Free services accessible through CCH iFirm, including free trials, fall under separate Terms of Use last updated 23 November 2023. A trial user must buy a full licence at the current rate within the trial period to keep entered data, otherwise the data may be disposed of automatically.[3]
Out of scope
This article does not cover the TAA Cloud Services General Terms (not retrieved), data-processing addenda, packaged training services, or terms for other countries.