UNREVIEWED DRAFT — not yet in force. Written to give counsel something concrete to edit, not to be relied on. §§4–6 (accuracy, versioning, liability) are the clauses this product actually turns on and must be reviewed by a licensed attorney before publication. Bracketed values are unset.

← Withholdwell

Terms of Service

Effective [DATE] · Studio Ropewalk, LLC

1. The agreement

These terms govern your use of the Withholdwell API and website (the “Service”), operated by Studio Ropewalk, LLC (“we”, “us”). By creating an account, requesting an API key, or calling the Service, you agree to them. If you are agreeing on behalf of a company, you represent that you may bind it.

2. What the Service does

The Service computes United States payroll and self-employment tax figures from published federal and state statute and returns them over an HTTP API. Specifically, it performs calculation only.

The Service does not: file any tax return or form; register you with any taxing authority; remit, hold, or transfer any funds; determine worker classification; or provide tax, legal, accounting, or payroll advice.

3. Accounts, keys, and acceptable use

API keys are issued to an account and are secret. You are responsible for keeping them confidential and for all activity under them. We store only a cryptographic hash of each key and cannot recover the original; a lost key must be replaced.

You agree not to: exceed your plan’s call quota by evading metering; resell or sublicense raw access to the Service as a substantially similar competing API; attempt to extract the underlying tax tables in bulk for redistribution; or use the Service unlawfully.

You may embed results in your own product and show them to your own users. That is what the Service is for.

4. Accuracy — please read this section

Figures returned by the Service are estimates computed from published statute. They are a calculation aid and are not tax advice. Every response carries this statement in its meta.disclaimer field.

Tax law changes, is applied to facts we do not have, and is interpreted by authorities we do not control. The Service does not know your employees’ elections, exemptions, garnishments, local jurisdiction, or prior-period corrections unless you pass them, and it does not model every item of every state’s code.

Where coverage is partial, the Service says so rather than hiding it:

You are responsible for verifying any figure before relying on it to file, withhold, remit, or pay. Do not treat the Service as a system of record for a tax obligation.

We make no warranty that the figures are accurate, complete, current, or fit for any particular purpose. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and all warranties, express or implied, are disclaimed.

5. Data versioning and corrections

Every response includes meta.tax_year and meta.data_version. data_version identifies the exact tax tables that produced the figure and changes whenever they do, so any past result can be traced to the data behind it. Quote it in any support request.

We intend to:

Statements in this section describe our intended practice. They are not a guarantee of accuracy, and §4 governs.

6. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, arising out of or relating to the Service, even if advised of the possibility.

Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these terms or the Service will not exceed the amounts you actually paid us for the Service in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim. Where you paid nothing, our aggregate liability will not exceed [one hundred United States dollars ($100)].

This limit applies to all theories of liability, in aggregate, and survives termination. Nothing here excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded — including fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, or death or personal injury caused by negligence.

You will indemnify us against third-party claims arising from your use of the Service in breach of these terms, including your failure to verify a figure under §4.

7. Fees, plans, and quotas

Paid plans are billed monthly in advance through Stripe and renew until cancelled. Each plan includes a monthly call quota; when it is exhausted, calls return HTTP 429 until the next period. Quotas are a hard stop, not metered overage — the Service will not bill you for calls beyond your plan.

Fees are non-refundable except where required by law. Cancelling stops future renewals; access continues to the end of the paid period, after which the account reverts to the free plan rather than being deleted.

We may change prices on [30] days’ notice, effective at your next renewal.

8. Privacy and your data

Calculation inputs and outputs are not logged or stored. The Service persists only your email address, your Stripe customer identifier, a hash of each API key, and a monthly count of calls. See the Privacy Policy.

9. Availability

We do not commit to an uptime service level under these terms. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service. For a discontinuation that materially reduces functionality of a paid plan, we will give [30] days’ notice and refund the unused portion of any prepaid fee.

10. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate an account that breaches these terms, that we reasonably believe creates legal risk, or whose payment has failed after reasonable notice. You may stop using the Service and cancel at any time.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. For material changes we will give [30] days’ notice by email to the account address and update the effective date above. Continued use after that constitutes acceptance.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of [North Carolina], without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in [COUNTY], North Carolina.

13. General

These terms are the entire agreement between the parties regarding the Service and supersede prior discussions. 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 merger or sale of substantially all assets. Sections 4, 5, 6, and 8 survive termination.

14. Contact

Studio Ropewalk, LLC — [support@DOMAIN]