Privacy

Privacy Policy

Information on the processing of personal data under Art. 13 GDPR.

Last updated: 16 October 2026
A German version of this Privacy Policy is available via the language toggle above.

1. Privacy at a glance

The following provides an overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit vaytax.com or use the Vaytax service. Vaytax is an online VAT-compliance service for businesses with German tax obligations. As such, tax and financial data are also processed.

2. Controller

FRADECO GmbH
Deutsch-Französische Steuerberatungsgesellschaft
Simrockstraße 92
53619 Rheinbreitbach
Germany

E-mail: contact@vaytax.com
Website: vaytax.com

The controller is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly determines the purposes and means of processing personal data.

3. Data Protection Officer

FRADECO GmbH is currently not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer under Art. 37 GDPR in conjunction with § 38 BDSG. For data-protection enquiries, please contact us at the address above or by e-mail at contact@vaytax.com.

4. Categories of data processed

In the course of using Vaytax, we process the following categories of personal data:

a) Account data

E-mail address, password (stored solely as a cryptographic hash), authentication tokens.

b) Company data

Company name, legal form, address, country, sector.

c) Tax data

Tax number (Steuernummer), VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), competent tax office (Finanzamt), VAT preliminary return values (Kennzahlen / KZ values), VAT amounts, filing periods.

d) Financial data

IBAN, SEPA direct debit mandate, payment references.

e) Representative data

Name, date of birth, e-mail address of the legal representative or authorized agent.

f) Document data

Uploaded PDF documents, generated XLSX and CSV files, tax returns and preliminary returns.

This also includes the sales and accounting reports you upload (for example the Amazon VAT Transactions Report, the easybill outgoing-invoice journal (Rechnungsausgangsbuch), or DATEV booking batches from lexoffice, sevDesk or similar software) in CSV or Excel format. These reports may contain personal data of your own customers and business partners, in particular names, VAT identification numbers, country and invoice details. We process this data solely to prepare and file your VAT return and your EC sales list, that is, to perform our contractual service (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR) and the tax obligations connected with it (Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR). It is not analysed for any other purpose, not passed to third parties other than in the filing with the tax office, and not used to train AI models. The reports are read by calculation and without AI processing; they are stored in the EU (Supabase, Frankfurt), and we also keep a copy in our client file in Google Workspace (see section 6). As the controller, you are responsible for the lawfulness of transmitting this data to us; in this respect we act as a processor or within the scope of the tax-advisory engagement.

g) Usage data

Page views, session identifiers (via sessionStorage only, not cookies), timestamps, browser and operating system, IP address (in server logs).

If a technical error occurs in the client area, we store in our own database (Supabase, Frankfurt) the error message, the affected page and code location, your browser’s identifier (user agent) and, if you are signed in, your account ID, so that we can fix the error and contact you about it if needed. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in error-free operation (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

Reporting a fault via “Report a problem”. The “Report a problem” link in the client area lets you tell us about a fault; it works only when you are signed in. It sends us your message, the address of the page you are on, your account ID, your browser’s identifier (user agent), a short technical description of the view (such as the open section, the form step, the window size and the browser language) and, by default, a screenshot of the current page. The screenshot shows everything on the page, which may include tax details. If you untick “Include a picture of this screen” before sending, no picture is taken. To take the screenshot your browser loads a code library from cdnjs (see section 6). We store the report and the screenshot in our own database (Supabase, Frankfurt). Our team receives a notice in Slack (see section 6) with your company name or e-mail address, your client number, your message and the page address; the screenshot itself is not sent to Slack. The purpose is to fix the reported fault; the legal basis is our legitimate interest in error-free operation (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). There is currently no automatic deletion period: the report and the screenshot are kept until your client account is deleted, and we have set no deletion period for the notice in Slack.

5. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

6. Recipients and processors

We engage the following service providers, with whom data-processing agreements (DPAs) under Art. 28 GDPR have been concluded where applicable:

In addition, as part of the tax-advisory work, data is transmitted to:

7. Transfer to third countries

The database and primary data processing take place in the EU (Supabase eu-central-1, Frankfurt; Cloudflare EU).

Resend Inc. is based in the USA. Data transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) under Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR. E-mail addresses, message contents and attachments of the e-mails listed in section 6 are processed via Resend.

Anthropic, PBC is based in the USA. Letters uploaded on /finanzamt-letter are processed transiently via the Anthropic API to produce the instant summary. The legal basis is consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR), given via the upload checkbox; the transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses under Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR. Contents are not used to train AI models; permanent storage of the documents takes place exclusively in the EU (Supabase, Frankfurt).

Finanzamt letters and notices you upload in the client area are processed transiently via the API of Anthropic, PBC (USA) to detect deadlines and produce a summary. The legal basis is the performance of the engagement (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR); the transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR). Contents are not used to train AI models; permanent storage takes place in the EU (Supabase, Frankfurt); we also keep a copy in our client file in Google Workspace (see section 6).

Notes and documents on advisory cases are processed transiently via the API of Anthropic, PBC (USA) to produce a draft answer. Likewise, messages that clients send us in the client area or by email are processed via the same API to detect whether a reply is needed and to produce a short summary for our team. Likewise, the information clients give during registration and in answer to the tax office's questions is processed through the same API to translate it into German for submission to the tax office. The legal basis is the performance of the engagement (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR); the transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR). Contents are not used to train AI models.

The documents you upload during registration and onboarding (in particular identity documents, the SEPA direct debit mandate, the power of attorney, articles of association and commercial register extracts) and uploaded supplier invoices are read via the API of Anthropic, PBC (USA) and checked for completeness and plausibility, so that our team spots missing or inconsistent information early. The legal basis is the performance of the engagement (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR); the transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR). Contents are not used to train AI models.

All AI processing named in this section runs directly through the API of Anthropic, PBC (USA), on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR).

Stripe processes payment data primarily in the EU (Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd., Ireland) but may transfer it to Stripe, Inc. (USA) for processing and fraud-prevention purposes. The transfer is on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses and Stripe’s certification under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads are delivered from servers of Google Ireland Limited (EU) and Google LLC (USA). Google is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; Standard Contractual Clauses additionally apply under Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR.

Google Workspace (Google Drive, Gmail): the data is stored in Google data centres worldwide, including the USA. Google LLC is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Art. 45 GDPR). Our ELSTER submission service (Google Cloud Run) runs in the Frankfurt region.

Slack: Slack Technologies, LLC, USA; certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Art. 45 GDPR). The notices to our team are stored in the USA.

Code libraries (jsDelivr, cdnjs): the providers’ seats and the basis of each transfer are given in section 6.

Sentry (Functional Software, Inc.) is based in the USA; the error data is stored in the EU (Frankfurt). The legal basis is our legitimate interest in operating our website and client area without errors (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Sentry is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; Standard Contractual Clauses additionally apply under Art. 46 (2) (c) GDPR.

8. Storage period

9. Cookies, tracking and consent

We distinguish between technically necessary storage mechanisms and consent-based tracking technologies:

a) Technically necessary storage (no consent needed)

For login and session management in the authenticated area we use the browser’s localStorage / sessionStorage APIs (e.g. storing the authentication token after successful login). Under § 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG this storage is permitted without consent because it is strictly necessary to provide the service the user has expressly requested. Cookies in the classical sense are not used for this purpose.

If you have started registering, we keep what you have entered so far for up to seven days locally in your browser (localStorage), so that you can continue without entering everything again; passwords are never kept. Your answers from our VAT check (for example what you sell and where your company is based) likewise stay in your browser for up to seven days, so that the registration can pick them up. This data does not leave your browser until you submit the registration. You can delete it at any time by clearing site data for vaytax.com in your browser.

b) Audience measurement with Google Analytics 4 (consent only)

On the public pages of vaytax.com we use Google Analytics 4 (provider: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) for statistical evaluation of usage. IP anonymisation is enabled (anonymize_ip: true).

Our Google Analytics property is linked to our Google Ads account and to Google Search Console. The links serve aggregated reporting only, for example which ads and which search queries lead to visits and enquiries. They cover only visitors who agreed to audience measurement; the link to Google Ads additionally covers only those who also agreed to ad measurement.

The Google Analytics script is loaded only after you have agreed to audience measurement in the consent dialog (“Accept all”, or the “Analytics” option under “Customize”). Until you decide, your browser makes no connection to Google Analytics; no cookies are set and no data is sent to Google. This applies to every visitor, wherever they are. If you choose “Essential only”, or ad measurement only, Google Analytics is not loaded. Both buttons carry equal weight. Once you have agreed, the following cookies are set:

Besides the page view, we send Google Analytics only general event details, such as which step of a form was reached, the country chosen or the plan. Names, company names, e-mail addresses, file names, error messages and internal identifiers are not sent to Google; this is enforced technically by a closed list of permitted event details. Google receives the address of the page without its parameters; only campaign tags (utm_ parameters) with short values made of plain characters are kept, and any other value (an e-mail address, for example) is dropped. The address includes the Google click identifier only if you have also agreed to ad measurement. Of the referring website, Google receives the domain only.

c) Conversion measurement via Google Ads (consent only)

In addition to audience measurement, the publicly accessible pages of vaytax.com use Google Ads conversion tracking (provider: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). This lets us measure how many visitors who arrived via a paid Google ad subsequently complete an action relevant to us (for example creating an account, requesting a Finanzamt letter quote, or completing a purchase).

When you click one of our Google ads, Google automatically appends a Google click identifier (URL parameter ?gclid=...) to the destination URL. We keep this identifier only if you have agreed to ad measurement in the consent dialog (“Accept all”, or the “Ad measurement” option under “Customize”). It is then stored locally in your browser (localStorage, key vd_gclid) and is no longer used after 90 days. Without your consent the identifier is neither stored nor used. It contains no plain-text personal data; it serves solely to link an enquiry or a purchase to the original ad click.

We send conversion events only from our backend via the Google Ads API, when an ad click leads to an enquiry to us (contact form, VAT check, Finanzamt letter), an account being created, a completed registration or a purchase. This transmission takes place only if you have agreed to ad measurement (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR in conjunction with § 25 (1) TDDDG). If you chose “Essential only” or have not made a choice, nothing is transmitted. We store your choice and when you made it with your enquiry and, if you have a client account, in your account, so that we respect it on every later transmission and can prove your consent. We transmit only the click identifier, the conversion event, the conversion value in euros and an internal order reference. We do not send Google your name, e-mail address or any other profile information as part of this measurement.

If you have agreed to both audience measurement and ad measurement, your browser also loads the Google Ads tag. Google then receives the address of the page, including any click identifier, and may set its own cookies. Our website does not send conversion events from your browser to Google Ads. Without your consent to ad measurement the Google Ads tag is not loaded.

You may withdraw your consent at any time with future effect by choosing “Essential only” in the consent dialog (link “Change cookie settings” under e). The click identifier stored in your browser is then deleted. Conversion events for that click that are already queued for transmission but not yet sent to Google are cancelled. If you are signed in to your client account, or sign in later in this browser, we record the withdrawal in your account, delete the click identifier stored there as well and cancel the conversion events queued for your account; after that nothing more is sent to Google Ads. Conversion events already transmitted to Google can additionally be managed via the privacy settings of your Google account.

Retention period: the click identifier stored locally in your browser is no longer used after 90 days and is removed from your browser the next time our website reads it; choosing “Essential only” deletes it at once. A click identifier stored in your client account is deleted when you withdraw consent. Conversion events transmitted to Google Ads are retained in accordance with Google Ads retention policies; for details and objection options see the Google privacy policy.

d) Legal basis

For audience measurement with Google Analytics and conversion measurement with Google Ads, including the server-side transmission of the Google click identifier: Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR in conjunction with § 25 (1) TDDDG (consent), given separately for each of the two purposes. For technically necessary storage: Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR in conjunction with § 25 (2) No. 2 TDDDG.

e) Withdrawal of consent

You may withdraw your consent at any time with future effect. The lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal is unaffected. To withdraw, click here: Change cookie settings. The link first withdraws all consents and then opens the consent dialog, where you can choose again. If you are signed in to your client account, the withdrawal is also recorded in your account; conversion events not yet sent to Google are cancelled (see section c). Alternatively, delete the cookies via your browser settings.

f) Supplementary cookie-free audience measurement

Independent of consent, we collect usage data without cookies on our own servers (Supabase, Frankfurt): the page opened, the time, a random session ID that is valid only for the open browser tab (sessionStorage), the domain of the referring website (not its full address), campaign tags of the page address (utm_ parameters, short plain values only), your browser’s identifier (user agent) and the window size, and events such as submitting a form. If you are signed in to your client account, the entry is linked to your account ID. We do not store IP addresses, names, company names or file names in this data. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in improving our service (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). The data is deleted after 90 days; we keep anonymous daily totals with no personal reference indefinitely.

g) Referral and partner identifiers

If you reach our website through a referral link or a partner link, the address carries a short code (URL parameter ?ref=... or ?via=...). That code is stored locally in your browser (localStorage, keys vd_ref and vd_via). The entry is no longer used after 90 days and is removed from your browser the next time our website reads it.

The code identifies the person or partner who referred you, not you. It holds no information about you. If you book a paid service, we pass the code to our payment provider Stripe so that an agreed discount can be applied and the referral settled; beyond that it is never transmitted to any third party. It is read only if you go on to register or submit an enquiry, so that we can credit the referral correctly. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in attributing referrals (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

You can remove these entries yourself at any time by clearing site data for vaytax.com in your browser. If you visit our website without such a link, nothing is stored.

h) Where your first visit came from

If you reach us from an identifiable source (a search engine or an AI assistant, for example), we record where that first visit came from locally in your browser (localStorage, key vd_ft). The entry is no longer used after 90 days and is removed from your browser the next time our website reads it.

Only the domain of the referring site is stored (for example https://chatgpt.com, not the full address of the page or of a conversation), any ?utm_source=... campaign parameter (a short plain value only), the first page of ours you opened, and the time. The entry contains no information about you and is never transmitted to any third party.

Its only purpose is to answer which channel brings people to us. That information is otherwise lost the moment you close the browser tab, even though several weeks typically pass between a first visit and an enquiry. The first identifiable visit is kept and is not overwritten by later ones. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in measuring reach (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

You can remove the entry yourself at any time by clearing site data for vaytax.com in your browser. If you come to us directly, with no identifiable source, nothing is stored.

10. Newsletter, VAT deadline overview and follow-up e-mails

Newsletter and VAT deadline overview. If you sign up for our newsletter or our overview of VAT deadlines, we use your e-mail address to send them. Sign-up uses double opt-in: we first send you an e-mail with a confirmation link and may remind you of it once. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR). You can unsubscribe at any time via the link in every e-mail.

Follow-up e-mails about your enquiry. If you have sent us an enquiry through a form (for example the VAT check, the contact form or a registration you started), we send you a limited number of e-mails with further information on your request. The legal basis is taking steps at your request before entering into a contract (Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR) or our legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). You can object to these e-mails at any time via the unsubscribe link or by e-mail to contact@vaytax.com.

11. SSL/TLS encryption

This website uses SSL/TLS encryption for security and to protect the transmission of all content. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the change in the browser’s address bar from “http://” to “https://” and by the lock icon.

12. Your rights as a data subject

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

To exercise your rights, please contact: contact@vaytax.com

13. Right to lodge a complaint

Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data-protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). Our competent authority is:

Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Rheinland-Pfalz
Postfach 30 40
55020 Mainz, Germany
www.datenschutz.rlp.de

14. Hosting

This website is hosted via Cloudflare Pages. When the website is accessed, technical information is automatically stored in server log files (IP address, date and time of access, page accessed, browser type, operating system).

Cloudflare Inc., 101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. Cloudflare processes data in the EU. More information: Cloudflare privacy policy.

15. Fonts

The fonts on this website are stored on our own server and loaded from there when you open a page. No connection is made to the servers of Google or any other font provider.

16. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Notice to keep it in line with current legal requirements or to reflect changes to our services. The new Privacy Notice will apply on your next visit.

Last updated: 16 October 2026.