1. Who we are
BusyBee Tax is software made and run by BusyBee, registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce under number 92886787, VAT number NL004984472B94, at Nachtegaalstraat 11, 1021 ER Amsterdam, the Netherlands ("BusyBee", "we", "us").
For questions about privacy or to use your rights, email info@busybeetax.nl or write to the address above.
2. Our two roles
Controller. We decide how and why we use the personal data of the people who open an account, sign in and use the software (our customers' users), and of visitors to this website and people who contact us. This policy explains that use.
Processor. Our customers put their own data into the software: their companies, bookkeeping, tax returns, employees and payroll, and the data of their own clients if they are an adviser. For that data the customer is the controller and we process it only on their instructions, under the data processing agreement that is part of our terms of use. If your data is in BusyBee Tax because your employer, accountant or adviser uses it, please contact them first; we will help them answer your request.
3. What we collect and why
| Data | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account: organisation name, your name, email address, roles, a hash of your password (never the password itself), the version of the terms you accepted and when | To open and run your account, let you sign in, and show who did what | Contract |
| Security and audit records: sign-ins, failed sign-in attempts, the IP address of sign-up and sign-in requests, and a tamper-evident log of actions such as preparing, reviewing, filing and approving payments | To keep accounts safe, block abuse, and give you and the tax authorities a trustworthy record of who filed what | Legitimate interest; legal obligation where tax law requires records |
| Sign-in methods you choose: the email address and account identifier that Google confirms when you sign in with Google; the public key and device name of a passkey; the secret of your authenticator app, stored encrypted | To let you sign in safely without extra passwords, and to ask for a second step | Contract; legitimate interest |
| Information you send us by email | To answer you | Legitimate interest |
| Billing details of paying customers | To invoice and keep the accounts tax law requires | Contract; legal obligation |
We do not sell personal data, do not use it for advertising, and do not build profiles of you.
4. Data we process for customers
As a processor we store and handle what customers put in, which can include: company and tax registration numbers; bookkeeping entries, invoices and bank statement lines (names, IBANs, amounts); tax returns; and for payroll and HR, employee names, citizen service numbers (BSN) or tax identification numbers, dates of birth, addresses, wages, leave and sick reports and pension details; expense receipts and company car details; contacts, orders and shop sales of the customer's own customers (sales, CRM, point of sale and web shop); bills that are emailed or uploaded; and documents with their electronic signatures (name, email address, time and IP address of the signer). We use this only to provide the functions the customer uses, such as preparing and filing returns, producing audit files and reports, and sending reminders.
Citizen service numbers are processed only where the law requires them, such as payroll tax returns and pension reporting.
5. Who receives data
Only when a customer uses the function that needs it:
- Tax authorities, when a return is filed: the Belastingdienst (through Digipoort), the German tax administration (ELSTER), HM Revenue & Customs in the United Kingdom, and Skattestyrelsen in Denmark.
- Pension funds or their administrators, when pension reports are sent.
- Business registers: the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, Companies House in the United Kingdom and the Danish Business Authority, when a company is looked up or annual accounts are filed.
- Banks, when a customer connects a bank account to initiate approved tax payments.
- Bookkeeping and ERP systems that a customer chooses to connect.
- Google, only when you choose to sign in with Google (Google tells us your email address and confirms it is you) or add deadlines to Google Calendar.
- Email providers that a customer connects, such as the mailbox that receives their bills, or the mail server they use to send invoices, payslips and mailings.
- AI assistants that a customer connects to the software through the API or the Model Context Protocol. The assistant sees what the customer lets it read; its provider handles that data under the customer's own agreement with them.
- Our AI provider, for BusyBee AI: BusyBee AI is off until a customer's administrator switches it on for a company. Then the bill, the figures a question needs or the return being reviewed are processed by Claude models (made by Anthropic) running in a data centre in the European Union through Google Cloud Vertex AI. The provider acts on our instructions under a data processing agreement, and does not use the data to train models. Payroll and HR data are not sent to it. Every answer is marked as written by AI, and every use is recorded in the audit trail.
- Our service providers: hosting (TransIP B.V., Leiden, the Netherlands, with servers in the Netherlands) and email (TransIP B.V., the Netherlands). They act on our instructions under a data processing agreement.
Information sent to HMRC
When a return is filed with HMRC, UK law requires us to send fraud prevention information with it. This can include how the software connects, the public IP addresses and ports of your device and of our servers, a device identifier, your user identifier in BusyBee Tax, your time zone, screen and window size, your browser's user agent and do-not-track setting, whether multi-factor sign-in was used, and the software's name, version and licence identifiers. We send this only to HMRC and only with a filing.
6. Transfers outside the European Economic Area
Data goes outside the EEA only when a customer files with HMRC (the United Kingdom has an EU adequacy decision) or connects a service based outside the EEA, such as Google or an AI assistant. In those cases the provider's safeguards, such as the EU standard contractual clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, apply. Our own website and hosting stay in the Netherlands.
7. How long we keep data
- Account data: for as long as the account is open, and up to 3 months after it is closed so the customer can export their data. Then we delete it.
- Customer data: for as long as the customer keeps it in the software. Tax law obliges businesses to keep their records for at least seven years; the customer decides how long, and can export everything before closing the account.
- Security logs: up to 12 months. The audit trail of filings stays with the customer's data.
- Our own billing records: seven years, as Dutch tax law requires.
8. Security
Passwords and access keys are stored only as hashes. Access tokens for connected services are encrypted. Sessions use secure, HttpOnly cookies. Every user has roles, filing needs a second person's review, payments need approval, and every action is recorded in a tamper-evident audit trail. Connections to tax authorities use the certificates and encryption each authority requires. If a breach affects your data we will inform the customer and, where the law requires it, the Dutch Data Protection Authority and you.
9. Cookies
This website uses no cookies and no analytics. The BusyBee Tax app sets one strictly necessary cookie that keeps you signed in; it holds a random session code, lasts at most 12 hours, and is not used for tracking.
10. Your rights
You may ask us to see, correct or delete your personal data, to restrict or object to its use, and to receive it in a portable format. Email us and we will answer within one month. For data that a customer controls, we pass your request to them. You may also complain to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.
11. Changes
We will publish changes on this page with a new version date, and tell customers by email before a significant change takes effect.