Privacy policy

1. Who is responsible?

Belastinghulp Zaanstad is a small, local tax initiative that started in 2026 in the Zaanstad municipality. We work by appointment at your home and do not have a physical office address. We are not (yet) registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KvK); as soon as we are, we will list the registration number on this page.

Data controller: Belastinghulp Zaanstad
Service area: Zaanstad municipality and surrounding villages
E-mail: info@belastinghulpzaanstad.nl

2. Which data do we process?

a. Data you give us yourself. When you contact us or become a client, we process the data you provide, such as your name, phone number, e-mail address and, for carrying out your tax return or benefit application, the tax and financial details required for it (for example annual statements, WOZ value, income and housing details).

b. A form on the website. If you fill in a call-back request, a question or the form below one of our calculators, we keep your name and phone number, what it is about, when we can best call you and, if you fill them in, your e-mail address and comment. With a calculator, also your input and the result, so we know what your question is about. The calculation itself happens on your own device: as long as you do not send the form, we receive nothing. We also keep the text you agreed to, and when.

c. How you found us. With a form, we also store: the page where you filled it in, the page where you arrived, the domain of the website that referred you (for example google.nl, never the full address), a campaign or partner code if you came via a flyer, advertisement or referrer, and whether you used a phone, tablet or computer. This shows us which flyers and referrers work. Your browser keeps this origin during your visit in the session storage of the tab: without any number that identifies you, and gone as soon as you close the tab. We only receive it if you send a form yourself. If you came via a flyer or referrer and start a WhatsApp message from our site, this is added at the end of the text, for example “(via flyer Rosmolenwijk)”. You can see it and remove it.

d. The reminder list. If you sign up for an e-mail when the tax return opens, we keep your e-mail address, the text you signed up with, when you signed up and confirmed, and on which page.

e. Counts without cookies. We count how often the call and WhatsApp buttons are clicked, how often a form is sent or abandoned halfway, how often a calculator is used, and how often someone arrives via a flyer or referrer. Each time we store: the hour, the page, which button, the type of source (for example flyer or search engine) and, if any, the campaign or partner code. No IP address, no cookie and nothing that identifies you.

f. Statistics, only with your consent. If you give consent for statistics, we collect anonymous or anonymised usage data via Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity (such as pages visited, device type, browser and a shortened IP address). Without consent, we do not load these two services.

g. The server log. Like every website, our server keeps a log of incoming requests, including the IP address. This is needed for security and to fix problems.

h. Referrers. If your company or organisation refers clients to us, for example as an estate agent or notary, we keep the business contact details of your organisation and your contact person, and how many clients came to us through you.

3. Why and on what legal basis?

• Delivering our service (tax return, preliminary refund, correction or late return, box 3, benefits, inheritance and gift tax), basis: performance of our agreement with you.
• Calling you back and answering your question after a form, phone call or WhatsApp message, basis: your request and your consent.
• The reminder when the tax return opens, basis: your consent, given with the button in the confirmation e-mail. You can withdraw it with one click in every e-mail.
• Knowing which flyers, advertisements and referrers work (the origin with a form and the counts without cookies), basis: our legitimate interest. No cookies are involved and no data that identifies you.
• Working with referrers, basis: our legitimate interest.
• Securing the website (the server log), basis: our legitimate interest.
• Legal obligations, for example a retention obligation, basis: legal obligation.
• Improving the website through statistics. Basis: your consent (which you can always withdraw).

4. Cookies and statistics

We do not place advertising cookies ourselves. We do use, only with your consent, two statistics services:

• Google Analytics 4, for anonymous visitor statistics. This is only loaded after you click "Accept".
• Microsoft Clarity. For aggregated insight into how pages are used. This is only loaded after you click "Accept".

The counts without cookies and the origin in session storage (see 2c and 2e) are separate from this: they use no cookies and do not identify you.

You can change or withdraw your choice at any time:

Change cookie preferences

5. Sharing with others

We never sell your data. We only share it when needed for the service or legally required:

• With the Dutch Tax Authority / Benefits office when we file a return or application on your behalf.
• What you send through a form on the website is stored on our own server at DigitalOcean, an American company; the server is in Amsterdam. We receive a notification by e-mail for each request. That notification and the e-mails of the reminder list are sent for us by Brevo (France). Brevo counts how many e-mails are opened and how many links are clicked; we have set this to be anonymous, in totals only and not per person. DigitalOcean and Brevo are our processors: they only use your data to do this for us.
• E-mail to info@belastinghulpzaanstad.nl, including those notifications, passes through our domain provider Porkbun (United States), which forwards it to our mailbox.
• With Google and Microsoft as processors of the statistics services above, only after your consent.
• If you contact us via WhatsApp, that message runs through Meta/WhatsApp, under their own terms.
• Did you come to us via a referrer, for example an estate agent? We do not tell them who you are or why you came to us.

Rather not use a form? Call or WhatsApp us on 06 19 71 18 48.

6. How long do we keep data?

We do not keep your data longer than necessary:

• A request that does not lead to an assignment (via the website, phone or WhatsApp): deleted automatically after 12 months.
• Clients: tax and administrative data for as long as the statutory retention period applies, generally seven years.
• The reminder list: until you unsubscribe. Unsubscribing takes one click, and we delete your e-mail address immediately. If you do not confirm your sign-up, we delete your address after 7 days.
• Counts without cookies: the individual lines for 90 days; after that only daily totals.
• The server log: 14 days.
• Backups of our data: 14 days. Whatever you have us delete is therefore gone from the backups within 14 days as well.
• Referrers: for as long as we work together.
• Statistics are processed within the retention periods of Google and Microsoft.

7. Your rights

You have the right to access, correct or delete your data, and to object to or request restriction of the processing. You can also withdraw consent at any time. E-mail your request to info@belastinghulpzaanstad.nl, or call or WhatsApp us. We will then send you an overview of everything we have about you, or delete it, within one month at the latest and usually much sooner. You unsubscribe from the reminder list yourself with the link in every e-mail. If you disagree with how we handle your data, you can lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

8. Security

We handle your data with care and take appropriate measures to protect it against loss or unauthorised access. The data from the website is stored in a database on our own server, outside the part that can be requested over the internet. Only Belastinghulp Zaanstad can access it, with a password and a code from an app on the phone. The connection to the website is encrypted. We process no more data than necessary for the service you use.

9. Changes

This privacy policy may change, for example when we register with the Chamber of Commerce or offer new services. The current version is always on this page, with the date of the last change at the top.

Questions about your privacy? Feel free to e-mail info@belastinghulpzaanstad.nl.