Privacy policy

What we collect

When you visit the site

Our hosting provider (Vercel) automatically receives standard request metadata — IP address, browser user agent, referring URL, and requested page — as part of serving your request. This data is used for operational purposes (security, debugging, abuse prevention) and is retained per Vercel's defaults.

When you use the AI advisor

The AI advisor (the chat widget) stores a small server-readable cookie on your browser called expatax_advisor_v2. The cookie records:

• The number of questions asked in your current session.
• The session start timestamp.

This cookie is used to enforce the per-session question limit and to reset the counter after 24 hours. It contains no personally identifying information.

The text of your advisor messages, and any qualifying selections you make (country, status, income type), are sent to Google's Gemini API to generate the response. We do not maintain a server-side log of conversation content beyond what's necessary for the request itself; Google's data handling is governed by Google's Generative AI terms.

Do not share specific personal financial information with the advisor. The advisor is instructed not to accept such information, but it is processed by a third-party AI provider, and we do not consider the conversation to be a private or confidential channel.

When you click an affiliate link

Links to the firms in our Find a Pro directory include affiliate tracking parameters that allow the destination firm to recognize that you arrived from Expatax Guide. We do not share any additional information about you with these firms; their data collection on their site is governed by their own privacy policies.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand aggregate site usage — which articles are read, where users come from, where they drop off. GA4 collects standard browsing metadata (anonymized IP, user agent, page path, referrer, session timing) in service of that. We do not enable GA4's advertising features, Google Signals, or remarketing audiences.

GA4 is loaded only after you grant consent via the cookie banner shown on your first visit. If you decline (or have not yet chosen), no analytics cookies are set and no analytics events are sent. You can revoke consent at any time by clearing your browser cookies for this site.

We also fire a small number of custom GA4 events to understand which parts of the site are working: when the AI advisor is used, when a reader clicks through to a firm in the Find a Prodirectory, and similar aggregate signals. None of these events include personally identifying information. Google's practices for the underlying data are governed by Google's privacy policy.

Advertising (future)

We plan to display programmatic ads from Google AdSense once traffic is substantial. AdSense uses cookies and similar technologies to serve ads, including (depending on your settings) personalized ads based on browsing behavior. When deployed, this will be disclosed here with consent mechanisms appropriate to your jurisdiction.

What we do not collect

• Accounts and authentication. Expatax Guide does not have user accounts. We do not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, or other personal identifiers from visitors.
• Financial information. We do not collect — and the AI advisor is instructed to refuse — specific income, asset, or tax figures from users.
• Email list. We do not currently operate a newsletter or maintain a marketing email list. If we ever do, it will be opt-in only and visible from this page.

Who we share data with

We do not sell or rent any data about visitors. Limited information is processed by service providers necessary to operate the site:

• Vercel — hosting and content delivery
• Google (Gemini API) — AI advisor responses
• Affiliate networks and partner firms — when you click a directory link, the destination receives standard click metadata to attribute the referral
• Google Analytics and Google AdSense — only once these are deployed and disclosed here

Your choices

Block cookies. You can clear or block the advisor rate-limit cookie at any time using your browser settings. Doing so will reset the per-session counter; the advisor will still function.

Don't share personal information with the advisor. Treat the advisor as a public conversation. The system is engineered to refuse personal numbers, but you control what you type.

Opt out of analytics (once deployed) via the cookie consent banner, browser-level Do-Not-Track signals, or by installing ad-blocking extensions.

EU / UK / California rights

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or California, you may have specific rights under GDPR, UK GDPR, or the CCPA — including the right to know what is processed about you, to request deletion, and to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information.

Because Expatax Guide does not maintain user accounts and does not retain identifying conversation logs, requests under these laws are generally satisfied by clearing your browser cookies. For specific requests, contact support@expatax.guide.

Children

Expatax Guide is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The content on this site addresses U.S. tax matters relevant to adults.

Changes to this policy

We will update this page when our data practices change — most imminently when we deploy GA4 and AdSense. Material changes will be dated below.

Contact

Privacy questions: support@expatax.guide

Last updated: 2026-05-19