Cookie policy
No cookie banner, on purpose
Fileyear doesn’t show a cookie banner, because everything it stores in your browser is either strictly necessary to provide the service you’ve asked for (continuing a filing, staying signed in, connecting your bookkeeping software, paying securely) or remembers a choice you made on Fileyear, such as larger text, or counts how Fileyear is used so we can improve it. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, none of these needs consent, and you can turn the usage statistics off below. We don’t use any cookie, pixel or script for advertising, and we don’t use any third-party analytics tool.
Everything Fileyear stores in your browser
This list is complete. None of it is used for advertising or to follow you to other sites.
| Name | Type | What it’s for | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
fileyear_session | Cookie (HttpOnly, first-party) | Keeps you signed in to your account, if you have one | 30 days, renewed while you’re active |
fileyear:token:* | localStorage | The private link to a filing in progress or a past order, so you can come back to it | Until you clear your browser storage |
fileyear:company:* / fileyear:active-company | localStorage | Remembers which company you’re filing for, so the header and “continue” links work | Until you clear your browser storage |
fileyear:filing-logins:* | sessionStorage | The Companies House authentication code, UTR and HMRC user ID you entered before the submit step, so a reload doesn’t lose them. Your HMRC password is never stored. | Until you close the tab |
fileyear:bookkeeping-link | sessionStorage | Which filing to return to after you connect your bookkeeping software | Until you return, or close the tab |
fileyear:basket-step:* | localStorage | The step you were on in a filing, so you come back to the same place | Until you clear your browser storage |
fileyear:promo-code | localStorage | A discount or Rewards code from a link you followed, so it applies when you start a filing | Until it is used |
fileyear:text-size | localStorage | The text size you chose, so pages open at that size | Until you change it |
fileyear:signed-in-before, fileyear:filed-before, fileyear:routed-home, fileyear:coach-done, fileyear:help-opened:* | localStorage and sessionStorage | Whether you’ve signed in or filed on this browser before, and which tips and help you’ve already seen, so we don’t show them again | Until you clear your browser storage |
fileyear_visitor | Cookie (first-party) | A random number that lets our usage statistics tell a returning visitor from a new one. It says nothing about who you are and is never shared. Not set if you turn usage statistics off, or your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control | 13 months |
fileyear:usage-stats | localStorage | Remembers that you turned usage statistics off | Until you turn them back on |
fileyear:reloaded-for-chunk | sessionStorage | Reloads the page once if Fileyear was updated while you had it open | Until you close the tab |
Stripe (__stripe_mid, __stripe_sid and similar) | Cookie (third-party, Stripe.js) | Stripe’s own fraud prevention while you’re paying. Stripe.js is only loaded in checkout: on “Check everything” once you’ve filled it in, and on the payment step. | Set and controlled by Stripe; see Stripe’s own cookie policy |
Usage statistics
To find out what works and what doesn’t, Fileyear counts how it is used: which pages and steps people reach, where they leave, which errors they meet, what kind of device they use and where a visit came from (another website’s name, a campaign tag or a discount code). The fileyear_visitor cookie lets us tell a returning visitor from a new one. We use this only to produce statistics that improve Fileyear. It stays with us: it is not sold, not shared with anyone else and not used for advertising, and we never record your IP address, what you type into forms, your logins or your bank details. Detailed records are deleted after 13 months.
PECR allows this kind of statistics cookie without asking first, as long as we explain it clearly and make it easy to turn off. You can turn it off here at any time; we also send nothing if your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control.
Anonymous counts that help us improve Fileyear. Turn off to stop them on this device.
Your browser’s own controls
You can clear localStorage and sessionStorage, or block cookies, at any time from your browser’s settings. Doing so will sign you out, and may mean a filing in progress can no longer find its way back to you (you’d need the original link again, or to start again).
Questions
If you’d like to know more about anything stored in your browser, email team@ismailsoftware.co.uk.