Your bank, read-only
Fileyear never asks for your bank login. You upload the company’s bank statement yourself, and Fileyear reads only that file. If you connect Xero or QuickBooks, the access is read-only and Autopilot keeps its tokens encrypted.
Your logins: used once, never stored
Your company’s Companies House authentication code and its HMRC Government Gateway user ID and password are accepted only on the request that submits your filing, used to send that one filing, and then discarded. They are never stored, and they are removed from our logs before anything is recorded.
Nothing is filed without you
Fileyear prepares; you approve. Every part it fills in is marked as prepared, you confirm each part, and nothing goes to Companies House or HMRC until you press submit. Autopilot works the same way: it prepares each filing and asks you to approve it first.
Encryption and hosting
- Everything travels encrypted over HTTPS.
- Bank and bookkeeping access tokens are encrypted in our database (AES-256).
- Fileyear runs on Amazon Web Services in London, and sends email through Amazon SES in London.
- Card payments are taken by Stripe. Your card number goes from your browser to Stripe directly.
- Only the people who run Fileyear can reach your data, and only when they need to.
How long we keep things
| What | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Bank transactions, figures and working files for a filing | 30 days after the filing is finished |
| A filing started and never paid for | 90 days, then deleted |
| Authentication codes, HMRC logins and card numbers | Never stored |
| Invoices, receipts and the order record | 6 years, as the law requires |
The full list, with who processes what, is in our privacy notice.
Scams
Fileyear never asks for your authentication code, HMRC password or card details by email or phone. See scam awareness for what Fileyear sends, and what to do with a message you don’t trust.