Questions and answers.
The questions I am asked most often, grouped by topic. If yours is not among them, write to me; I answer personally.
Getting started
How do I start?
You sign up, connect your cloud and set up the intake: forward invoice e-mails to your personal address with me, connect your mailbox directly or upload files. The first document is in the archive within a few minutes.
Do I need payment details?
Yes, you enter them at sign-up. Cancel within 7 calendar days and you pay nothing.
What is included in the trial?
The features of your plan, with two daily limits: no more than 3 documents and no more than 30 recognition runs per day. The look-back into older mailbox content is not part of it (AGB § 4 (2)).
Can I change plan later?
Yes. Above the document limit processing carries on with a buffer of 20 percent, and I suggest the next plan to you in the cockpit. The change only happens once you agree.
How do I cancel?
During the trial at any time at no cost. After that with effect from the end of the current month, either by the button in your account or with an e-mail to me (AGB § 6 (1) and (2)).
Receipts and data
Which e-mails does ReceiptTrail recognise?
E-mails with an invoice attached or in the body. At first I only look at the sender, the subject and the file type of the attachments; the file itself is read only once that looks like an invoice.
What happens to e-mails without an invoice?
Nothing. They stay where they are. They still count towards the message limit of your plan, because the examination costs computing time too.
Where are my receipts kept?
In your own cloud, at Google Drive or OneDrive, under your account. I file them there under a clean name and do not pull them into an archive of my own.
What do you store on your side?
The fields that were read out (supplier, date, amount, invoice number, currency), the processing status and the reference to the file in your cloud. Documents whose recognition is uncertain stay in temporary storage with me until you have decided, and are deleted afterwards.
What about foreign currencies?
An invoice in a foreign currency is converted at the reference rate of the European Central Bank, using the rate of the document date or of the last trading day before it. Original currency, rate and rate date stay recorded on the document.
What happens with duplicate invoices?
The invoice number is the key. If the same invoice arrives a second time, as a forward and additionally through the connected mailbox for instance, I recognise that and do not file it again.
Tax advice
Does ReceiptTrail replace my tax advisor?
No. I prepare the ground, your tax advisor reviews and decides. Everything I recognise is a proposal for release.
How does my tax advisor get the receipts?
At the end of the month you download a ZIP: the list of documents, the proposed posting batch and every PDF. You pass that on or place it in a shared folder.
What is the proposed posting batch?
A file in DATEV format (EXTF) with one proposal per document, either to SKR03 or SKR04. Your tax advisor imports it, reviews it and decides. I make no posting myself.
Is there a DATEV interface?
No direct connection. There is the package to import, and that covers the usual route.
Can I load my tax advisor's batch back in?
Yes. You upload the posting batch of your tax advisor and I reconcile which documents are already recorded there and which are missing.
Data protection
Where do the servers run?
At Hetzner in Germany. Your receipts are kept in your own cloud, the recognised data on that server, and the recognition runs on AWS in Frankfurt.
Which AI reads my receipts?
The recognition runs on AWS Bedrock in the Frankfurt region (eu-central-1). Anthropic and OpenAI get no access to your receipts in the process.
Is there a data processing agreement?
Yes, it is included in the subscription (version 2026-08-31) and is concluded together with the account.
I am bound by § 203 StGB, is that possible?
Yes, with one point you should know beforehand. Every person I engage is put under a duty of confidentiality in text form before their first access. I do not put my sub-processors Hetzner and AWS under a separate duty under § 203 StGB: as a sole trader I currently do not get such a declaration from these providers. This note appears once more at sign-up, and you decide in knowledge of that circumstance.
Billing
Net or gross?
Every price named is a net price. The gross amount stands beside it everywhere, with 19 percent VAT.
Is there an annual subscription?
Yes. Twelve months in advance, 5 percent below twelve monthly fees. The volume limits stay monthly limits.
What does the look-back into the mailbox cost?
That depends on the period. The first months come without a surcharge, longer periods of up to 36 months carry a one-off charge. The amounts are on the prices page.
What happens above the document limit?
Up to 20 percent above the limit everything carries on. After that I suggest the next plan to you, and the change only happens with your consent.
Tax firms
Is there an offer for several clients?
Yes, a group subscription with its own book per client. What the cut looks like depends on your firm, so it starts with an initial call.
Your question is not here?
Write to me. The answer comes from me personally: bela@abel-automation.de
Payment details are entered at sign-up. After 7 days the plan you chose carries on, from 19,00 € net per month. Until then you can cancel at any time at no cost.
Registration, contract, terms and the app itself are in German.