Privacy policy: AovUp Tax Exempt

Last updated: October 12, 2026

AovUp Tax Exempt ("the app") is a Shopify app made by AovUp (aovup.com). It lets a store's business customers apply for tax exemption, lets the merchant review their certificates, and marks approved customers as tax exempt in Shopify. This policy explains what the app stores and why.

What the app stores

• What an applicant enters in the store's application form: name, email, business name, phone, address, country and state, exemption type, certificate or VAT number, certificate end date, and the certificate file they upload.
• The result of the EU VAT number check (VIES), if a VAT number was given.
• The Shopify customer ID the application belongs to, the merchant's decision, the exemption end date and notes.
• A history of each application: when it was sent, approved, rejected, revoked or opened, and by which staff account.
• For an hour, a one-way hash of the applicant's customer ID or email, to limit repeated submissions. IP addresses aren't stored.

How it's protected

Personal details and certificate files are encrypted (AES-256) before they're stored. They're only shown to the store's staff inside Shopify admin, and certificate files are only reachable through links that expire after 10 minutes. All traffic uses HTTPS.

How it's used

Only so the merchant can decide on tax exemption and keep a record of it. The data isn't sold or shared, except for the VAT number, which is sent to the European Commission's VIES service to check it.

How long it's kept

Until the merchant deletes the application, until Shopify sends a customer redaction request for that customer, or until the store uninstalls the app (all of the store's data, including certificate files, is deleted when Shopify sends the shop redaction request 48 hours after uninstall). The certificate file of a rejected application is deleted 30 days after the decision. Approved certificates are kept while the store uses the app, because stores may have to show them in a tax audit. When a customer asks the store for their data, the app's dashboard shows the request with a download of their applications, for the merchant to send them with the certificate files.

Contact

Questions or requests: hello@aovup.com.