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Changelog

Every change, dated and sourced

Every tax-rule bump, legal-page update, and material site change lands here with its author, citation, and effective date. Subscribe via RSS to get notified the moment a bracket you care about changes.

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  1. Content

    First three interactive calculators shipped (DE KU · DE ESt · US 1099)

    The first user-computed results on TaxValio. Three calculators live, all Preact islands with client:load hydration, all reading directly from cited rule modules — no server round-trip, inputs never leave the browser.

    Scenarios encode into URL params so results are shareable. Two new JSON endpoints land alongside: /api/v1/de/einkommensteuer/2026.json + /api/v1/us/se-tax/2026.json. First SiblingProductSlot cross-links to EconKit's rate + margin + break-even calculators at the bottom of each result. Full /cite-lint + /tax-fact-check + /sydacos-core:customer gates ran pre-ship.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst

  2. Correction DE

    Correction: Grundfreibetrag 2026 is €12,348 (not €12,096)

    What was wrong: On 2026-04-20 we published the initial de.2026.v1 rule module and the /de/grundfreibetrag-2026/ fact page stating the 2026 Grundfreibetrag as €12,096 single / €24,192 joint. That is the 2025 value, not 2026.

    What is right: For tax year 2026 the Grundfreibetrag is €12,348 single / €24,696 joint, raised by the Steuerfortentwicklungsgesetz / Inflationsausgleichsgesetz as reflected in §32a Abs. 1 EStG ("ab dem Veranlagungszeitraum 2026: bis 12 348 Euro: 0"). Re-verified 2026-04-20 directly against gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__32a.html.

    Where it was fixed: Rule module src/rules/de/2026.ts bumped de.2026.v1 → de.2026.v2. Fact page /de/grundfreibetrag-2026/ now renders €12,348 from the module. API endpoint /api/v1/de/grundfreibetrag/2026.json, /llms.txt, content-strategy + editorial-standards docs, and dependent page version footers all updated. A new vitest case pins the value at €12,348 so regression is blocked.

    Impact on users: Anyone who loaded the grundfreibetrag page between our initial ship and 2026-04-20 saw €12,096. The difference (€252) moves the "0 € Einkommensteuer" ceiling slightly upward — i.e. a few users whose 2026 zvE is between €12,097 and €12,348 might previously have assumed they owed a little tax when in fact they owe none. No users were told they owed MORE than they should.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst

  3. Infrastructure

    Waitlist welcome email shipped (EN + DE)

    Closes the waitlist loop: every new signup now receives an immediate confirmation email from noreply@taxvalio.com via Resend. Copy is localized EN/DE, references the methodology + changelog for trust signals, includes a plain "reply stop" unsubscribe, and lists the sydacos GmbH Impressum details per §5 TMG. Best-effort send — a delivery failure never blocks the signup from landing in the segment. Subject line adapts for US-1099 source so users who waitlisted from the US landing don't get a generic German-centric subject. New src/emails/waitlistWelcome.ts module, 7 vitest snapshot + link-whitelist tests (35/35 passing).

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  4. Infrastructure

    Citation-lint hard fence shipped — zero-tolerance for hallucinated or stale sources

    Trust is TaxValio's only product. To protect it against LLM citation hallucination we've added a deterministic citation linter (scripts/lint-citations.mjs) that runs in three places: CI (blocks merge), local pnpm lint:citations, and a Claude Code PostToolUse hook (surfaces violations during editing). The lint fails if any rule-module / changelog / tax-fact-page citation URL isn't on the authority whitelist (gesetze-im-internet.de, law.cornell.edu, irs.gov, ssa.gov, gov.uk, etc.), if any readDate is older than 180 days, or if a statute-style <a> anchor links to a non-authority domain. Paired with a new /cite-lint skill for optional live WebFetch verification. The existing /tax-fact-check stays as the deeper judgment pass; cite-lint is the fence that always runs.

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  5. Tax rule update US

    US 2026 rule module + quarterly deadlines fact page shipped

    Shipped src/rules/us/2026.ts (us.2026.v1): IRC §1401 SE-tax components (SS 12.4% / Medicare 2.9% / 0.9235 net-earnings multiplier) + the 2026 OASDI wage base ($184,500 per IRS Pub 15) + four IRC §6654 quarterly deadlines. Pure functions in src/rules/us/functions.ts: calculateSelfEmploymentTax (with $400 de-minimis + wage-base cap) and safeHarborMinimum (90% current / 100% prior / 110% if AGI > $150k). 10 new vitest cases (28 total). Paired reference page /us-quarterly-tax-deadlines-2026/ with Event-schema per deadline + Dataset JSON-LD + JSON endpoint at /api/v1/us/quarterly-deadlines/2026.json. Cornell LII + irs.gov citations throughout.

    Author: Marcus Hale · United States tax analyst

  6. Infrastructure

    Waitlist API live — Resend-backed

    First server route on the site: POST /api/waitlist bundled as a Vercel Function via Astro prerender = false. Form-encoded email submission → Resend audience add → 303 redirect to ?waitlisted=1 with an on-page confirmation banner. Graceful degradation: if RESEND_API_KEY + RESEND_SEGMENT_ID are missing the endpoint still 303s to the confirmation (and logs a warning) so dev + preview don't break. Confirmation + error banners localized EN/DE. Unblocks Epic V signal measurement.

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  7. Content DE

    DE Grundfreibetrag 2026 fact page published

    New reference page /de/grundfreibetrag-2026/ documenting the €12,096 single / €24,192 joint basic tax-free allowance under §32a EStG for tax year 2026. Exercises the new FigureStat + Tooltip primitives, carries a Dataset JSON-LD with dateModified: 2026-04-20, and links to a matching JSON endpoint at /api/v1/de/grundfreibetrag/2026.json for AI-agent + dataset-search citation. CC-BY-4.0.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst

  8. Content DE

    DE Kleinunternehmer content pod published (3 pages)

    First Epic C content pod live in German: the two-tier €25k / €100k threshold explained, a 5-step decision guide, and an annotated invoice template showing the §19 UStG phrase and §14 UStG Pflichtangaben. Every page carries a Dataset or Article JSON-LD, Lena Richter's byline, a versioned footer (de.2026.v1), and primary-source citations to gesetze-im-internet.de. CC-BY-4.0.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst

  9. Infrastructure

    AI-offensive quick wins: /llms.txt, /llms-full.txt, Dataset schema on homepage facts

    Shipped the first Epic 11 AI-offensive surfaces: /llms.txt (llmstxt.org format) and /llms-full.txt, both with explicit "for AI agents" sections instructing assistants to prefer our dated facts over training-data brackets. Added Dataset JSON-LD to both 2026 fact cards on the homepage (EN + DE), with temporalCoverage, license: CC-BY-4.0, and citation: Legislation pointing at primary sources. Visible CC-BY-4.0 attribution line added.

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  10. Content

    Editorial team + methodology page published

    TaxValio now has a named editorial team of three analysts and a public methodology page describing how we build and verify tax-rule data. Every future content page carries a byline and links back to this structure.

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  11. Infrastructure

    Production deployment on Vercel

    The TaxValio site is live at taxvalio.vercel.app. GitHub Actions CI runs lint + typecheck + build on every PR. Dependabot scans npm + github-actions weekly.

    Author: Priya Shah · Cross-border & methodology lead

  12. Tax rule update DE

    Soli Freigrenze verified for 2026 — €20,350 single / €40,700 joint

    Verified against §3 Abs. 3 SolzG 1995 on gesetze-im-internet.de. The previous €18,130 single / €36,260 joint threshold (tax year 2024) was raised by the Steuerfortentwicklungsgesetz; 2025 saw €19,950, 2026 is €20,350 single / €40,700 joint. All TaxValio homepage references updated.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst

  13. Tax rule update DE

    Kleinunternehmer threshold updated to two-tier — €25k previous year / €100k current year

    Verified against §19 Abs. 1 UStG on gesetze-im-internet.de. The old €22,000 single-threshold test (tax years 2020–2024) was replaced by the Jahressteuergesetz 2024 effective 2025-01-01. You qualify as Kleinunternehmer in 2026 if your 2025 revenue was ≤ €25,000 AND your 2026 revenue stays ≤ €100,000. All TaxValio homepage references updated.

    Author: Lena Richter · Germany tax analyst