Tax Days vs. a Spreadsheet
Almost everyone starts with a tax residency spreadsheet. It works until it doesn't, a missed partial day, a broken formula, or a rolling-window rule it was never built to handle. Tax Days encodes the real rules so you don't have to maintain any of it by hand. Here's the honest comparison.
Pricing at a glance
Privacy-first iPhone app. No accounts, no servers. Optional iCloud sync via Apple's encrypted CloudKit.
Manual day tracking in Google Sheets or Excel, free, flexible, and entirely dependent on you remembering to update it correctly every single trip.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Tax Days | a Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $19.99/year | Free (but hours of upkeep) |
| Partial / travel days | Counted per each jurisdiction's rule automatically | You decide manually, easy to get wrong |
| Rolling windows (Schengen 90/180) | Built in and always current | Painful to model, breaks easily |
| Real residency rules | 80+ rules across 200+ countries and all 50 US states | None, you encode the logic yourself |
| Projections | See when you'll cross a threshold before it happens | Manual, if you build it at all |
| Alerts | Notifications as you approach a limit | None, you have to remember to check |
| Reliability | Tested logic that can't be accidentally deleted | One wrong cell breaks every total |
| Contemporaneous records | Each trip timestamped when you log it | Looks reconstructed, backfilled dates |
| Audit credibility | Audit-ready PDF export with a clear day-count trail | A spreadsheet auditors distrust on sight |
| Privacy | On your iPhone + optional encrypted iCloud | Wherever your file lives (often a third-party cloud) |
Which one is right for you?
Tax Days is best for…
- Anyone tired of babysitting a fragile day-count spreadsheet.
- Snowbirds, digital nomads, expats, and remote workers juggling real residency thresholds.
- People who want projections and alerts instead of discovering a limit after they've crossed it.
- Anyone who wants records that look contemporaneous and audit-ready, not reconstructed.
a Spreadsheet is best for…
- One simple jurisdiction with a generous day limit you'll never approach.
- Tinkerers who genuinely enjoy maintaining formulas and don't mind the audit risk.
- A quick back-of-the-envelope estimate before you commit to tracking properly.
Bottom line: A spreadsheet is free until a missed partial day or a broken formula costs you a residency dispute. For $19.99/year, Tax Days encodes the real rules, warns you early, and gives auditors records they'll actually trust.
Frequently asked questions
Can a spreadsheet really handle tax residency day counting?
For one simple jurisdiction with a generous threshold, sure. It breaks down once you're juggling multiple jurisdictions, partial-day rules, or a rolling window like the Schengen 90/180, logic that's genuinely painful to model correctly in cells.
What's the most common spreadsheet mistake with day counting?
Miscounting partial or travel days. Most jurisdictions count any part of a day present as a full day, and it's easy to accidentally exclude arrival/departure days or misapply a rule that only applies to one jurisdiction.
Will auditors accept a spreadsheet as evidence?
They can, but a spreadsheet with backfilled dates looks reconstructed rather than contemporaneous, which weakens its credibility. Tax Days timestamps each trip when you log it and exports an audit-ready PDF with a clear day-count trail.
Is a spreadsheet actually free?
The file itself is free, but the ongoing time spent maintaining formulas, double-checking rolling windows, and remembering to update it every trip is a real cost, one a $19.99/year app removes.
When does a spreadsheet make sense over an app?
If you're tracking one simple jurisdiction with a limit you'll never come close to, or you just want a rough back-of-the-envelope estimate before committing to proper tracking.
Ready to try Tax Days?
$19.99/year. No accounts. No tracking. Free tier with limited rules.