Behind ziffaro is an interdisciplinary team of developers and subject-matter experts who build practical tools for everyday topics like finance, taxes and health. ziffaro is founded and coordinated by Christoph Ballmer, the personal point of contact for quality, ongoing development and user feedback.
The goal is simple: online calculators that offer the right depth, stay easy to use, and show the result together with the method right away — freely accessible and with no signup.
Why you can trust these tools
Three things go into every tool:
- Built from the ground up. The calculators are written by experienced developers as our own transparent logic — code we can test, verify and correct at any time.
- Expert-reviewed. Content on taxes, finance and health is developed together with subject-matter experts in each field. On top of that comes hands-on experience from the Swiss banking sector: several years of responsibility for digital marketing and online communication shape how financial and tax topics are handled here.
- Explained clearly. Complex topics are translated into plain, everyday language — easy to follow in every FAQ, every table and every shown calculation.
How the tools are built — and checked
For a calculation to become a tool you can rely on, a few fixed rules apply:
- Official sources. Tax rates, brackets, standard amounts and statutory figures come straight from authoritative sources — for example the IRS for federal tax figures, the Social Security Administration, and published state rate tables.
- Cross-checked. YMYL tools (tax, finance, health) are validated against known examples and reference values before they go live.
- Kept current. When values change (a new tax year, updated rates, revised limits), the affected tools are brought up to date.
- Honest about the limits. Every result is a guideline value, for information only, and is not a substitute for individual tax, legal, financial or medical advice. That is stated on purpose.
Spotted an error or have an idea? A short note to info@ziffaro.com is enough — corrections and sensible tool requests are welcome.
About the founder
Christoph Ballmer's craft is web development and project delivery. Over more than two decades he has shipped digital projects end to end — from concept and programming through to the finished product — for internationally active companies as well as many smaller firms in the Basel region.
A formative part of that path lies in the banking sector: for several years he led digital marketing and online communication for Swiss banks. The care and regulatory precision that financial topics demand are familiar to him from that work. This combination of development, online marketing and finance know-how shapes the projects of Honeygoat GmbH today, and ziffaro is one of them. For topics beyond that core expertise, the team works with established specialists in finance, tax and health who review the content.
Christoph Ballmer on LinkedIn and Xing, and across the sister projects toolbude.de and roboklar.de.
The company behind it
ziffaro is operated by Honeygoat GmbH, Kägenstrasse 21, 4153 Reinach, Switzerland (Reg. CH-270-4005459-5). Honeygoat runs a small portfolio of focused calculator and tools sites; ziffaro is the US-market member of that family.
All calculators and tools on ziffaro are non-binding aids. Results are guideline values for general information, provided without warranty, and are not a substitute for professional, legal, tax or medical advice.