DATEV export

What a DATEV export is

DATEV eG is the Nuremberg-based cooperative whose software is the de facto standard among German tax advisors (Steuerberater). A DATEV export is a file — most commonly a Buchungsstapel (posting batch) in the EXTF/CSV format — that packages a period's bookings so the advisor's system can ingest them without manual re-entry. Master data such as customer (debtor) and supplier (creditor) accounts can be exported alongside.

What is inside a posting batch

Each row is one posting, with fields in a fixed DATEV layout, including:

The correct mapping of revenue types to accounts and tax keys is where most of the design work sits — commission revenue, recharged expenses, creator payouts and foreign transactions each land differently.

Why it matters

The monthly handover to the Steuerberater is a fixed ritual for most German agencies. Without a structured export the advisor's office retypes invoice lists — slow, expensive (advisors bill that time) and error-prone. With it, month-end closes faster and the VAT return (Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung) rests on the same numbers as the agency's own reporting. The export path also belongs in the GoBD Verfahrensdokumentation, since it is part of how records move between systems, and Belegfeld 1 carrying the real invoice number preserves the document trail auditors follow.

In agency practice

The practical questions are mundane but decisive: Which SKR does the advisor use? Are creators mapped as creditors with fixed account numbers? Which tax keys represent reverse-charge purchases from foreign creators? Settle these once with the advisor's office, encode them in the export configuration, and monthly bookkeeping becomes an upload instead of a project.