DATEV export

With the DATEV format you export your invoices so your tax adviser can read them straight into DATEV — the accounting software most German tax advisers work with — instead of typing them in from PDFs. You get a ZIP file with two files in DATEV’s format:

File	What it holds
EXTF_Buchungsstapel.csv	The bookings of your issued invoices and cancellations in the period — and, if you set it up, of your payments.
EXTF_Debitoren.csv	The customers of these bookings as debtors, with their debtor account. Left out when you use one collective debtor.

The DATEV export is there for workspaces based in Germany, on the Business plan — in the trial too.

Before the first export

Set up the export under Settings → DATEV — see Set up DATEV: switch it on, enter the consultant and client number, check the chart and the revenue accounts. Agree the details with your tax adviser.

While something is missing, DATEV is greyed out in the export. Below it you see what’s missing — such as Enter your client number (Mandantennummer). — and Go to the DATEV settings takes you there. With the DATEV export switched off you see Switch on the DATEV export in the settings to use it.

Export

1. Under Data export, click New export.
2. Under Data choose Invoices, under Format DATEV.
3. Choose the Date range — last month is preset; in the calendar you pick other days or a quick range such as Last 3 months. The invoice date counts. Under Customers you can limit the export to certain customers.
4. Click Export. Once the status is Done, download the ZIP file via ⋮ → Download.
5. Give the ZIP file to your tax adviser. They read both files in through DATEV’s import — the debtors first, then the booking batch.

Items, separator and columns don’t apply to DATEV — DATEV sets the format. Nor do the Status and Payment status filters: DATEV gets every issued invoice of the period. Drafts are never included.

One export, one business year

DATEV takes bookings of one business year per export. If your period runs past the start of your business year, the export doesn’t start and tells you how to split it, for example:

The period runs past the start of your business year on 01.01.2027. DATEV takes one business year per export — please split it into two exports: up to 31.12.2026 and from 01.01.2027.

With All, UNENO exports the period your invoices cover — from the first to the last. If they all fall within one business year, that’s one export; otherwise split it as the message says.

What’s in the booking batch

• One booking per invoice and tax rate. An invoice with 19 % and 7 % becomes two bookings — each the gross amount of that rate, debited to the customer’s debtor account and credited to the tax rate’s revenue account. The amounts are exactly those of your invoice.
• Belegdatum (document date) is the invoice date, Belegfeld 1 the invoice number, Fälligkeit the due date. The Buchungstext (booking text) reads, for example, “Rechnung INV-2026-0042 Example Client Ltd” — always in German, since the file is for a German tax adviser.
• For an intra-community supply or reverse charge the customer’s VAT ID is in the booking.
• A cancellation reverses the cancelled invoice with a Generalumkehr — DATEV’s way of undoing a booking.
• With “Book payments too” every recorded payment of the period comes along: debited to the bank account, credited to the debtor, with the invoice number as Belegfeld 1 — so DATEV clears the open item. A reversal undoes the payment with a Generalumkehr. For payments, the payment date counts.
• Not locked: the bookings arrive open; your tax adviser reviews and locks them.

Each period only once

Every export holds all bookings of its period — export the same period again and the same bookings are in it once more. If your tax adviser imports both files, everything is booked twice. Export, say, Last month every month, and talk to your tax adviser before you send a period again.

When the export doesn’t start

Before it runs, UNENO checks the period. You see each reason under Format, for example:

• Past the start of the business year — split the export, see above.
• Invoices in another currency — the DATEV export is in euros only; the message names the invoices.
• A tax rate without a revenue account — the message names the rate and the invoices; enter the account under Set up DATEV.
• A debtor account that no longer fits the account length — after you changed the account length, for example; change it on the customer.

Good to know

• The first export gives out the debtor accounts. Customers without one get the next free number and keep it — in every later export too. You’ll find it when you edit the customer, under Settings.
• Special characters in invoice numbers: DATEV only takes letters, digits and $ & % * + - / in Belegfeld 1. The export replaces other characters with “-” and spells out umlauts — the same invoice number always gives the same document number, so invoice and payment still find each other.
• The export follows your permissions: whoever may view invoices and create exports may export.