From online purchase to finished accounting entry, automatically

A professional DATEV integration encompasses far more than exporting a CSV file. We implement a seamless automation chain that captures every relevant business transaction in the shop, correctly assigns accounts and transfers it to DATEV. The following six functional areas form the core of our DATEV integration solution.

Depending on whether your accounting is handled internally or by a tax advisor, you use different DATEV products. Our integration supports both scenarios and can continue working without fundamental changes when switching between products.

The quality of a DATEV integration stands or falls with the account assignment logic. An order in the online shop can contain items from different product groups, with different tax rates and from different revenue categories. Each line item must be assigned to the correct revenue account, the correct tax code and the appropriate cost center. For international customers, additional dimensions arise: intra-community deliveries (VAT ID present and verified), third-country transactions, consignment goods or reverse-charge procedures.

We implement the account assignment logic as a rule-based system in the integration layer. The rules are defined together with you and your tax advisor and documented in a configuration matrix. Typical rule parameters are: product group, customer type (domestic, EU, third country), delivery type, sales channel and payment terms. The result: your tax advisor receives clean posting batches that can be imported without queries.

The GoBD (German principles for proper keeping and storage of books, records and documents in electronic form) set clear requirements for digital document flows. Our DATEV integration fully meets these requirements: immutability of transferred documents through digital signatures and checksums, complete traceability of all processing steps through detailed logging, and completeness of the document chain from order through invoice to payment.

Additionally, we create a procedural documentation describing how data travels from the shop to accounting, what transformations occur and which controls ensure the accuracy of the transfer. This documentation is mandatory for tax audits and is created as a standard component of every DATEV integration project.

The most common challenge in our DATEV projects is correct tax treatment for international transactions. An online shop selling to customers in the EU and third countries must apply the correct tax rate and accounting scheme for every transaction. Intra-community deliveries to companies with valid VAT IDs are tax-exempt, but only if the VAT ID has been verified. Deliveries to private individuals in the EU are subject to the destination country's tax rate under the One-Stop-Shop procedure. Third-country transactions are tax-exempt but require proof of export.

Another challenge involves partial deliveries and partial invoices. When an order is fulfilled in multiple shipments, the partial invoices must be correctly linked to the original order and the account assignment split proportionally. Credit notes referring to individual items of a partial invoice must also be correctly allocated in the DATEV system. Our integration solution handles these scenarios automatically and documents every step in an audit-proof manner.

DATEV integration is rarely an isolated interface. In most projects, it is part of a broader integration architecture that also includes ERP connectivity and the shop platform. Documents for DATEV can be generated directly from the shop, from the ERP or from a central middleware. The optimal source depends on which system controls invoicing and where the most complete data resides.

When SAP Business One or S/4HANA is used as the ERP system, SAP typically generates the invoices, and the DATEV transfer occurs from SAP. In scenarios without an ERP or with simpler inventory systems, the shop generates the invoices and our integration layer handles preparation and transfer to DATEV. In both cases, we ensure consistent account assignment and full GoBD compliance.

Automating the accounting interface is one of the investments with the fastest return on investment in e-commerce. Manual entry of an invoice in DATEV typically takes two to five minutes depending on complexity (project experience). With 500 invoices per month, that is 16 to 40 hours of pure data entry time eliminated through automation. Add the time savings from eliminating allocation errors, queries and correction bookings.

Beyond time savings, you benefit from significantly higher data quality. Manual entry errors, incorrectly assigned tax codes and forgotten documents become a thing of the past. The monthly close is accelerated because all posting batches are available promptly and completely. And during tax audits, you can present a seamless, machine-generated document chain that meets the highest compliance requirements. Contact us for a non-binding assessment of your DATEV integration project.

The technical implementation of the DATEV integration follows a defined process from document capture in the shop through preparation in the integration layer to transfer to DATEV. In the first step, relevant business transactions are captured in the shop: an order is confirmed, an invoice created, a payment received or a credit note issued. Each of these events triggers a defined processing workflow in our integration layer.

In the second step, document data is prepared and assigned accounts. The integration layer applies the defined assignment rules: revenue accounts are assigned based on product group, tax codes determined based on customer type and delivery country, cost centers assigned based on sales channel. Simultaneously, data is transformed into DATEV-compatible format: field assignments, date formats and character encodings are adapted to DATEV interface requirements.

In the third step, the actual transfer to DATEV occurs. Depending on the DATEV product in use, this happens via the DATEV API, posting batch files or DATEV-Connect. Document images (invoice PDFs) are transferred in parallel and linked to the accounting entries. After successful transfer, the status is updated in the shop so it is traceable which documents have already been transferred to accounting.

E-commerce brings accounting scenarios that rarely occur in traditional business. Cancellations after goods dispatch, partial refunds, voucher redemptions, payments via third-party payment systems and fee settlements from payment providers generate accounting transactions that must be correctly assigned and transferred to DATEV.

An example: a customer orders three items, receives an invoice and pays via SEPA direct debit. They return one item and another is partially credited. Meanwhile, payment provider transaction fees are incurred. Our integration layer generates the correct accounting entry for each of these events: revenue booking for the original invoice, reversal booking for the return, partial credit booking, payment receipt booking and fee booking. All documents are linked so the business transaction is fully traceable.

A DATEV integration is not a one-time project but a permanent interface that must keep pace with updates from both systems. DATEV regularly updates formats and interfaces, Shopware CE receives core updates and plugin changes. Our maintenance packages include monitoring of DATEV export processes, adaptation to format changes and further development of the integration as new requirements arise. Quarterly reviews check the data quality of exports and identify optimization potential in the booking process. This ensures your DATEV integration remains permanently current and reliable.

Additionally, we train your accounting department in working with automated booking exports: what data is transferred when, how assignment to DATEV accounts works and how special cases like partial deliveries, returns or credits are correctly recorded. This knowledge ensures your team understands the integration and can work with it confidently in daily operations.

The tight integration of DATEV connectivity and shop maintenance offers additional benefits: during Shopware updates, we automatically verify that DATEV export processes continue to function correctly and adapt the integration as needed. Quarterly reviews of export data identify optimization potential and ensure booking quality permanently remains at a high level.

For shop operators who need comprehensive technical support for their shop alongside the DATEV integration, we offer combined maintenance and integration packages. This bundling enables tighter integration of all technical aspects and reduces coordination between different service providers to a minimum.

The reliability of the DATEV integration is business-critical: missing or incorrect booking exports lead to rework in accounting and delay monthly closings. Our monitoring supervises every export cycle and alerts on anomalies before they become problems.

This structured project workflow ensures the DATEV integration works correctly from day one and functions reliably even with growing document volumes and new business cases. Involving the tax advisor in the validation process eliminates the risk of assignment errors that would only surface during a tax audit. Contact us for a non-binding assessment of your DATEV integration project.