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DATEV EXTF Format

DATEV is the dominant accounting software ecosystem in Germany, used by over 40,000 tax advisory firms and their clients. docs101 exports your invoice data in the EXTF format (Extended Text Format), which DATEV applications can import directly.

What is DATEV?​

DATEV eG is a German cooperative that provides software and IT services for tax advisors, auditors, and their clients. Most German tax advisors use DATEV to manage their clients' bookkeeping. By exporting from docs101 in DATEV's native format, you eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors.

The EXTF Format​

EXTF is DATEV's CSV-based exchange format. Key characteristics:

PropertyValue
EncodingWindows-1252 (CP1252)
DelimiterSemicolon (;)
Line EndingCR/LF (\r\n)
Text QualifierDouble quotes (")
Version700

An EXTF file has three parts:

  1. Header Line (line 1) — Metadata: format version, category, consultant/client numbers, fiscal year, date range
  2. Column Headers (line 2) — Field names for the data rows
  3. Data Rows (line 3+) — One row per booking or debtor record

Booking Batch (Category 21)​

The booking batch contains your invoice transactions. Each VAT line of an invoice becomes one booking row with 120 fields, including:

  • Amount (field 1) — Always positive, with comma as decimal separator (e.g., 119,00)
  • Debit/Credit (field 2) — S (Soll/debit) for regular invoices, H (Haben/credit) for credit notes
  • Account (field 7) — Revenue account from your SKR mapping
  • Counter-Account (field 8) — Customer's debtor number
  • BU Key (field 9) — Tax classification code (e.g., 9 for 19% VAT)
  • Document Date (field 10) — In DDMM format (e.g., 1501 for January 15)
  • Document Number (field 11) — Your invoice number

Debtor Master Data (Category 16)​

The debtor master data file contains your customer records with 243 fields, including name, address, VAT ID, and debtor account number.

Chart of Accounts (SKR)​

Germany uses standardized charts of accounts. docs101 supports:

  • SKR03 — Process-oriented, most common for SMBs
  • SKR04 — Function-oriented, common for larger companies

Each chart defines different revenue account numbers. For example, standard-rate revenue is account 8400 in SKR03 but 4400 in SKR04.

Document Archive​

In addition to the CSV files, a DATEV export can include a document archive with:

  • Invoice PDFs as document images
  • A document.xml file with metadata (invoice number, date) that links PDFs to bookings

Year-Boundary Splitting​

DATEV requires all bookings in one file to belong to the same fiscal year. When your export date range spans multiple calendar years, docs101 automatically splits the export into separate ZIP files — one per year.

info

Year-boundary splitting happens automatically. You'll see multiple download links when an export is split.

Further Reading​