DATEV Unternehmen Online vs. EXTF Export: Which Approach Is Right for You?

If your tax advisor (Steuerberater) uses DATEV (and there’s roughly an 88% chance they do), you have two main options for getting your financial records into their system: the DATEV Unternehmen online cloud platform, or generating EXTF files that they import manually. Both work. Neither is obviously superior — the right choice depends on your situation.

DATEV Unternehmen Online

DATEV Unternehmen online is a cloud platform that connects your business directly with your Steuerberater’s DATEV installation. You upload documents to a shared workspace, and your tax advisor (Steuerberater) can access and process them from their end in real time.

The key advantages: real-time collaboration, no file transfers, your Steuerberater sees exactly what you’ve uploaded, and changes are immediately visible to both parties.

The key disadvantages: it costs money (the subscription typically runs 15-30 EUR per month and is sometimes included in your Steuerberater’s fee, sometimes not), it requires your tax advisor (Steuerberater) to be set up for DATEV Unternehmen online (most are, but not all), and it creates a dependency on DATEV’s specific platform and pricing.

EXTF Export

The EXTF (External Format) approach is more autonomous. You process your documents independently, using a tool like KontoMatch, and periodically generate a structured export file that your Steuerberater imports into their DATEV installation.

The key advantages: you’re not paying for a DATEV subscription, you can use any processing tool you choose, you maintain a local copy of all your records, and the workflow works regardless of which version of DATEV your Steuerberater uses.

The key disadvantages: the handoff is periodic rather than real-time, there’s a slightly higher coordination overhead (the file transfer, confirming the import worked), and errors in the export format aren’t discovered until the import.

Which to Choose

Choose DATEV Unternehmen online if: Your Steuerberater actively uses and recommends it, you want maximum visibility into your records from the Steuerberater side, you’re comfortable paying the monthly subscription, and you value real-time collaboration over autonomy.

Choose EXTF export if: You want to control your own data and tooling, you’re cost-sensitive, your tax advisor (Steuerberater) is comfortable with file imports, or you’re using a tool like KontoMatch that produces clean EXTF files automatically.

For most freelancers and small businesses, EXTF export is the more practical and cost-effective choice. Monthly or quarterly file exports are sufficient; the real-time collaboration benefit of DATEV Unternehmen online rarely matters at small business scale.

The Hybrid Approach

Some businesses use both: KontoMatch for processing and reconciliation (generating clean, categorized records), and DATEV Unternehmen online for the final document sharing and tax advisor (Steuerberater) collaboration. This gives you the processing efficiency of automated tools combined with the collaboration features of DATEV’s platform.

The practical implementation: process documents in KontoMatch, export to DATEV EXTF, and upload the EXTF file plus source documents to DATEV Unternehmen online’s document inbox. Your tax advisor (Steuerberater) imports from there.