Prevents falling behindOff-the-shelf productEstablished, AI retrofitted

DATEV

DATEV eG, Nuremberg (Nürnberg) ·www.datev.de· As of: 2026-08-04

DATEV runs bookkeeping, payroll and annual accounts on a shared data set that the tax firm (Steuerkanzlei) and the company access at the same time. The bookings sit in the DATEV data centre, and filings to the tax office and social insurance travel the same route.

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ClaudeChatGPTPerplexity

Our verdict

In Germany a chain of statutory duties hangs off the accounts: record-keeping under the GoBD principles, ten-year retention under § 147 of the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung), electronic filing of VAT returns and payroll notifications. Anyone who has not closed that chain loses the licence to run their own books. A competitive advantage was never on the table. That is what DATEV delivers, which is why the verdict reads as preventing a shortfall. It creates no edge. Around one million customers and 40,176 cooperative members work on the same basis, and the tax adviser at the other end of the line expects DATEV format anyway. Buying it puts you level with the rest of the market and not a step ahead. The AI features have changed little so far: DATEV Copilot ran as a free licence in a test phase in spring 2026, and the provider does not publicly name the language models underneath it.

Evidence:As of 2026-08-04Legal form, seat, register court, register number and VAT identification numberOpen sourceAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04The processing agreement is concluded through forms only, with no publicly available contract text, and is mandatory for every customer with a direct contractual relationshipOpen sourceAs of 2026-08-04ISO/IEC 27001:2022, auditor, registration number, term running to 28 October 2027 and a scope covering all German locations including the data centresOpen sourceAs of 2026-08-04Overview of certificates with standards and issue dates, among them ISO 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 14001 and ISO 21964Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04All quoted prices, units and frequencies as well as the one-off charges for decommissioning, data copy and inactive mandate, dated 08/2026Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04Revenue, operating result, member count, employees and cooperative rebate for the 2025 financial year, announced 27 March 2026Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04Half-year figures for 2026, members, employees and passing the one-million customer mark in June 2026, reporting date 17 July 2026Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04Four data centre sites covering some 4,500 square metres and certification to ISO/IEC 27001Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04Training offering on the requirements of the AI Regulation, without placing its own AI features or saying anything about Article 50Open sourceAs of 2026-08-04DATEV Copilot as a free licence in its test phase, requiring SmartCard, SmartLogin or a user account, processing inside the DATEV cloud, with no language model namedOpen sourceAs of 2026-08-04A dedicated maintenance and outage page giving the time window and cause per incidentOpen source

Who it fits

Solo

suitable

Entry is small and the price is public: DATEV Unternehmen online costs EUR 11.56 per month as a user licence with no seat limit, DATEV Belege online EUR 3.83 per client per month, both plus VAT. Rights management is listed at EUR 0.00 and is therefore in every tier. The usual route runs through your own tax firm, which sets up the data set.

Mid-market

suitable

The setup is built for this size. Belegfreigabe online is EUR 7.35 per client per month, the comfort tier EUR 25.00, and the shared document volume includes at least 5 GB with EUR 1.05 per GB per month above that. Roles, permissions and sign-in via SmartCard or SmartLogin come at no extra charge, which is rarely the case with AI-native tools.

Enterprise

suitable with caveats

Contractual maturity and attestations are in place; the fit question remains. The setup presupposes a tax firm with an adviser number, and only customers with a direct contractual relationship to DATEV conclude the data processing agreement. Clients inside the service network (Leistungsverbund) have none and therefore conclude none. For a group with entities outside Germany that is a limit built into the product itself.

Buy, switch or build

Off-the-shelf

Run the accounts in the ERP instead of the tax-firm network

SAP is the usual counterpart as soon as several entities and currencies are in play, with Sage and Addison from Wolters Kluwer alongside it in the mid-market. The reason large organisations stay has little to do with bookkeeping: there the general ledger sits against the flow of goods, fixed asset accounting and group consolidation, and a switch would cut that chain open. DATEV in turn holds the link to the tax firm, which the ERP route lacks and has to rebuild through an interface.

AI-native

Put an AI-native platform in front of the tax firm

Pennylane and Candis are the two names that come up first here. They read documents, run approvals and pass the journal entries on. The price difference cannot be netted out cleanly, because neither publishes a price list on the scale of the DATEV one; the order of magnitude is a multiple of the EUR 3.83 per client per month, with more work included in return. What is given up is the closed chain. The tax adviser at the end still expects DATEV format, and the audit-proof archive with its ten-year period then sits with a young provider rather than a cooperative certified since 2010. Taking this route buys recognition quality and keeps the interface.

Build it yourself

Build the document run yourself, keep bookkeeping bought in

Document recognition is the part that can be built. n8n chains inbox, filing and approval together without custom code and runs in your own data centre, Claude Code writes the evaluation steps, LiteLLM keeps the model calls interchangeable, Langfuse makes the hit rate per document type measurable. Ten to fifteen person-days at a daily rate of EUR 1,200 buys a run that reads invoices and pre-codes them. What does not get built is the bookkeeping itself. Self-building fails here on three points, all of them behind the recognition step: the procedural documentation under the GoBD principles, the audit-proof archive across ten years under § 147 of the German Fiscal Code, and the filing to the tax office. The fourth point arrives later and hits harder: once the builder leaves, nobody checks the run against a changed rule.

Our advice

  • Solo: Come in through your own tax firm and keep the document filing there from the start, so nothing has to be pulled across later.
  • Mid-market: Buy it, and decide clauses 15 and 16 c deliberately when concluding the processing agreement. On 4 August 2026 the route there ran via go.datev.de/av.
  • Enterprise: German entities only, and settle in writing beforehand which access log the customer receives and how long it is retained.

Who is behind it

Staying power: Established

A cooperative owned by its members, in the market since 1966 and in its sixtieth year in 2026. Capital comes from members' shares and retained surpluses; an investor looking for an exit does not exist in this legal form. Part of the operating result flows back to members as a cooperative rebate.

  • Legal form and register: DATEV eG, Paumgartnerstrasse 6-14, 90429 Nuremberg, cooperative register (Genossenschaftsregister) Nuremberg no. 70, VAT ID DE 133546770As of 2026-08-04Legal form, seat, register court, register number and VAT identification numberOpen source · As of 2026-08-04
  • Financial year 2025: Revenue EUR 1.650 billion, operating result EUR 132.3 million after EUR 92.8 million the year before, cooperative rebate to members EUR 63.6 million, announced 27 March 2026As of 2026-08-04Revenue, operating result, member count, employees and cooperative rebate for the 2025 financial year, announced 27 March 2026Open source · As of 2026-08-04
  • First half of 2026: Revenue EUR 881.0 million after EUR 810.2 million in the same period of the previous year, 40,176 members, 9,015 employees, more than one million customers for the first time in June 2026, reporting date 17 July 2026As of 2026-08-04Half-year figures for 2026, members, employees and passing the one-million customer mark in June 2026, reporting date 17 July 2026Open source · As of 2026-08-04
  • Ongoing certification: ISO/IEC 27001:2022, CIS Certification & Information Security Services GmbH, registration number I-00772/0, first issued 8 October 2010, issued 27 October 2025, valid until 28 October 2027As of 2026-08-04ISO/IEC 27001:2022, auditor, registration number, term running to 28 October 2027 and a scope covering all German locations including the data centresOpen source · As of 2026-08-04
  • Price maintenance: Public price list for companies running to 115 pages, dated 08/2026, updated every six monthsAs of 2026-08-04All quoted prices, units and frequencies as well as the one-off charges for decommissioning, data copy and inactive mandate, dated 08/2026Open source · As of 2026-08-04
  • Documented outages: A dedicated page for maintenance and outages publishes incidents with time window and cause, last checked 4 August 2026As of 2026-08-04A dedicated maintenance and outage page giving the time window and cause per incidentOpen source · As of 2026-08-04

Cost of leaving: Moderate

The booking data comes out and stays readable, because the DATEV format is the common language of the German market anyway. What weighs more is what is missing after the export. The audit-proof archive in the data centre carries a retention duty that runs on for ten years, and it does not simply move house. Named one-off charges come on top: EUR 350.00 flat for an inactive Unternehmen online mandate, and with DATEVasp EUR 700.00 for decommissioning plus EUR 450.00 for the data copy, each plus VAT. The third item appears in no price list: the tax firm works on the same data set, so a switch is always their switch too.

Regulation and data

How to read the traffic lightHow to read the traffic lightThe traffic light rates how well a point is evidenced, not how good the tool is. It draws only on the value, note and source held in the profile. Where a statement is missing, it rates the absence, not a guess. A well-reasoned "unclear" on a point that matters little for this tool is yellow. A missing source on a point that decides whether you can use it at all is red.documented, no condition attacheddocumented, tied to a conditiondocumented, but unfavourableopen on a point that decides usability
Data processing agreementScale for this point: Data processing agreementdocumented, no condition attached: Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag öffentlich abrufbar und ohne weitere Bedingung Bestandteil des Vertrags; oder er entfällt nachvollziehbar begründet, weil kein Anbieter Kundendaten verarbeitet.documented, tied to a condition: Vertrag existiert, ist aber an einen Tarif gebunden, nur nach Anfrage einsehbar oder allein in den Nutzungsbedingungen geregelt statt als eigenes Dokument.documented, but unfavourable: Kein Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag im üblichen Sinn: entweder weil der Anbieter für das Kerngeschäft eigenständig Verantwortlicher ist und stattdessen eine andere Konstruktion gilt, oder weil öffentlich offen bleibt, ob überhaupt einer angeboten wird.open on a point that decides usability: Weder ein Vertrag noch ein dokumentierter Weg zu einem Vertrag; der Einkauf hätte nichts, worauf er sich stützen kann.documented, tied to a conditiona dedicated data processing agreement, agreed with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, text supplied only after completing a formAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceThe agreement is described in detail, down to individual clauses, and according to DATEV it was agreed with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority. Its version dates from October 2017 and has not changed since. The text itself goes only to those who submit one of the three forms; no contract document is published for reading. Every customer with a direct contractual relationship must conclude it; clients inside the service network (Leistungsverbund) have none and therefore conclude none. The route there is striking: the FAQ file names www.datev.de/av three times as the only valid path, and on 4 August 2026 that address answered with a 404. The page was reachable via go.datev.de/av.As of 2026-08-04
Storage locationScale for this point: Storage locationdocumented, no condition attached: EU-Speicherort ohne Zusatzkosten und ohne Tarifbindung, oder der Ort ist vollständig selbst bestimmbar, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: EU-Speicherort möglich, aber an einen Tarif, einen gesondert zu aktivierenden Zusatz oder einen Umzug in eine getrennte Umgebung gebunden; oder die EU-Region ist nicht die Voreinstellung.documented, but unfavourable: Kein EU-Speicherort, der Ort ist aber eindeutig benannt, sodass die Folgen bewertbar sind.open on a point that decides usability: Der Speicherort ist öffentlich nicht benannt oder vom Kunden nicht steuerbar, sodass sich die Verarbeitung nicht verorten lässt.documented, no condition attacheddata centres in Nuremberg (Nürnberg); no storage location outside Germany is offeredAs of 2026-08-04ISO/IEC 27001:2022, auditor, registration number, term running to 28 October 2027 and a scope covering all German locations including the data centresOpen sourceThe ISO 27001 certificate names DATEV eG with all German locations as its scope and lists every one of them in an annex, the data centres among them in Nuremberg. The data centre page speaks of four sites covering some 4,500 square metres. There is no choice of region, and none is needed: the offering knows no region outside Germany.As of 2026-08-04
SubprocessorsScale for this point: Subprocessorsdocumented, no condition attached: Vollständige öffentliche Liste der Unterauftragnehmer mit Zweck und Land; oder es gibt keine, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Liste existiert und ist benannt, aber nur nach Anfrage oder nach Zugang zu einem Vertrauensportal einsehbar, oder sie nennt Zweck und Land nicht vollständig.documented, but unfavourable: Keine geführte Liste; namentlich stehen nur einzelne Dienste in der Datenschutzerklärung, überwiegend solche der eigenen Website.open on a point that decides usability: Weder eine Liste noch eine Nennung der Verarbeiter des Produkts, und kein dokumentierter Weg, sie zu erfahren.documented, tied to a conditiona maintained list exists and is named, yet cannot be read without signing inAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceWith the agreement the customer grants DATEV general authorisation to bring in further processors. The overview carries a number, document 1000192 in the help centre, and is said to show possible third-country transfers as well. Opening it on 4 August 2026 ended at the DATEV knowledge platform, which without a sign-in serves nothing but its page title. Anyone wanting to know before signing who works behind DATEV will not learn it from publicly accessible sources. A free newsletter can be ordered to flag changes.As of 2026-08-04
Third-country transferScale for this point: Third-country transferdocumented, no condition attached: Keine Übermittlung in ein Drittland, oder die Übermittlung findet statt und die Grundlage ist benannt und im Vertrag verankert, etwa Standardvertragsklauseln, Angemessenheitsbeschluss oder EU-US-Datenschutzrahmen.documented, tied to a condition: Übermittlung findet statt, eine Grundlage ist genannt, aber ohne Zuordnung, welcher Empfänger auf welcher Grundlage arbeitet.documented, but unfavourable: Übermittlung findet statt und die eigenen Unterlagen widersprechen sich, oder die genannte Grundlage bezieht sich erkennbar nur auf einen Randbereich wie die Marketing-Website.open on a point that decides usability: Übermittlung findet erkennbar statt und eine Grundlage wird nirgends genannt.documented, tied to a conditiontransfer permitted by contract in fault cases; recipients and the basis per recipient cannot be matched up publiclyAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceClause 6 d of the agreement entitles DATEV to transfer personal data to service providers in a third country. The reason given is fault clearance: manufacturers and support firms must be able to inspect error logs and memory dumps when critical faults occur. DATEV's own wording is remarkably open. In such cases, it says, it cannot be ruled out to a hundred per cent that customer information is contained there as well. Which recipient works on which basis sits in document 1000192, and that could not be read without signing in. For regular service processes with suppliers DATEV states that no exchange of commissioned data is envisaged.As of 2026-08-04
Training on customer dataScale for this point: Training on customer datadocumented, no condition attached: Vertraglich oder in der Datenschutzerklärung ausdrücklich ausgeschlossen, mit Erstreckung auf die eingesetzten Modellanbieter; oder es gibt keine Datenübertragung an einen Anbieter.documented, tied to a condition: Ausschluss ab einem bestimmten Tarif, oder die Zusage steht nur auf einer Dokumentationsseite statt im Vertrag, oder die Frage stellt sich für das Werkzeug sachlich kaum und der Anbieter schweigt dazu.documented, but unfavourable: Nutzung ist die Voreinstellung und nur ein Widerspruch beendet sie; oder der Anbieter trainiert eigene Modelle auf bereinigten Kundendaten.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage, obwohl das Werkzeug KI-Funktionen auf Kundeninhalten betreibt.documented, but unfavourableprocessing commissioned data for product improvement and product development is part of the standard contract and has to be struck out activelyAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceHere the contract repays a careful reading. The agreement carries two clauses that reach beyond plain processing on instruction. Clause 15 allows DATEV to anonymise commissioned data and use it for product improvements and new developments, naming operational and sector benchmarks and statistical analysis. Clause 16 c allows commissioned data to be processed for developing new DATEV products in a secured environment, limited to people who already know the data. Both can be struck out, as the FAQ file states explicitly. The route named there for doing so, www.datev.de/avindividuell, answered with a 404 on 4 August 2026, as did go.datev.de/avindividuell, and the conclusion page does not link to it. For the AI features themselves DATEV names neither a language model nor a model provider, saying about processing only that it takes place inside the DATEV cloud.As of 2026-08-04
Retention and deletionScale for this point: Retention and deletiondocumented, no condition attached: Löschfristen nach Vertragsende beziffert und die Löschung oder Rückgabe zugesagt; oder die Fristen bestimmt der Betreiber selbst, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Löschung ist zugesagt, die Fristen sind aber nur teilweise beziffert, oder Sicherungskopien sind ausdrücklich ausgenommen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur der Grundsatz der Erforderlichkeit ohne jede Frist nach Vertragsende, oder Fristen sind allein für Randbereiche wie Website-Protokolle genannt.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage zu Aufbewahrung und Löschung.documented, tied to a conditiondeletion periods proposed per product and derived along DIN 66398; the deletion concept itself stays with the customerAs of 2026-08-04Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562Open sourceDATEV derives deletion periods for every program along DIN 66398 and records them under point 2.3 of the respective data protection profile. Statutory retention duties are taken into account and take precedence over the right to erasure. Two limits remain. The customer has to draw up and run the deletion concept, because it must fit their own situation, and the substantive data is deleted by them as well. The profiles carrying the periods sit in the knowledge platform, which serves nothing without a sign-in, so the periods cannot be read before signing.As of 2026-08-04
CertificationsScale for this point: Certificationsdocumented, no condition attached: Mehrere anerkannte Nachweise, benannt mit Norm, Fassung und Geltungsbereich, und bezogen auf den Anbieter selbst.documented, tied to a condition: Ein anerkannter Nachweis für den Anbieter belegt, der Bericht aber nur auf Anfrage, oder der Nachweis hängt an einem Tarif, oder der Geltungsbereich bleibt teilweise offen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur pauschale Nennung ohne Norm-Fassung und Geltungsbereich, oder bloße Selbstauskunft, oder die Nachweise gehören dem Infrastrukturanbieter statt dem Anbieter, oder der Prüfzeitraum ist erkennbar veraltet, oder die eigenen Angaben widersprechen sich.open on a point that decides usability: Kein Nachweis genannt und keine Sicherheits- oder Vertrauensseite vorhanden.documented, no condition attachedISO/IEC 27001:2022, 27701 and 27017 with a named scope, plus ISO 9001, 20000, 14001 and 21964As of 2026-08-04Overview of certificates with standards and issue dates, among them ISO 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 14001 and ISO 21964Open sourceThe attestations are fully documented and available as downloadable certificates. The information security certificate names the standard and its version, the auditor CIS Certification & Information Security Services GmbH, registration number I-00772/0, the statement of applicability in version 3.0 dated 18 September 2025 and a term running to 28 October 2027. The scope covers DATEV eG with all German locations including software development, data processing and the data centres, and an annex lists every site individually. Two older certificates stand out against that: data carrier destruction is dated 20 November 2023, the alarm receiving centres 21 July 2022.As of 2026-08-04
EU AI Act, Article 50Scale for this point: EU AI Act, Article 50documented, no condition attached: Der Anbieter macht eine belegte Aussage, die die eigene Pflicht trägt, etwa Modelldokumentation und Zertifizierung nach ISO/IEC 42001; oder das Werkzeug enthält nachvollziehbar begründet kein KI-System im Sinne der Verordnung.documented, tied to a condition: Der Anbieter äußert sich zur Verordnung oder ordnet die eigene Funktion ein, eine benannte Zusage zu den Transparenzpflichten aus Artikel 50 fehlt aber; oder das Werkzeug enthält kein KI-System, das gegenüber Menschen auftritt, und der Anbieter schweigt.documented, but unfavourable: Das Produkt enthält KI-Funktionen, der Anbieter schweigt dazu oder trägt ein Selbstetikett ohne Nachweis; die Kennzeichnung ist vom Betreiber aber selbst setzbar.open on a point that decides usability: KI spricht im Produkt unmittelbar mit Endkunden und der Anbieter sagt zu Artikel 50 nichts; die Kennzeichnung lässt sich ohne Zusage des Anbieters nicht sicher setzen.documented, but unfavourableunclearAs of 2026-08-04Training offering on the requirements of the AI Regulation, without placing its own AI features or saying anything about Article 50Open sourceDATEV picks up the AI Regulation, though as a customer topic. It offers training that helps tax firms meet the requirements, and points to new transparency duties. For its own AI features a named commitment is missing. Neither the artificial intelligence page nor the DATEV Copilot product page places its own role under the Regulation or says anything about Article 50. Anyone who has to set the labelling in their own house is given no public basis for it by the provider. Checked on both pages on 4 August 2026.As of 2026-08-04
Audit loggingScale for this point: Audit loggingdocumented, no condition attached: Nachvollziehbares Protokoll über Zugriffe und Änderungen in allen Tarifen enthalten, mit benannter Frist und Ausleitung in eigene Systeme; oder die Nachvollziehbarkeit liegt vollständig in eigener Hand, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Protokoll vorhanden, aber an einen höheren Tarif oder einen kostenpflichtigen Zusatz gebunden, oder die Ausleitung fehlt in den unteren Stufen; Reichweite und Frist sind benannt.documented, but unfavourable: Protokolle sind nur anbieterseitig beschrieben, oder Reichweite und Frist bleiben offen, sodass sich Nachweispflichten nicht planen lassen.open on a point that decides usability: Öffentlich nicht belegt, ob der Kunde überhaupt ein auswertbares Protokoll erhält.documented, but unfavourablerights and user management in every tier at no extra charge; the scope and retention of an auditable log are left open publiclyAs of 2026-08-04All quoted prices, units and frequencies as well as the one-off charges for decommissioning, data copy and inactive mandate, dated 08/2026Open sourceThe price list carries user and rights management, Rechteverwaltung online and Rechteraum-Management online at EUR 0.00 each. Access can therefore be governed in every tier without moving to a higher plan. The other half stays open: whether the customer receives an auditable log of access and changes, how far it reaches and how long it is kept sits in the general description of technical and organisational measures, document 1000562 in the help centre. That document too could not be read without signing in on 4 August 2026. Anyone who has to plan evidence duties cannot do so before signing.As of 2026-08-04

What it really costs

Entry price

DATEV Unternehmen online costs EUR 11.56 per month as a user licence with no seat limit, DATEV Belege online EUR 3.83 per client per month, DATEV Auftragswesen next EUR 7.00 per month. All prices are quoted excluding VAT, dated 08/2026. The price list for companies is published as a 115-page PDF and updated every six months.As of 2026-08-04All quoted prices, units and frequencies as well as the one-off charges for decommissioning, data copy and inactive mandate, dated 08/2026Open source

As of 2026-08-04

What gets expensive

The base items are small; the invoice grows through the number of line items. Belegfreigabe online is EUR 7.35 per client per month, the comfort tier EUR 25.00, each invoice taken over from a partner EUR 2.10, each bank connection in the bank data service EUR 1.37 per month. The quietest item is storage: the shared free volume starts at 5 GB and grows by 1 GB per EUR 5.00 of invoice value, above which each further GB costs EUR 1.05 per month. Anyone archiving in an audit-proof way therefore accumulates volume that never shrinks again and pays for it monthly. Ending the relationship triggers one-off charges, EUR 350.00 for an inactive Unternehmen online mandate.

What it displaces

  • Paper document folders and the handover to the tax firm in a box
  • Separate data sets in the company and the tax firm that get reconciled at year end
  • Your own filing routes to the tax office and social insurance
  • Spreadsheets for open-item lists and payment runs

Interfaces

  • DATEV format for booking batches, the common denominator of the German market
  • DATEVconnect for account bookings and document management
  • DATEV Marktplatz for third-party connections
  • Sign-in via DATEV SmartCard, SmartLogin or a user account
  • Bank data service for account turnover and payment orders

Matching methods

  • Regulatory Density TestThe test asks how much regulation sits in a market and whom that protects, and DATEV is the case that shows it: the GoBD principles, § 147 of the Fiscal Code and the filing routes are the real moat, which no feature comparison makes visible.
  • Data Monetization: Improve, Wrap, SellThe method distinguishes whether data improves the product, wraps it or is sold, and clauses 15 and 16 c of the processing agreement are a lesson in the first of those, written into the contract rather than the product vision.
  • Operating Model Grid (Standardization and Integration)The grid sets standardisation against integration, and the tax-firm network is the rare case of high standardisation combined with high integration across two separate companies.
  • RPV Organizational Fit Test (Resources, Processes, Values)Resources, processes and values explain why a cooperative with 40,176 members decides differently from a funded challenger, and why the pace on AI features hangs on that rather than on the technology.

Alternatives

Sources

  1. 1.Legal form, seat, register court, register number and VAT identification number (opens in a new tab)datev.de/web/de/berufsgruppenuebergreifend/ueber-datev/impressum · As of 2026-08-04
  2. 2.Data processing agreement, alignment with the Bavarian data protection supervisory authority, dated October 2017, clauses 6 d, 9, 15, 16 c and 19 e, the option to strike clauses via the individual contract, deletion periods along DIN 66398, references to documents 1000192 and 1000562 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/faqs_dsgvo_2025-2.pdf · As of 2026-08-04
  3. 3.The processing agreement is concluded through forms only, with no publicly available contract text, and is mandatory for every customer with a direct contractual relationship (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/vereinbarung-zur-auftragsverarbeitung · As of 2026-08-04
  4. 4.ISO/IEC 27001:2022, auditor, registration number, term running to 28 October 2027 and a scope covering all German locations including the data centres (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/zertifikat_iso_27001_de.pdf · As of 2026-08-04
  5. 5.Overview of certificates with standards and issue dates, among them ISO 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO 9001, ISO 20000, ISO 14001 and ISO 21964 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/web/de/m/ueber-datev/datenschutz/zertifikate · As of 2026-08-04
  6. 6.All quoted prices, units and frequencies as well as the one-off charges for decommissioning, data copy and inactive mandate, dated 08/2026 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/DATEV-Preisliste_fuer_Unternehmen.pdf · As of 2026-08-04
  7. 7.Revenue, operating result, member count, employees and cooperative rebate for the 2025 financial year, announced 27 March 2026 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/datev-mit-cloud-angeboten-weiter-auf-wachstumskurs · As of 2026-08-04
  8. 8.Half-year figures for 2026, members, employees and passing the one-million customer mark in June 2026, reporting date 17 July 2026 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/datev-steigert-umsatz-und-kundenbasis · As of 2026-08-04
  9. 9.Four data centre sites covering some 4,500 square metres and certification to ISO/IEC 27001 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/web/de/m/ueber-datev/das-unternehmen/rechenzentrum · As of 2026-08-04
  10. 10.Training offering on the requirements of the AI Regulation, without placing its own AI features or saying anything about Article 50 (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/kuenstliche-intelligenz · As of 2026-08-04
  11. 11.DATEV Copilot as a free licence in its test phase, requiring SmartCard, SmartLogin or a user account, processing inside the DATEV cloud, with no language model named (opens in a new tab)datev.de/web/de/shop/produkt-details/datev-copilot-90431 · As of 2026-08-04
  12. 12.A dedicated maintenance and outage page giving the time window and cause per incident (opens in a new tab)datev.de/…/informationen-zu-wartungen-und-stoerungen · As of 2026-08-04

Last reviewed: 2026-08-04 by Dr. Oliver Gausmann, Convios GmbH

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