Reviewing Shopify data for DATEV with your accountant (2026)
How to settle accounts, tax keys, fees and corrections with your firm, test a closed period and document adjustments before shop data lands in DATEV.
In short: a DATEV handover should show posting records, accounts, tax keys, fees and corrections in a traceable way. A technically importable EXTF batch does not guarantee correct account assignment. Have every period checked for plausibility and document approvals and adjustments.
Why order data alone is not enough
An order export does not automatically contain the posting logic agreed with your accountant. Check in particular:
- Revenue account and VAT key per posting.
- Separation of domestic, EU B2C, third country and special cases.
- Payment fees and a traceable reconciliation with payouts.
- Credit notes, cancellations, refunds and period reference.
- Missing or estimated data that must be cleared before the import.
Automation can reduce preparation but does not replace professional review. Chart of accounts, tax cases and data sources can change.
What DATEV really needs
- Posting records with a revenue account (SKR03 or SKR04; ask your accountant which chart of accounts).
- Correct VAT key per tax case: domestic 19%/7%, EU B2C (OSS) per destination country, third country tax-free, reverse charge.
- Payment fees (Shopify Payments, PayPal, Klarna) booked separately as expense.
- Payouts traceably assigned to revenue.
- Credit notes and cancellations as separate documents, not as a revenue correction in the same line.
- A format that DATEV can read; NorthProfit does not currently create this file and transfers nothing directly to DATEV.
NorthProfit reviews account assignment and format rules of your shop data. NorthProfit does not currently create a DATEV file; you carry out the test run and the handover through your leading accounting system or your accounting firm.
Step by step: setting up the connection
- Connect available shop and payment sources or use an existing Shopify installation so that order and payout data come together. Publication in the Shopify App Store is still pending; new merchants cannot currently install there.
- Agree the chart of accounts with your accountant (SKR03 vs. SKR04) and set the revenue accounts per tax case.
- Map revenue accounts and VAT keys per country and tax case and version the changes.
- Check with your accountant whether and from when an OSS registration applies to the specific setup.
- Create a test run for a closed month and give it to your accountant for approval before it goes live.
- Hand over each further posting batch as a file, repeat plausibility checks and document deviations.
A reviewed month is a reference but no guarantee for later periods. New tax cases, payment methods, products or mapping changes require new checks.
The typical pitfalls
- OSS revenue booked as domestic: this distorts the VAT return and the OSS filing at the same time.
- Payment fees hidden in revenue: revenue looks higher, expense is missing, payout does not fit.
- Credit notes not as separate documents: this throws the VAT return off.
- Period delimitation: sale in Q1, return in Q2; the refund must land in the right period.
A tool can support the recurring preparation. The concrete account assignment, completeness and tax treatment you still agree with your accountant; this article is not tax advice.