Shopify and DATEV: how your e-invoice reaches the tax firm
Last updated 13 September 2026
The short answer first: a DATEV export and an e-invoice are two different data streams, and from 2027 you will need both. One takes your bookkeeping data to your tax firm, the other takes a legally valid invoice to your business customer. Plenty of Shopify merchants solved the first stream long ago and consider the subject closed. That is exactly where the gap opens on 1 January 2027.
Two data streams, one misunderstanding
When German merchants say "Shopify and DATEV" they almost always mean the bookkeeping: revenue, payments and fees should arrive cleanly at the tax firm. That is a solved problem with established tools. The e-invoicing obligation concerns a different stream, namely the invoice your business customer receives.
| Bookkeeping data to the tax firm | E-invoice to the customer | |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient | Your tax firm | Your business customer |
| Purpose | Posting, VAT returns, year-end accounts | A legally valid invoice under §14 UStG, and the customer's input tax deduction |
| Format | Posting batches and documents, as the tax firm expects them | A structured file following EN 16931: XRechnung or ZUGFeRD |
| Obligation | No legal form prescribed for how it gets there | From 1 January 2027 for domestic B2B supplies above 800,000 euros of prior-year turnover, from 1 January 2028 for everyone |
| Typical tools | Connectors such as pathway or AccountOne, and DATEV's Datenservice Zahlungsdienstleister | An e-invoicing app that turns Shopify orders into EN 16931 invoices |
What exists today for the route to DATEV
For the bookkeeping stream the market is mature. DATEV itself offers the Datenservice Zahlungsdienstleister, which pulls payment data from Shopify into DATEV's accounting automatically. On the DATEV marketplace and in the Shopify App Store there are connectors such as pathway and AccountOne, which bring orders, payments, fees and returns together from Shopify, reconcile them against incoming payments, and prepare them as a posting batch for the tax firm.
If your tax firm is happy today with what arrives from your store, there is nothing to repair here. These tools do their job well. They just do a different job from the one that arrives in 2027.
What changes with the e-invoicing obligation
Since 1 January 2025 every business in Germany has had to be able to receive e-invoices. On issuing: from 1 January 2027, businesses with more than 800,000 euros of prior-year turnover must issue domestic B2B invoices as e-invoices, and from 1 January 2028 that applies to everyone. An e-invoice is not a PDF but a machine readable file following EN 16931. The deadlines, exemptions and penalties are covered in detail in Germany's 2027 mandate.
For the DATEV question that means, concretely: the invoice that used to come out of an invoicing app as a PDF, with its data flowing to the tax firm afterwards as a posting batch, has to come into existence as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD from the start. The good news is that an EN 16931 file is machine readable, and that is exactly what the DATEV world is set up for. A correct e-invoice makes your tax firm's work easier, not harder.
What a clean setup looks like from 2027
- Outgoing invoice: an e-invoicing app produces an EN 16931 invoice for every B2B order from Shopify, as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD, and delivers it to the customer by email or over the Peppol network.
- Bookkeeping: your existing DATEV connector hands revenue, payments and fees to the tax firm as before. The e-invoicing obligation changes nothing about that.
- The document: the structured invoice file is also the document the tax firm can process. No retyping out of PDFs, no queries about the tax rate.
The two streams stay separate, and that is a division of labour rather than a shortcoming: one tool owes your customer a legally valid invoice, the other owes your tax firm clean numbers. A tool that promises both should be measured against both standards.
Where Zeppol sits, and where it does not
An honest boundary: Zeppol is not a DATEV connector. Zeppol takes the first stream, the invoice to your business customer: capturing company name and VAT number at checkout, treating the VAT correctly, producing a valid EN 16931 invoice (Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 UBL) and, if you want it, delivering over the Peppol network with a traceable status. For the bookkeeping stream you keep your existing DATEV connection. The two work alongside each other, not against each other.
Read on
- Germany's 2027 mandate: deadlines, exemptions and what Shopify merchants have to do now.
- XRechnung for Shopify: the XML format behind the obligation.
- ZUGFeRD for Shopify: the PDF with the structured data inside it.
- Peppol for Shopify: the network e-invoices are delivered over.
Frequently asked questions
How do I connect DATEV to Shopify?
Shopify has no built-in DATEV connection. The usual route runs through a connector app such as pathway or AccountOne, which prepares orders, payments and fees as bookkeeping data for the tax firm. DATEV also offers its own route for Shopify payment data through the Datenservice Zahlungsdienstleister.
Does a DATEV export replace the e-invoice?
No. The export serves your tax firm, the e-invoice serves your customer. From 2027 the business customer has to receive a structured EN 16931 invoice, as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD. A posting batch, however clean, never reaches the customer.
How do I export Shopify data into DATEV?
Through a connector app that prepares revenue, payments and fees as a posting batch, or through DATEV's Datenservice Zahlungsdienstleister. Doing it by hand via CSV also works but is error prone, because payment methods, fees and tax rates have to be mapped manually.
Can my tax firm process e-invoices from Shopify?
Valid XRechnung and ZUGFeRD files are built for exactly that and are catered for in the DATEV world. The precondition is on your side: Shopify does not produce these formats itself, so your invoices have to come into existence as an EN 16931 file first.
This guide is general information for Shopify merchants, not tax or legal advice. Deadlines, exemptions and requirements can change. Confirm your own obligations with a qualified tax adviser. DATEV, pathway and AccountOne are trademarks of their respective owners; Zeppol is not affiliated with any of them.
E-invoices from your Shopify B2B orders
Zeppol turns every B2B order into an EN 16931 document, checks it against the EU and the German rules, and sends it over Peppol or by email. Join the list and I'll be in touch before the deadline.