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How to support DATEV automatic accounts (Automatikkonten)?

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Overview

To support automatic accounts (Automatikkonten) in DATEV, you can configure JustOn to use gross values when creating bookkeeping data. To this end, you enable the global setting Enable Accounting in Gross Values as described in Enabling Gross Value Bookings.

If, in addition, you use revenue recognition rules to distribute revenues to future booking periods (deferred revenue), you must, in addition,

  • enable the global setting Accounting Gross Taxes on First Month,
  • enable the automatic tax calculation for the gross booking details – using the custom booking code field BuCode with the relevant booking details (see Additional Fields),
  • optionally, create the BuCode field as a formula that returns the required value according to your use cases, like, for example, IF(ONB2__IsGross__c, 101, null)

Example 1: Automatic Accounts for Revenue and Deferred Revenue

This example illustrates bookings for both the revenue and the deferred revenue to DATEV automatic accounts.

Assume an invoice for electronic services or software licenses in a subscription model – so-called SaaS business models. A typical invoice could look as follows:

Title Service Period Start Service Period End Tax Subtotal (net)
Service 2022-04-01 2023-03-31 19% 1200,00
Subtotal (net) 1200,00
VAT 228,00
Grand Total 1428,00

Usage fees for electronic services in the subscription model are usually paid for a year in advance, but revenues are often booked proportionally per month in the service period. To illustrate this approach, assume the following conditions:

  • Service period: 1 year
  • Complete payment on service period start
  • Monthly revenue deferral
  • Tax due and payable with the payment on service period start
  • Bookings for revenue and deferred revenue to DATEV automatic accounts

Here are the relevant booking accounts:

No. Account Name Automatic Account Booking Detail Field
8400 Revenue 19% VAT G/L Account Number
10001 Debtor Business Partner Account Number
0990 Deferred Revenue G/L Account Number

In the first month of the service period (04/2022), the entire invoice amount (1428,00) is booked from the debtor account and posted to:

  • Revenue 19% VAT → 119,00 (gross)
  • Deferred Revenue → 1309,00 (gross)
# No. Account Name
Debit
Amount No. Account Name
Credit
Amount
1 10001 Debtor 1428,00 8400 Revenue 19% VAT 119,00
0990 Deferred Revenue 1309,00

In the following months (05/2022 – 03/2023), the deferred revenue is periodically reversed and booked as revenue (net):

# No. Account Name
Debit
Amount No. Account Name
Credit
Amount
2..12 0990 Deferred Revenue 100,00 8400 Revenue 19% VAT 100,00

To make JustOn create booking details for the bookings shown in the example, it requires the following settings:

Object Field Value
Global Settings Create Bookkeeping Data true
Enable Accounting in Gross Values true
Accounting Gross Taxes on First Month true
Invoice Line Item Recognition Rule Default
or Booking Month
Booking Detail BuCode to be created as a formula field IF(ONB2__IsGross__c, null, 40)

Be aware that DATEV automatic accounts only work with bookings that originate from business within Germany (a German company with a German customer). That is, if your business operates foreign markets as well, your BuCode formula must make sure to set the required value only for German business, including a condition that evaluates, for example, the appropriate tax rule or an according business entity/billing country combination.

Now applying this configuration, JustOn generates these gross booking details for the first month of the service period (04/2022):

# Booking
Period
Amount Debit/Credit
Flag
G/L Account
Number
Business Partner
Account Number
Is Gross BuCode Type
1 04/2022 119,00 H 8400 10001 Revenue
2 1309,00 H 0990 10001 Deferred

Booking to a DATEV automatic account with an empty booking code initializes the automatic tax calculation. DATEV will calculate the tax for both the revenue and the deferred revenue. That is, it takes 19,00 off the revenue and 209,00 off the deferred revenue, gaining the complete tax amount of 228,00 in the first month.

To reallocate the deferred revenue in the following months (05/2022 – 03/2023), JustOn also generates the following net booking details:

# Booking
Period
Amount Debit/Credit
Flag
G/L Account
Number
Business Partner
Account Number
Is Gross BuCode Type
3 05/2022 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
4 -100,00 S 0990 10001 40 Deferred
5 06/2022 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
6 -100,00 S 0990 10001 40 Deferred
..
23 03/2023 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
24 -100,00 S 0990 10001 40 Deferred

The booking code 40 deactivates the automatic tax calculation on DATEV automatic accounts, treating the given amounts as net values.

Example 2: Automatic Account for Revenue, Standard Account for Deferred Revenue

In this example, the bookings for the revenue are to be allocated to a DATEV automatic account, whereas the deferred revenue bookings are to be allocated to a "standard" account (without automatic tax calculation by default).

Assume an invoice for electronic services or software licenses in a subscription model – so-called SaaS business models. A typical invoice could look as follows:

Title Service Period Start Service Period End Tax Subtotal (net)
Service 2022-04-01 2023-03-31 19% 1200,00
Subtotal (net) 1200,00
VAT 228,00
Grand Total 1428,00

Usage fees for electronic services in the subscription model are usually paid for a year in advance, but revenues are often booked proportionally per month in the service period. To illustrate this approach, assume the following conditions:

  • Service period: 1 year
  • Complete payment on service period start
  • Monthly revenue deferral
  • Tax due and payable with the payment on service period start
  • Revenue bookings to a DATEV automatic account, bookings for deferred revenue to a standard account

Here are the relevant booking accounts:

No. Account Name Automatic Account Booking Detail Field
8400 Revenue 19% VAT G/L Account Number
10001 Debtor Business Partner Account Number
0990 Deferred Revenue G/L Account Number

In the first month of the service period (04/2022), the entire invoice amount (1428,00) is booked from the debtor account and posted to:

  • Revenue 19% VAT → 119,00 (gross)
  • Deferred Revenue → 1309,00 (gross)
# No. Account Name
Debit
Amount No. Account Name
Credit
Amount
1 10001 Debtor 1428,00 8400 Revenue 19% VAT 119,00
0990 Deferred Revenue 1309,00

In the following months (05/2022 – 03/2023), the deferred revenue is periodically reversed and booked as revenue (net values):

# No. Account Name
Debit
Amount No. Account Name
Credit
Amount
2..12 0990 Deferred Revenue 100,00 8400 Revenue 19% VAT 100,00

To make JustOn create booking details for the bookings shown in the example, it requires the following settings:

Object Field Value
Global Settings Create Bookkeeping Data true
Enable Accounting in Gross Values true
Accounting Gross Taxes on First Month true
Invoice Line Item Recognition Rule Default
or Booking Month
Booking Detail BuCode formula

The BuCode formula must return one of three possible values:

  • 101 (or another code according to the applicable tax) to trigger the tax calculation for the gross deferred revenue booking in the first month
  • null for the gross revenue booking in the first month (triggers the automatic tax calculation) as well as for the net deferred revenue bookings in the following months
  • 40 for the net revenue bookings in the following months to deactivate the automatic tax calculation

Accordingly, the formula may look like

IF(
    AND(
        ISPICKVAL(ONB2__Type__c,"Deferred"),
        ONB2__IsGross__c
        ),
    101, 
    IF(
        AND(
            ISPICKVAL(ONB2__Type__c,"Revenue"),
            ONB2__IsGross__c
            ),
        null,
        40
    )
)

Be aware that DATEV automatic accounts only work with bookings that originate from business within Germany (a German company with a German customer). That is, if your business operates foreign markets as well, your BuCode formula must make sure to set the required value only for German business, including a condition that evaluates, for example, the appropriate tax rule or an according business entity/billing country combination.

For the first month of the service period (04/2022), JustOn consequently generates gross booking details for the revenue and for the deferred revenue:

# Booking
Period
Amount Debit/Credit
Flag
G/L Account
Number
Business Partner
Account Number
Is Gross BuCode Type
1 04/2022 119,00 H 8400 10001 Revenue
2 1309,00 H 0990 10001 101 Deferred

Booking to a DATEV automatic account with an empty booking code initializes the automatic tax calculation. Passing a booking code like 101 to an account that is not set as an automatic account will initialize the tax calculation according to the booking code. Consequently, DATEV will calculate the tax for both the revenue and the deferred revenue. That is, it takes 19,00 off the revenue and 209,00 off the deferred revenue, gaining the complete tax amount of 228,00 in the first month.

To reallocate the deferred revenue in the following months (05/2022 – 03/2023), JustOn also generates the following net booking details:

# Booking
Period
Amount Debit/Credit
Flag
G/L Account
Number
Business Partner
Account Number
Is Gross BuCode Type
3 05/2022 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
4 -100,00 S 0990 10001 Deferred
5 06/2022 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
6 -100,00 S 0990 10001 Deferred
..
23 03/2023 100,00 H 8400 10001 40 Revenue
24 -100,00 S 0990 10001 Deferred

The booking code 40 deactivates the automatic tax calculation on DATEV automatic accounts, treating the given revenue amounts as net values. Accordingly, the empty booking code for standard target accounts does not trigger any tax calculation, so the deferred revenue amounts are treated as net values as well.