DATEV Buchungsstapel to CSV Converter

DATEV Buchungsstapel to CSV Converter

DATEV is the accounting software and data-exchange system most German tax advisers and businesses use. Its booking batch export, the Buchungsstapel in EXTF format, is a semicolon-separated file with a metadata header, a column-name row and one line per posting. It is built for DATEV’s import rules, with decimal commas, DDMM booking dates and account numbers, so it is hard to read in a spreadsheet without first cleaning it.

This DATEV Buchungsstapel to CSV Converter reads an EXTF booking batch and writes its postings as CSV with ISO dates, signed amounts and readable columns. The fiscal-year start in the header is used to give each DDMM date the correct year, and the booking text becomes the description. The file is read in your browser and is not uploaded.

Key features

• Reads the EXTF header to find the fiscal-year start, and accepts only files with the Buchungsstapel data category (21).
• Converts DDMM and DDMMYYYY booking dates to ISO dates, choosing the year from the fiscal period.
• Converts decimal-comma amounts and applies the S or H marker as a sign.
• Writes Date, Description, Amount, Memo (account), Category (offset account), ID (document number) and Type columns.
• Notes bookings with a missing S or H marker, and runs in the browser.

About the DATEV EXTF to CSV format

The first line of the file is the EXTF header. Its thirteenth field holds the fiscal-year start as YYYYMMDD, and the converter uses it to assign years. The second line holds the column names, and the postings follow. The main columns are the amount (Umsatz) with its S or H marker, the account (Konto), the offset account (Gegenkonto), the booking date (Belegdatum) as DDMM or DDMMYYYY, the document number (Belegfeld 1) and the booking text (Buchungstext).

A booking dated 0305 in a fiscal year that starts on 1 January is 3 May of that year. In a fiscal year starting 1 October, the same date falls in the following calendar year, because the converter compares the month with the fiscal-year start month.

How it works

The converter parses the file as semicolon-separated values with quoted fields. It reads the header line to find the fiscal-year start and skips the column-name line before reading the postings.

For each posting the date is built from the booking date and the year, the amount is signed by S or H, and the booking text is used as the description. If the booking text is empty, the offset account stands in as the description.

Common use cases

• A German bookkeeper exports a Buchungsstapel and wants to review it in a spreadsheet before it goes to the tax adviser.
• An accountant checks that the sum of the postings in a batch matches the amount approved for import.
• A small business owner searches the booking text for supplier names across several batches.

How to use this tool

1. Export the booking batch from DATEV as a Buchungsstapel in EXTF format, or take the EXTF_Buchungsstapel.csv file your adviser sends you.
2. Open the DATEV Buchungsstapel to CSV converter and upload the file or paste its text.
3. Check the preview: the first row should be the first posting of the batch, and the dates should fall in the fiscal period.
4. Download the CSV, and check that the total of the Amount column matches the batch total in DATEV.

Example

"EXTF";700;21;"Buchungsstapel";13;20260501120000000;;"RE";"Example";;1001;2001;20260101;4;...
"Umsatz (ohne Soll/Haben-Kz)";"Soll/Haben-Kennzeichen";...;"Konto";"Gegenkonto (ohne BU-Schlüssel)";...;"Belegdatum";"Belegfeld 1";...;"Buchungstext"
39,99;"S";"EUR";;;;"4900";"1200";;"0305";"1001";;;"Cloud hosting"
2400,00;"H";"EUR";;;;"8400";"1200";;"0605";"1002";;;"Client payment"

date,description,amount,memo,category,id,type
2026-05-03,Cloud hosting,-39.99,Account 4900,1200,1001,
2026-05-06,Client payment,2400.00,Account 8400,1200,1002,

Tips for best results

• Check the first and last dates in the preview against the fiscal period. A batch that crosses the year end should show two calendar years.
• Filter the Memo column for an account number to see every posting that hit that account.
• Keep the original EXTF file. DATEV is the record of the booking, and the CSV is a review copy.
• Use the ID column (Belegfeld 1) to find the invoice or document each posting refers to.

Common pitfalls

Reading the amount sign as a bank view. The converter shows S (Soll, debit) as a negative amount and H (Haben, credit) as positive, whichever account the line posts to. A debit to an expense account is therefore negative, and a debit to the bank account is also negative, which is the opposite of the bank’s own sign. Check the signs against your chart of accounts before you total anything.

Garbled umlauts. The converter reads the file as UTF-8. If names with ä, ö or ü appear as broken characters, the export is probably in another encoding. Save it as UTF-8 in a text editor and convert again.

Treating this as a bank statement. A Buchungsstapel is a set of postings in the ledger, not a bank statement. Balances and bank-side references are not in it.

Expecting every EXTF file to convert. The converter reads the Buchungsstapel layout. Other EXTF categories, such as account lists or payment lists, have different columns and are not supported.

Frequently asked questions

For more background on data formats and conversion workflows, read our format guides.