What is the DATEV RDS integration?

DATEV RDS 1.0 (Rechnungsdatenservice 1.0) sends your approved Factorial expenses, the invoice data plus the receipt, straight to your tax advisor's DATEV Unternehmen Online (DUO) inbox. The records arrive pre-coded with account numbers and VAT rates. Your tax advisor reviews them, adjusts if needed, and posts them to the ledger. Unlike the DATEV File Export, there is no file to download or upload: Factorial pushes the data to DATEV over its API.

Setting up the integration

The setup has two parts: what your tax advisor prepares on the DATEV side, and what you do in Factorial. The integration is for German legal entities.

On the DATEV side (your tax advisor)

• Order Rechnungsdatenservice 1.0. It is a separate DATEV service, ordered by your tax advisor through MyDATEV Mandantenregistrierung. Ordering needs a SmartCard and goes on the mandantengenutzte Beraternummer (Unterberaternummer).
• Set up Belege online in Bearbeitungsform "Erweitert". Both "Mit Lieferantenrechnungen arbeiten" and "Mit Kundenrechnungen arbeiten" must be "Erweitert". This is what lets DATEV turn the data Factorial sends into Buchungsvorschläge.
• Give the connecting person write access. In Rechteverwaltung online they need the role "Belegverwaltung online — Schreibrechte" plus permission for Rechnungsdatenservice 1.0. Only a DATEV administrator (usually the Kanzleiinhaber) can grant this.
• A SmartLogin or SmartCard for that person, to sign in during the connection step. If nobody in your company has one, request it from your tax advisor.
• A fiscal year (Wirtschaftsjahr) covering the period you export, with its accounts-payable ledger (Rechnungseingangsbuch). DATEV also accepts the immediately preceding year within 12 months of its end.
• Have your Beraternummer and Mandantennummer ready (one Mandantennummer per legal entity).

On the Factorial side

1. Set up accounting in Factorial — your chart of accounts and category-to-account mapping must be in place, so each expense carries a G/L account.
2. Install DATEV RDS 1.0 — open the Factorial Marketplace, find DATEV RDS 1.0, click "Install for company", and follow the setup steps.
3. Connect your DATEV account — enter your consultant code (Beraternummer), then for each legal entity select its dataset and enter the client code (Mandantennummer). You will be redirected to DATEV's login page; sign in with your SmartLogin or SmartCard. Repeat for every legal entity you want to connect.
4. Set your fallback creditor accounts — the supplier collective account (for reimbursements) and the account for company-paid card expenses.
5. Check the readiness panel — it shows whether each dataset can receive an import and whether your mapped G/L accounts fit it, and names exactly which categories or accounts need attention.

Exporting expenses

1. In Expenses, select the approved expenses to export and click Export to DATEV.
2. Factorial groups them per legal entity and per accounting month and sends them to DATEV.
3. Track progress in the processing log. The records land in the tax advisor's DUO inbox (Belegablage), pre-coded.
4. Your tax advisor reviews, adjusts if needed, and posts them to the ledger.

Scope

The integration:

• Exports regular expenses, mileage and per diems.
• Data flows one way: Factorial to DATEV.
• One accountsPayableLedger record per expense (or one per VAT rate when the expense has a multi-rate breakdown).

What is sent

The following fields are synced:

• Date and amount
• G/L account (Sachkonto): from your Factorial per-legal-entity account mapping
• Creditor account (Personenkonto): the employee's account, or the supplier collective account, for reimbursements; the card account for company-paid expenses
• VAT rate 
• Booking text, document number, supplier name
• Currency and exchange rate (when applicable)
• Cost centre (KOST1)
• Receipt file for each expense

Limitations

• German legal entities only.
• Needs the accounting setup: G/L accounts come from your Factorial category-to-account mapping. The readiness panel flags any category or account that is missing or does not fit the dataset, before you export.
• DATEV side must be ready: the dataset needs document management (Belege online) active, and the person who connects DATEV (your tax advisor, or the company user who holds the SmartLogin or SmartCard) needs permission for the service.
• Corrections happen in DATEV: records land in the DUO inbox for the tax advisor to review and post; they are not written directly to the ledger.
• VAT treatment (BU codes): not set automatically at launch. The VAT rate is sent, and your tax advisor keys the VAT treatment in DUO.
• Cost centres: one KOST1 per record. KOST2 (Kostenträger) is not covered yet.