Working with your accountant: no more shoebox
Queries cost fees: collect receipts digitally and hand over bookings as a DATEV export, and you save money and nerves — and get your reports back faster.
by Torsten Link · Last reviewed: July 7, 2026
Working with the tax accountant is, in many businesses, a ritual of binders, shoeboxes and queries — yet it's the easiest lever to cut office costs: the cleaner your data arrives, the fewer hours the firm bills, and the earlier you yourself know where your business stands.
01What does the tax firm really need?
Three things: complete receipts, traceable bookings and bank statements that match — no more, but no less. Every missing receipt becomes a query, every query becomes billable minutes. The most important rule is therefore unspectacular: complete beats fast.
02How do you capture receipts digitally the right way?
Immediately when they arise, not collected at month-end: incoming invoice into the system, receipt filed digitally, done. The shoebox doesn't die of laziness but of missing routine. In DasHandwerk.xhub receipts attach to the transaction and are archived GoBD-compliantly — the firm receives a complete package instead of loose slips.
03Why is the DATEV export so important?
Because DATEV is the language practically every German tax firm understands: if your software delivers booking data as a DATEV export, the firm imports it in minutes — no retyping, no transfer errors. DasHandwerk.xhub exports DATEV and further formats like SIE directly from the built-in accounting.
04How often should you hand over to the firm?
Once a month, as a fixed package: the VAT advance return sets the rhythm anyway. Agree a fixed handover day with your firm — then it's monthly: pull the export, check receipts, hand over the package. Twelve calm routines a year beat one panic week in January.
05Is doing preparatory bookkeeping yourself worth it?
Yes, twice over: whoever books continuously saves accountant fees and knows the numbers before the annual statement confirms them. In DasHandwerk.xhub double-entry bookkeeping with SKR03 is built in — invoices and receipts land directly in the accounts, and the firm takes over instead of re-entering.
The short version
Capture receipts digitally on the job, put together one fixed handover package a month and deliver bookings as a DATEV export instead of a paper pile. Your accountant turns from data-typist into advisor — and you pay them for thinking, not typing.
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