The DSFinV-K export an auditor actually wants
If a Kassennachschau is at the door, you pick the period and download the archive: index.xml, the matching DTD and the CSV files of DSFinV-K version 2.4, every receipt, every line item, every payment type and every movement of the cash drawer. The auditor gets a single file to load into their audit software, instead of a week of catch-up work for you.
The cash close is the unit, not the date range
The DSFinV-K assigns every transaction to a cash close, so the archive contains exactly the days you actually closed. Before the download starts, the export tells you how many closes and how many transactions it found, and names the days in the period that have no Z-report. Those days belong to no close and would otherwise be quietly missing. From the same message you can go and close them.
The drawer is in the archive too
Pay-ins and pay-outs are recorded as cash transit, a cash count as a difference between expected and actual — the way the German federal tax office's own examples set it out. A count that balances creates no transaction, because there is nothing to book. And a difference is booked exactly once, at the count that first found it: otherwise every later count would report the same missing note again.
VAT comes from the receipt, not from a recalculation
What counts is the tax split stored on the receipt — what the guest actually paid. The lines are then reconciled to it: first the articles, then the delivery fee and any order discount spread proportionally across the rates, and whatever remains is stated as an explicit VAT reconciliation line. That is the honest route — for a combo of food and drink the tax split cannot be reconstructed from the article line alone.
The download is a short-lived link
The export is built when you fetch it and streamed straight to you rather than being stored anywhere. The link is valid for fifteen minutes and names the restaurant and the period. Your complete till archive therefore sits in no publicly reachable storage, and there is no question of how long it is kept there. A period may span up to 366 days, so a financial year fits into a single download.
What the export saves you
Current version
Produced to DSFinV-K 2.4 — the version the German federal tax office publishes.
CSV files
Together with index.xml and the DTD as a ZIP, in the structure audit software expects.
Link validity
Built on request and not stored afterwards — no till archive sitting on someone else's server.
How you build the archive
Pick the period
A month or a financial year — for a cash audit usually the current or the closed period the auditor names.
Read the pre-flight message
Before the download you see how many closes and transactions are included and whether the period contains days without a daily close. Missing closes can be created straight from that message.
Download and hand it over
You get a ZIP with index.xml, the DTD and the CSV files. You pass that file to the auditor or load it into the analysis software — no further preparation is needed.
Goes with this
Cash register
The register at the counter — cash, card, cash book and daily close.
Read more →DATEV posting batch
The other export: one set of postings per cash close for your accountant.
Read more →TSE & KassenSichV
The German cash register regulation, receipt issuance and what follows from it.
Read more →Dashboard & reporting
Z-report, daily close and the reports you look at during the week.
Read more →Frequently asked questions about the DSFinV-K export
What is the DSFinV-K, exactly?
DSFinV-K is the tax office's standard for what till data must look like during an audit. Because every till delivers its data the same way, the auditor reads every till with the same software. We follow version 2.4.
What period can I export?
A month or a whole fiscal year, up to 366 days at once. For a Kassennachschau, a month is usually enough.
Which days are included in the export?
All the days in the period where you closed the till. DSFinV-K attaches every receipt to a till close. A day without a Z-report has none and so can't go into the archive. The export tells you which days those are before you download, and you can catch up on the close right from there.
Are pay-ins and pay-outs included?
Yes. Whatever goes into or out of the drawer counts for the tax office like a sale. Pay-ins and pay-outs are in the archive, a cash count with a discrepancy as the difference between expected and actual. A cash count that balances doesn't show up. There's nothing to book.
Does the archive change if a payment comes in later?
No. Whether a receipt is paid counts the way it was at the till close. If it was still open then, it's recorded as open in the archive and stays that way, even if the money comes in two days later. Otherwise the same month would look different on every export.
How do I hand the file over to the auditor?
As a single packed file, for example on a USB stick, or however you agree with the auditor. Everything inside is sorted exactly how their audit software expects it. You don't need to prepare anything.
Where is the archive stored?
Nowhere. It's only built at download time and sent straight to you. The download link is valid for 15 minutes, then it's gone. Your complete tax data doesn't sit around on any server.
Is the DSFinV-K export the same as the DATEV export?
No. DSFinV-K is your complete till archive for the tax office, with every receipt and every line item. The DATEV export summarizes every till close and goes to your accountant. For a Kassennachschau, you need the DSFinV-K.
Who's allowed to create the export?
For now, only the owner. This is where your business's complete tax data leaves the building, not just a revenue overview. That's why this permission is kept separate from the other reports.