Account 8400 (SKR03) — Erlöse 19% USt
8400 is the reference revenue account of SKR03: turnover taxed at the German standard rate of 19%. It is also one of the accounts where confusing SKR03 with SKR04 costs the most.
What account 8400 is for
SKR03 is DATEV's standard chart of accounts and the one most German Steuerberater use. It is built on the Prozessgliederungsprinzip, a process-oriented logic. In that chart, 8400 "Erlöse 19% USt" receives revenue taxed at the standard VAT rate.
It is credited with the net amount of the sales invoice. The matching output VAT goes to 1776 "Umsatzsteuer 19%", and the receivable to 1400 "Forderungen aus Lieferungen und Leistungen".
The SKR03 versus SKR04 trap
SKR03 and SKR04 are two competing charts that share account numbers with opposite meanings. SKR04 follows the Abschlussgliederungsprinzip, a balance-sheet logic, and puts standard-rate revenue at 4400. In SKR03, 4400 means something else entirely.
This is not theoretical: Comptyx shipped that bug. 4400 had been registered as a payables account in DE.yaml, so every German purchase credited its supplier to revenue. Fixed in July 2026. The rule that follows is absolute: never mix the two charts in one file, and always confirm which one the firm uses before the first import.
Buchungssatz: Konto, Gegenkonto and BU-Schlüssel
This is the biggest structural difference from France or Morocco. DATEV does not think in lists of debit and credit lines: an invoice is a single line carrying the Umsatz — the gross amount — a Soll/Haben indicator, a Konto, a Gegenkonto and a BU-Schlüssel.
The BU-Schlüssel is the tax key: it tells DATEV to compute and split the VAT itself. On a standard-rate sale, key 3 means Umsatzsteuer 19%. In other words you do not post the VAT line; you declare the key and DATEV generates it.
Entry — Ausgangsrechnung at 19%
A sales invoice of EUR 1,000.00 net, 19% VAT, EUR 1,190.00 gross. Shown here as readable double entry; in the Buchungsstapel that DATEV imports it collapses to one line with Gegenkonto 8400 and BU-Schlüssel 3.
| Account | Label | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1400 | Forderungen aus Lieferungen und Leistungen | 1,190.00 | — |
| 8400 | Erlöse 19% USt | — | 1,000.00 |
| 1776 | Umsatzsteuer 19% | — | 190.00 |
Entry — customer payment
Collection does not touch 8400: revenue was recognised at invoicing. It clears the receivable against bank account 1200.
| Account | Label | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1200 | Bank | 1,190.00 | — |
| 1400 | Forderungen aus Lieferungen und Leistungen | — | 1,190.00 |
How Comptyx posts 8400
Comptyx's German profile uses SKR03 accounts: payables 1600, receivables 1400, bank 1200, Vorsteuer 1576, Umsatzsteuer 1776, Wareneingang 3400, Erlöse 8400. The AI reads the Rechnung; the engine writes the Buchungssatz.
The export is DATEV EXTF, checked byte for byte against a real Buchungsstapel: 125 columns, CRLF line endings, CP1252 encoding. It is an entries file to import into the firm's DATEV environment, not an API connection to DATEV Unternehmen online.
What is the difference between SKR03 and SKR04?
SKR03 follows a process logic (Prozessgliederungsprinzip), SKR04 a balance-sheet logic (Abschlussgliederungsprinzip). The account numbers differ substantially: standard-rate revenue is 8400 in SKR03 and 4400 in SKR04. The two charts are never mixed.
Is account 8400 debited or credited?
It is credited with the net amount when the sales invoice is issued. It is debited only to reverse revenue, for example on a Gutschrift.
Do you post the VAT line together with 8400?
In a DATEV Buchungsstapel, no: you supply the BU-Schlüssel — key 3 for Umsatzsteuer 19% — and DATEV computes and splits the tax itself. The 1776 line appears in the result, not in the input.
Which account is used for revenue at 7%?
The German reduced rate has its own SKR03 revenue account, separate from 8400, and its own BU-Schlüssel. As with input VAT, the rate on the invoice determines the account and key pair.
Try it with your own invoices
14 days, up to 30 extractions, no card required — whichever limit you hit first.
Create a free account