Lexware Office vs sevDesk

Lexware Office

SKR03 and SKR04 are both supported, switching migrates all existing bookings automatically, and the fiscal year is the calendar year with calendar-month booking periods. Immobilization can be triggered manually to any chosen date or runs automatically each month with a protocol of every execution — a genuine period lock, and the DATEV batch-booking export shows a real ledger underneath. We found no public information on cost centres, recurring and reversing entries, accruals, opening balances, or multi-year comparatives.

sevDesk

"Für einfache und doppelte Buchführung" with cashbook, trial balance, depreciation and EÜR/GuV is more than an EÜR list, but nowhere on the captured pages do SKR03/SKR04, a journal, manual postings, opening balances or a period close appear — the double-entry claim is a marketing line, and the ledger machinery behind it is unevidenced.

Lexware Office

The GoBD claim has an actual feature behind it: bookings are fixed automatically each month in a nightly window with a defined cutoff, a manual option and an initial run on activation, a protocol records every execution with timestamp, and submitting the VAT return locks the period. We found no public information on a supplied Verfahrensdokumentation, an auditor data export, a stated statutory retention period, or corrections booked as reversals. At least an export of vouchers and booking data still works after cancellation, which protects the exit.

sevDesk

Total silence: no GoBD claim, no retention period, no Verfahrensdokumentation, no audit-trail description on the homepage, pricing page or privacy policy as captured — at least the empty "GoBD-konform" badge would have been a claim to interrogate; here there is nothing to test, which the anchors score at the bottom.

Lexware Office

The VAT return runs as a closed loop: positions fill automatically from each business transaction, one click transmits to the tax office with ELSTER confirmation, payment runs by SEPA debit or transfer, the matching voucher is created automatically, and the period locks on submission — with Dauerfristverlängerung handled as a prerequisite setting. Timing logic is detailed: cash and accrual taxation including the minimum-cash-tax rule, §13b services and intra-community supplies by document or service date, and guidance that destination-country VAT goes through OSS or separate registration rather than the return. We found no public information on EÜR or balance-sheet production, the Zusammenfassende Meldung, §19 small-business handling, or E-Bilanz; retroactive returns stop at the second-to-last year.

sevDesk

UStVA submitted to ELSTER without an extra certificate, EÜR and GuV produced, EN 16931-validated e-invoices — two-thirds of rubric level 5 — but reverse-charge and intra-community handling, OSS, ZM and §19 are all unmentioned; "international invoices" is an invoicing feature, not VAT logic.

Lexware Office

Bank transactions fetched on refresh automatically receive matching suggestions — a matching document or an accounting category, checked in both directions against stated criteria — and a booking only exists after the user accepts, with at most 1000 assignments per run. Receipts are linked to their postings and each return position expands to its vouchers. We found no public information on OCR capture, e-invoice handling in both directions, or replacement scanning, and the matching is suggestion-based rather than rule-driven with learning.

sevDesk

Feeds for 4,000+ banks, app-based receipt scanning with AI category recommendation, and ZUGFeRD/XRechnung created, sent and received both directions — solidly past rubric level 5 — but no rule-based matching with learning, no documented ersetzendes Scannen, and no claim that every posting reaches its receipt in one click.

Lexware Office

The DATEV handoff is thorough: four documented scenarios split by task division, exports of receipts and batch bookings as coordinated ZIP files that link automatically in DATEV Kanzlei Rechnungswesen, a DATEVconnect online background transfer, and an ADDISON OneClick interface. The adviser seat is explicitly free, though the automatic interfaces stop at cancellation while a manual export remains. The captured pages state plainly that the adviser access cannot be scoped — the office sees everything including connected bank accounts, only the last login is visible — and we found no public information on corrections flowing back from the adviser.

sevDesk

A DATEV/ADDISON interface included in the paid Rechnung plan plus inviting the Steuerberater "zur Mitarbeit" into the account is exactly rubric level 5 — but nothing on receipt images in the export, on scoped or audited adviser access, or on corrections flowing back; the tier where DATEV begins is at least answerable from the evidence.

Lexware Office

On sovereignty the captured pages give nothing checkable: the contracting entity's jurisdiction is not confirmed on the vendor's own pages, and we found no public information on hosting location or any subprocessor list. Two privacy statements are linked — one general, one for the cloud product — but their content on processors and hosting is not shown. A manual export of vouchers and booking data survives cancellation, which at least protects retention after leaving.

sevDesk

The imprint settles what the pipeline flagged unknown: sevDesk GmbH at Amtsgericht Freiburg, and the privacy policy names Serverstandort Deutschland with AVV, TOM and a DPO contact — an EU entity on German hosting. But the "Subunternehmer" heading reveals no captured list, the AI chain (KI-Belegerfassung, the Sevi agent) runs somewhere unstated, and there is not one word on whether statutory retention survives leaving the vendor.

Lexware Office

We found no public information on tier prices, billing period, booking or document limits, the cost of an extra bank account, or the tier where DATEV export begins; the captured pages show no prices at all. The one priced fact is the tax adviser access, stated as completely free. A business cannot compute its annual invoice from these pages.

sevDesk

Billing periods (1/12/24 months), the 3-invoice free limit, unlimited invoices in paid plans, one user per plan and the DATEV tier are all public — better than most — but every euro amount hides behind "ab*" valid only for 24-month terms, and extra users, extra bank accounts, adviser seats and VAT treatment carry no price anywhere on the captured pages.