The hours go to your accountant as a DATEV file, not as something to retype
At the end of the month MetronHR creates the payroll file for DATEV LODAS or DATEV Lohn und Gehalt. Hours, premium hours, vacation and sick days per person, under your accountant's wage types. The accountant imports it, nobody types.
No credit card required · Cancel monthly
- For DATEV LODAS and DATEV Lohn und Gehalt
- Included in Team and Professional, at no extra cost
- Set up once, then one click per month
DashboardDr Lindner's practice · Wednesday, 21 October
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Team calendar 19–30 October
Lena H.
Tobias K.
Aylin D.
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Leave, 3 daysAylin Demir · 28–30 OctTraining, 1 dayTobias Krüger · 22 Oct
Leave, 3 daysNadia Schulz · 22–24 DecReview
Month endSeptember · Krämer payroll officeDone- Made in GermanyDeveloped and hosted in Germany
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Month-end closing often ends with retyping
The times are recorded, the balances calculated. And then someone at the accountant's office types it all into the payroll software again.
- Problem
Figures recorded twice
The business works out the hours, the accountant copies them by hand. Every figure is handled twice, and every transfer is a chance for a typo.
- Problem
Premiums that have to be dug out
Night, Sunday and holiday hours are buried in timesheets. The accountant has to pick them out before running payroll.
- Problem
Vacation and sickness sent separately later
Absences arrive as a second list, by email or word of mouth. What is missing only shows up during payroll.
A file the payroll software reads
MetronHR writes the month's values in the DATEV import format, per person under the wage type your accountant specifies. The accountant imports the file into LODAS or Lohn und Gehalt instead of retyping.
No more retyping at the accountant's officeThe values arrive calculated and in the right format. The accountant runs payroll instead of copying figures.
The format that is needed
Excel to keep calculating, CSV for other programs, PDF for filing.
One click, one file
The export is finished; nothing needs reworking.
ExportOctober 2026 · 12 people
AnalyticsReception team · last 6 weeks
How the DATEV payroll export works
The first export asks in three steps for what the accountant specifies. From the second month one click is enough.
Month and accountant
Under Reports, Time account, you open the DATEV payroll export, choose the month and your accountant's payroll program, and enter the consultant number and client number. MetronHR remembers both.
Enter once, use every month
Monthly overview Monthly overviewSeptember 2026 · 12 people
Person Target Actual Balance Sophie Braun176:00h 178:30h +2:30h Aylin Demir132:00h 131:15h −0:45h Tobias Krüger176:00h 176:00h 0:00h Values and wage types
You tick what is handed over: working hours, overtime of the month, night, Sunday and holiday hours, vacation days, sick days. Each value carries your accountant's wage type.
The accountant keeps their own wage types
Hours accounts Hours accountMara Wolf · October 2026
Time off in days of 8:00h0Item Hours Recorded, terminal and app 173:45h Target in October −160:00h Time off in lieu 0:00h Balance +13:45h The time off is in the team calendar.
People and file
If someone has no DATEV personnel number, the dialog asks for it. Then you download the file and pass it to your accountant, by email or through their client portal.
Done in one click from the second month
Export for the accountant ExportOctober 2026 · 12 people
Excelone sheet per person, hours as numbersselectedCSVone row per day and personPDFfor signing and filing
What is in the payroll file
The values an accountant needs for payroll, calculated from time tracking.
- Programs
LODAS and Lohn und Gehalt
A file in the import format of the program your accountant runs payroll with
For Lohn und Gehalt the format description for the import comes with it
- Hours
Working hours and overtime
Hours worked after statutory breaks and the overtime of the month
Working hours by default only for staff paid by the hour
- Premiums
Night, Sunday, public holiday
Hours in premium periods kept separate, with the public holiday calendar of the federal state
The accountant calculates the premium amount, the hours come from MetronHR
- Absences
Vacation and sick days
Vacation taken and sickness in the month, from the approved absences
The dialog names sickness beyond six weeks, the accountant records it
- Wage types
Your accountant's wage types
No preset numbers: you enter what your accountant uses
Entered once and remembered for next month
- people
DATEV personnel number per person
A field of its own in the employee record, prefilled from a matching personnel number
The export asks for missing numbers and refuses duplicates
Who the DATEV payroll export saves work for
Management, HR and accounting start the export. The accountant benefits too.
- Management
The month goes to the accountant in one click
- Collecting timesheets at the end of the month, adding them up and sending a list to the accountant.
- The times are recorded anyway. One click creates the file the accountant imports directly.
- HR
Absences in the same file
- Sending vacation and sickness separately and hoping nothing is missing.
- Vacation and sick days are in the same file as the hours, taken from the approved absences.
- Accounting
A fixed monthly routine
- The same questions from the accountant about numbers and wage types every month.
- Consultant number, client number and wage types are saved. The export runs the same way every month.
- Accountant
Import instead of retyping
- Copying a client's hour lists line by line into the payroll software.
- The file comes in the import format of LODAS or Lohn und Gehalt, with the accountant's own wage types.
Security and data protection
Payroll data leaves the building only as a file you download and hand over yourself.
- Hosted in Germany, GDPR compliant
- Export only for management, HR and accounting
- Every export is logged with person and time
- No access for third parties, the handover runs through the file
- A change history of the time entries in the Professional plan
Frequently asked questions about the DATEV payroll export
What you and your accountant should know before the first export.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageDoes the DATEV payroll export cost extra?
No. It is part of both plans, Team and Professional, with no surcharge, no setup fee and no add-on.
Which DATEV programs does the file work with?
With DATEV LODAS and with DATEV Lohn und Gehalt. At the first export you choose the program your accountant runs payroll with. For Lohn und Gehalt there is a format description the accountant loads once into the ASCII import assistant.
What do I need from my accountant?
The consultant number, client number, the wage types for the values you want to hand over, and each person's DATEV personnel number. Everything is entered at the first export and remembered.
Does MetronHR run payroll?
No, payroll stays with the accountant. MetronHR hands over the hours, premium hours and absence days ready calculated, so nothing has to be retyped.
What happens if the file is imported twice?
LODAS adds the values to what is already recorded for the month. Imported twice means booked twice. If you send a new file after a correction, tell your accountant it replaces the first one.
And if my accountant does not use DATEV?
Then the same figures go out as Excel or CSV: target, actual, balance, premium hours, vacation and sick days per person.
Hand over next month as a DATEV file.
Try it free for 14 days, no credit card. The DATEV payroll export is included in both plans.
- No credit card required
- Ready quickly
- Cancel monthly
- Full access to every feature