Physical files are a thing of the past: Today, freelancers and companies communicate with their tax advisors via laptop, PC, and smartphone. (Photo: © DATEV eG)
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March 2026
With economic growth and the introduction of value-added tax in the mid-60s, many entrepreneurs hired a tax advisor. This also marked the birth of the IT cooperative Datev.
When Datev was founded on February 14, 1966, the world was just beginning to explore space: The first human had orbited the Earth, but no one had yet landed on the moon. Computers, which were also crucial for space travel, filled entire rooms, and data was recorded on punched tape. Terms like cloud computing or artificial intelligence were still associated with science fiction for most people.
Sixty years later, orbit is almost overcrowded, and on Earth, digital collaboration is commonplace – even in the trades. Communication with customers, quotes, invoices, payroll, and the exchange of documents with tax advisors now all take place via digital processes.
A key enabler of technological change in the business processes of craft enterprises and in their collaboration with tax consulting firms is the IT service provider Datev. Under the motto "Always the future," the IT cooperative is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
In the mid-1960s, companies in Germany were under pressure. Economic growth, coupled with a shortage of skilled workers and the introduction of value-added tax, led to a massive increase in inquiries from businesses to law firms. But tax advisors themselves also struggled to find enough staff.
Operations management
Operations management
Operations management
This necessitated more efficient, and therefore electronic, data processing in commercial and tax processes. The solution: More can be achieved together.
65 tax advisors founded the [organization name] in Nuremberg in 1966. Datev eG as a cooperative response to technological and economic upheavals. Or, as the co-founder and long-time Chairman of the Board Dr. Heinz Sebiger He stated: "The idea is to tackle together what each of us could not have accomplished individually." This idea still shapes the cooperative today.
Datev took over its operations as early as 1969. own data center In operation – equipped with four IBM mainframes and a storage capacity of 320 kilobytes. What seems very modest from today's perspective was, at the time, a technological leap into the future. Financial accounting and tax calculations could be prepared more cost-effectively and quickly.
Another milestone followed in 1974: Over the dedicated network for remote data transmission (RDT) Datev members were given the opportunity to send data "online" via telephone line to the data center in Nuremberg – visionary in a time long before ISDN, the Internet and remote work.
In the 1980s, the Datev network system (DVS) an integrated process and data environment that connected PC programs with processes in the data center, thus significantly increasing efficiency and data security.
With the growing digital networking between Datev and its customers, digital exchange also extended to the tax authorities in the 1990s. Tax return data could be transmitted via the Electronic Data Transmission (EDT) The data is transmitted digitally to the tax authorities. The current Elster application used by the tax authorities is based on this electronic data transmission (EDÜ) procedure from Datev.
A decisive step towards the cloud was taken in 2007 with Datev Companies onlineWhat was once marketed as "accounting of the future" is now a reality in more and more craft businesses: receipts are digitally recorded, invoices are processed seamlessly, and wages are reliably calculated. Businesses and tax advisors collaborate digitally, regardless of location and almost in real time.
The cooperative "MINTvernetzt" as one of the major European software providers to companies as well as law firms, banks, authorities and social security institutions now digital ecosystem.
Applications from software partners, such as industry solutions for the trades or for merchandise management and time tracking, can be integrated; data flows seamlessly between construction site, office and tax office; cloud-based financial and payroll processes create transparency and efficiency.
Over the past five years, the number of customers has almost tripled to over 850.000. Revenue now exceeds €1,5 billion, and more than 9.000 employees work at 22 locations.
Almost every month 15 million payroll statements Created using Datev software.
At the same time, the company leverages its data expertise, for example with the Datev SME Index, in order to make the economic development of small and medium-sized enterprises more visible – also to the public.
In six decades, the company has had only three CEOs. Following Dr. Heinz Sebiger and Prof. Dieter Kempf, [name missing] has been at the helm since 2016. Prof. Dr. Robert Mayr the cooperative.
The Datev world is evolving towards a fully cloud-based infrastructure with integrated AI applications that, on the one hand, relieve users of tedious routines and, on the other hand, create added value, for example in business analysis and forecasting.
"What has defined Datev for 60 years is collective strength and the combination of cooperative stability with innovation," says Datev CEO Prof. Dr. Robert Mayr. "From the very beginning, it wasn't about technology for technology's sake, but about making work easier."
Sixty years after its founding, the world has fundamentally changed – and Datev and its customers have changed with it. From punched tape to the cloud, from mainframes to AI-powered platforms, from physical filing cabinets to automated document exchange. What has remained constant is Datev's commitment to shaping the future together with its customers in the SME sector and the tax consulting profession.
Guest article by Claudia Specht, DATEV eG
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