Shopware 6: e‑invoicing and DATEV export without a plugin

How a Shopware order runs through Rechnungskit

In the Shopware admin you create an integration (Settings → System → Integrations, read access is enough) and enter the shop URL, access key ID and secret in Rechnungskit. You need no plugin or extension in the shop. After a test pull, Rechnungskit loads the orders of the last 7 days and then reconciles every 15 minutes: new orders, payment status, shipping status and cancellations. The setup step by step is in the Shopware 6 help.

The payment comes from your payment provider (Stripe, Mollie, PayPal or Unzer) or as prepayment from the shop. Rechnungskit matches it to the order by order number. Order and payment together become a validated e-invoice as a ZUGFeRD hybrid, with a sequential number and, for physical goods, the shipping day as the date of supply. Customers with a Leitweg-ID (the routing ID German public bodies use), such as authorities or universities, get the same invoice as XRechnung 3.0. When a transaction in the shop is set to "refunded", the cancellation invoice follows. Every document sits unchangeable in the GoBD archive and goes into the monthly DATEV export, with revenue and payments kept apart.

Timing: a pull every 15 minutes

Core Shopware has no configurable webhooks, so Rechnungskit checks your shop every 15 minutes. For invoicing that is enough, because your customer only gets the invoice after shipment or payment anyway. If you want it faster, you need the Flow Builder from the paid Shopware plans (Evolve or higher, via the Commercial extension): a Flow Builder "Call webhook" action pointing at the address Rechnungskit shows you under Connections triggers an immediate pull. Rechnungskit ignores the content of that notification on purpose; all data comes from the authenticated pull through the Admin API.

Every Shopware payment method has its route

When the invoice is created depends on how your customer pays.

Rechnungskit matches online payments via Stripe, Mollie, PayPal or Unzer by order number, and the invoice is created on shipment. With direct PayPal, the Shopware PayPal plugin passes the order number as the PayPal invoice number (invoice_id) by default, and the Unzer module for Shopware passes it as the order ID. Leave these defaults on and matching runs automatically.

With prepayment, your customer transfers money to your account and you set the payment status in the shop to "Paid". Rechnungskit picks up this status change at the next pull as an incoming payment, and the invoice is created on shipment as paid. The flow with both status changes is on Shopware prepayment: invoice automatically after payment. With purchase on account, your customer pays by bank transfer after the goods arrive. The invoice is created on shipment with payment terms, and the open receivable shows under Open items until the payment is matched.

Rechnungskit charges shipping at the tax rate of the goods, even if the shop reports a flat 19%. Mixed baskets are split by gross goods value; the background is in the guide to shipping costs and VAT.

Refunds without manual work

When a transaction in the shop is set to "refunded", Rechnungskit creates a cancellation invoice for the full amount. The original invoice stays unchanged, as § 146 Abs. 4 AO (German Fiscal Code) requires. For partial refunds Shopware reports no refunded items; the amount comes from your payment provider. Your document rule under Connections → Document rules then decides: proportionally across all line items (default), as a single refund line item, or assigned manually. Which correction route fits when is explained in the guide to invoice correction.

The DATEV export for your tax advisor

Shopware has no DATEV export in its core. The usual route is a plugin that exports documents and bookings from the Shopware database. Rechnungskit starts one step later: besides the order, it also knows the payment at the payment provider, and it books both.

Each month two EXTF booking batches are created, one for revenue and one for payments, in SKR03 or SKR04 as you choose. The payment batch books the fees from Stripe, Mollie and PayPal separately from revenue, along with refunds and the payouts to your bank account. EU sales go into the export with destination country and tax rate, and into the OSS return. Every invoice booking carries a DATEV document link, and the documents come along as a document transfer package for DATEV Unternehmen online.

Your tax advisor does not have to install anything. You download the export and pass it on, or you invite them as external access. Then they collect the exports themselves, maintain the chart of accounts and account mappings and lock exports once checked. The DATEV interface page shows exactly what is in the files. How your tax advisor uses their access is in the DATEV and tax advisor help.

Why not just keep the Shopware invoice?

You can, but three gaps remain. First, Shopware only creates the e-invoice in ZUGFeRD format from version 6.6.10. Older installations deliver just a PDF, and a PDF without a structured data set is not an e-invoice (§ 14 Abs. 1 Satz 3 UStG, German VAT Act). For domestic B2B sales, that does not meet the e-invoicing mandate from 2027 or 2028 (§ 27 Abs. 38 UStG). Second, Shopware does not know your payment fees and payouts, so reconciling them for bookkeeping stays manual work. Third, there is no DATEV export with bookings already matched. The article creating Shopware invoices covers what the Shopware document feature can do.

For EU sales, Rechnungskit also watches the 10,000 euro threshold for the OSS scheme (§ 3c Abs. 4 UStG).

Who this is for

Merchants on Shopware 6 whose tax advisor works with DATEV and who no longer want to bring invoice, payment reconciliation and booking together by hand. If your shop is run as a GmbH or another company that keeps double-entry books, the date of supply and a clean audit trail matter twice as much. Rechnungskit is a German product, hosted at Hetzner in Germany. Every feature is included in every account; you pay the base fee and your documents, details on the pricing page. If you are weighing other invoicing tools for shops, the comparisons with Billbee and easybill help.