FastBill

What Is FastBill?

Consider a freelance designer in Munich. She sends 15 invoices per month, receives 30 receipts for software subscriptions, business meals, and office supplies, and dreads the quarterly ritual of exporting everything into a format her Steuerberater (tax advisor) can process. She needs invoices that comply with German requirements -- complete with Steuernummer, Rechnungsnummer, and proper Umsatzsteuer lines. She needs those receipts archived in a way that satisfies GoBD (Grundsätze zur ordnungsmäßigen Führung und Aufbewahrung von Büchern). And she needs a clean DATEV export so her tax advisor does not charge extra hours for data cleanup.

FastBill was built precisely for this person. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, FastBill is a German invoicing and bookkeeping platform that focuses relentlessly on the specific compliance and workflow needs of German freelancers, self-employed professionals (Einzelunternehmer), and small businesses (Kleinunternehmer). It does not try to be a full accounting suite. It does not chase the international market. It does exactly what German SMEs need: invoicing, expense management, document capture, bank reconciliation, and seamless DATEV export, all within a GoBD-compliant framework.

This focused positioning is both FastBill's greatest strength and its most obvious limitation. If you operate a business in Germany and your primary needs are invoicing and expense management with tax advisor collaboration, FastBill is an excellent fit. If you need double-entry bookkeeping, comprehensive financial reporting, or tools that work outside the DACH region, broader platforms like lexoffice or sevDesk will serve you better.

The company operates as a GmbH, hosting all data in Germany. It has remained a relatively small, bootstrapped operation of 11-50 employees, which means focused development on core capabilities rather than sprawling feature expansion.

Key Features

GoBD-Compliant Document Archiving

GoBD compliance is not optional in Germany. The regulations govern how businesses must store, archive, and manage digital financial documents. Paper receipts that are digitised must be stored in an unalterable format. Invoices must be retained for 10 years. The archiving system must be auditable by the Finanzamt.

FastBill's document archiving system is purpose-built for GoBD. Every document -- invoices, receipts, bank statements -- is stored in a GoBD-compliant digital archive with immutable timestamps, version control, and audit trails. This is not a generic file storage system with a compliance label; it is an archiving system designed from the ground up to satisfy the specific requirements that German tax authorities enforce during audits.

For freelancers and small businesses that have been nervously stuffing receipts into shoeboxes or hoping their Dropbox folder counts as an archive, FastBill provides genuine peace of mind. The archiving is automatic and requires no manual intervention once documents are captured.

Automated Document Capture with OCR

FastBill's document capture feature allows users to photograph receipts, forward email invoices, or upload documents, which are then processed by OCR (optical character recognition) to extract relevant data: vendor name, date, amount, tax rate, and category. The extracted data populates expense entries automatically, reducing manual data entry.

The OCR accuracy is good for standard German business documents -- printed invoices, restaurant receipts, and digital subscriptions. Handwritten receipts or poorly scanned documents produce less reliable results, requiring manual correction. The mobile app's receipt scanning feature is particularly useful for capturing expenses on the go: snap a photo of a restaurant receipt at a client dinner, and it appears in FastBill with the key data pre-populated by the time you return to your desk.

DATEV Export for Tax Advisor Collaboration

The DATEV export is FastBill's most strategically important feature. DATEV is the dominant tax and accounting software ecosystem in Germany, used by the vast majority of Steuerberater. FastBill's DATEV export formats your invoicing and expense data in the specific structure that DATEV expects, allowing your tax advisor to import it directly without manual reformatting.

This eliminates what is arguably the most painful bottleneck in the German small business tax workflow: the quarterly or annual handoff of financial data to the Steuerberater. Without a proper DATEV export, this handoff involves spreadsheets, email attachments, and billable hours spent by the tax advisor reorganising data. With FastBill's export, the handoff is a file transfer. Your Steuerberater receives clean, structured data that imports into their DATEV system in minutes, which can meaningfully reduce their billable time on your account.

Bank Connection and Automatic Reconciliation

FastBill connects to German bank accounts via FinTS/HBCI -- the standard German online banking protocol -- and automatically matches incoming payments to open invoices and outgoing transactions to recorded expenses. When a client pays an invoice, the system detects the matching bank transaction and marks the invoice as paid. When a recurring software subscription appears as a bank debit, FastBill suggests matching it to a known expense category.

The reconciliation is not perfect for every transaction -- unusual amounts, partial payments, and transactions from new vendors require manual matching. But for the routine 80% of bank transactions that follow predictable patterns, the automation saves considerable time. The bank connection supports multiple accounts on the Premium plan, which is useful for businesses that maintain separate operating and savings accounts.

Kleinunternehmerregelung Support

FastBill explicitly supports the Kleinunternehmerregelung -- the German small business tax regulation under §19 UStG that exempts businesses earning below approximately EUR 22,000 annually from charging and reporting VAT. Invoices created under this regulation automatically exclude VAT lines and include the required Kleinunternehmer reference text. This is a small but important feature for the many German freelancers and side businesses that operate below the VAT threshold and need invoices that correctly reflect their tax status.

Pricing

FastBill does not offer a free tier. The Starter plan begins at approximately EUR 9 per month, covering invoice creation, expense tracking, and basic reporting with a limit of around 20 documents per month. The Standard plan at approximately EUR 29 per month adds unlimited documents, bank connection and reconciliation, DATEV export, and document capture with OCR. The Premium plan at approximately EUR 49 per month includes multiple bank connections, priority support, advanced reporting, and multi-user access.

For a freelancer processing 15 invoices and 30 receipts per month, the Standard plan is the practical starting point. The Starter plan's 20-document limit is too restrictive for active businesses. The DATEV export alone -- available from Standard tier onwards -- justifies the cost for anyone working with a German tax advisor, as the time savings on the quarterly data handoff can easily exceed the annual subscription cost.

Our value assessment scores FastBill 7.0 out of 10. The pricing is reasonable for the German market, but the lack of a free tier and the feature restrictions on the Starter plan create a barrier for evaluation. Competitors like lexoffice (also German, starting around EUR 7.90/month) offer broader functionality at similar price points, though with a less focused invoicing and document capture workflow.

EU Compliance & Privacy

FastBill achieves a strong 9.0 out of 10 for EU compliance. As a German GmbH based in Frankfurt am Main, the company is fully subject to GDPR and German data protection law. All data is hosted in Germany. Beyond GDPR, FastBill's GoBD compliance means it meets the specific German requirements for digital document archiving that go beyond what general EU regulations require.

For German businesses, this compliance posture is essentially bulletproof. Your financial documents are stored in a legally compliant archive, on German servers, by a German company, under German law. There are no cross-border data transfers, no reliance on international data transfer mechanisms, and no regulatory ambiguity.

The combination of GDPR compliance and GoBD compliance is particularly relevant for businesses that face Finanzamt audits. A GoBD-compliant digital archive demonstrates that the business takes its document retention obligations seriously, which can positively influence the tone of an audit.

Who It's Best For

German freelancers and Einzelunternehmer who need streamlined invoicing with proper German tax formatting, receipt management, and GoBD-compliant archiving.

Small German businesses that want to automate the quarterly DATEV export to their Steuerberater, reducing both their own administrative time and their tax advisor's billable hours.

Kleinunternehmer under §19 UStG who need invoicing that correctly handles the VAT exemption and produces legally compliant documents.

Professionals who capture many receipts (consultants, business travellers, sales representatives) and benefit from mobile receipt scanning with OCR and automatic expense categorisation.

The Verdict

FastBill is not trying to be everything for everyone. It is a focused invoicing and expense management tool built specifically for the German market, and it executes on that focus well. The GoBD-compliant archiving, DATEV export, and automated document capture create a workflow that genuinely simplifies the financial administration that German freelancers and small businesses find burdensome.

The limitations are equally clear. No free tier. Limited reporting compared to full accounting suites. Narrow integration ecosystem. Essentially useless outside the DACH region. If you need double-entry bookkeeping, comprehensive financial statements, or an internationally applicable platform, look at lexoffice or sevDesk instead.

But if your needs map to FastBill's strengths -- German invoicing, receipt management, and a clean DATEV handoff to your Steuerberater -- it does those things with a clarity and focus that broader platforms often sacrifice for feature breadth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does FastBill compare to sevDesk and lexoffice?

FastBill focuses on invoicing, expense management, and document capture with excellent DATEV export. sevDesk and lexoffice offer broader accounting features including double-entry bookkeeping (EÜR and Bilanz), comprehensive tax reporting, and more extensive financial statements. Choose FastBill if your primary needs are invoicing and receipt management with tax advisor collaboration. Choose sevDesk or lexoffice if you need a more complete accounting solution.

Can FastBill prepare my Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung?

FastBill supports the preparation of Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (VAT pre-return) data by tracking your invoiced revenue and deductible input tax. However, the actual ELSTER submission is typically handled by your Steuerberater using the DATEV export data. FastBill provides the numbers; your tax advisor handles the filing.

Is FastBill suitable for a GbR or GmbH?

FastBill serves freelancers and small businesses including GbRs and small GmbHs. However, for a GmbH with double-entry bookkeeping requirements (Bilanzierung), FastBill's Einnahmen-Überschuss-Rechnung (EÜR) focus may be insufficient. GmbHs typically need a full accounting platform like lexoffice, sevDesk, or dedicated DATEV software.

Can I use FastBill if I operate outside Germany?

FastBill is designed specifically for German tax law and accounting standards. Its invoice templates, tax rate management, GoBD archiving, and DATEV export are all Germany-specific. Businesses in Austria or Switzerland may find some features relevant (the DACH region shares some accounting conventions), but for businesses outside the German-speaking world, an internationally focused invoicing tool would be more appropriate.

Does FastBill replace the need for a Steuerberater?

No, and it is not designed to. FastBill streamlines your bookkeeping and prepares your data for seamless handoff to your Steuerberater via DATEV export. It does not prepare tax returns, provide tax advice, or handle ELSTER submissions. Think of FastBill as the tool that makes your Steuerberater's work faster and cheaper, not as a replacement for their expertise.