Odoo 17 takes accounting for the German market to a new level by offering numerous innovative accounting features, including the separation of sales and discounts on invoices, automatic extraction of PDF attachments, a wizard for automatic reconciliation and the use of Avalara geolocalization for VAT calculation. The tax breakdown for down payments, improved credit limit management and the introduction of the PEPPOL network for easy exchange of invoices are also highlights. The invoice layout has been improved and functions such as OCR for credit notes, fraud protection for payments and SEPA direct debit have been added. The revision of accounting reports and the user-friendliness of bank synchronization round off the update.

We have compiled a detailed overview of all the new accounting features relevant to the German market for you:

Eligibility for invoice discounts
Separate sales and discounts granted/received on invoices by posting them to different accounts. The sales lines remain untouched, but the discount is deducted in a separate line and moved to the corresponding specified account.

Automatically extract PDFs only​
Prioritize PDF attachments in the configuration if you use the "Create invoice by email" function for sales and purchase journals.

Function for automatic adjustment​
A new wizard for automatic tuning has been introduced.

Avalara geolocalization and VAT​
Avalara's address validation now fills in the partner's geolocation information. This information can be used to calculate VAT.

AvaTax: Use warehouse address in the sender information​
When calculating tax with AvaTax on an invoice linked to a sales order with deliveries and picks, Odoo now uses the warehouse address from which the goods are shipped to calculate the tax as accurately as possible.

Cross-cost center reports
It is now possible to create cross-cost center reports in which information on several cost center plans is entered.

Improvement of the credit limit​
Confirmed and unsettled sales orders are included in the total amount of receivables. This new calculation is taken into account in the credit limit warning.

Report on accrued expenses and deferred income​
The report on prepaid expenses/deferred income allows you to check any amount. The check may differ from the amount shown, as these are theoretical calculations. If there are deviations, this means that a manual adjustment must be made.

Demarcation management​
Deferred income management is now different from assets. Create prepaid expenses and deferred income without setting up deferral models in advance.

Date of delivery​
The delivery date is now a standard field on the invoices.

Tax breakdown for advance payments​
The tax codes used in the original sales order are now taken into account accordingly on down payment invoices.

Expense documents in attachments of journal entries​
Expense vouchers are now attached to the corresponding journal entries. They are also automatically included in the Datev export for German localization.

Express VAT on invoices in local currency​
The tax calculation appears in local currency on customer invoices issued in a foreign currency to comply with Directive 2010/45/EU.

Dunning reports: missing contact information​
During the mass processing of dunning reports, contacts with missing information are isolated and therefore do not block the ongoing dunning process.

Einstellungen für die Anzeige der Steuerberechnung auf Rechnungen verbessern
Improve settings for displaying the tax calculation on invoices.

Revision of the invoice layout
The invoice layout is cleaner. To comply with the legal requirements of some countries, you can also display the total amount in letters.

Manual adjustment​
The manual reconciliation widget for general account reconciliation has been removed. Lines are now reconciled silently and can be reconciled all at once using the auto-reconcile button.
If a write-off is required that triggers a new reconciliation wizard, this must be stored accordingly.

OCR: Credit notes and refunds​
Credit notes and refunds are automatically recognized by the OCR and created as such.

Fraud protection for payments​
To prevent users from sending money to potential fraudsters, supplier account numbers must be marked as trustworthy before they can be used for an outgoing payment.

PEPPOL introduction​
Easily send and receive incoming and outgoing invoices and credit notes by registering with the PEPPOL network. The network for e-invoices and credit notes.

Reviving reports​
The interface design of the accounting reports has been drastically improved and technically revised.

SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax): remove blocking errors​
Warnings are displayed directly in the general ledger and not only when you click on the SAF-T export button.

SEPA Direct Debit (pain.008.001.08)​
Support for the pain.008.001.08 format for SEPA direct debits has been added.

Taxes: Change restriction and logging​
Some fields in the tax model can no longer be changed once the tax is used. Changes made to some fields are logged in the chatter.

User-friendly bank synchronization​
Bank synchronization processes have been simplified. Buttons and alerts are displayed on the dashboard. Email notifications are sent to the account holder.

Import of supplier invoices and comparison of purchase orders​
When importing supplier invoices from electronic invoicing systems supported by Odoo (e.g. invoices from UBL 3.0), Odoo now performs a partial matching of the purchase order lines and an auto-completion of the invoice for the matching lines based on unit price and product name. The remaining unmatched lines are added separately on the supplier invoice.

MIAS audit​
The output of the VIES check is displayed to the partner and can be overwritten if required. For e-commerce processes, the check can be restrictive and prevent the customer from receiving an invoice to which the cancellation fee has been applied.

Our verdict
Odoo 17 takes accounting for the German market to a new level. The numerous innovative features, including the precise separation of sales and discounts, the automatic extraction of PDF attachments and the use of Avalara geolocalization for VAT calculation, provide an efficient and practical solution. The introduction of the PEPPOL network facilitates the smooth exchange of invoices, while improvements in credit limit management and tax breakdown provide additional flexibility. The revision of the invoice layout and the introduction of user-friendly functions such as OCR for credit notes and fraud protection for payments make Odoo 17 a comprehensive and modern accounting solution for German companies.