By the yourtinyoffice team · Published · updated
yourtinyoffice vs. lexoffice: invoicing tool or accounting software?
yourtinyoffice is not a replacement for lexoffice, and it doesn't try to be. lexoffice (now sold as Lexware Office) is accounting software for doing your books. yourtinyoffice is a fast tool for the daily work of a freelancer: customers, offers, time tracking and e-invoices. Every month you download one ZIP and hand it to your tax advisor or your bookkeeping software.
What is the difference between an invoicing tool and accounting software?
Both write invoices, but they are made for different jobs.
| Invoicing tool (yourtinyoffice) | Accounting software (e.g. lexoffice) | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Get the work billed: offers, hours, invoices, reminders of what is open | Keep the books: bank transactions, receipts, bookkeeping entries |
| Used | Every day, often on the phone between two appointments | Regularly at the desk, or by your tax advisor |
| Result | Sent offers and e-invoices, a clear view of what is open | Bookkeeping reports and the basis for your tax returns |
| Tax returns | No; exports the data for them | Depending on the product and country |
Lexware Office, for example, connects your bank account, books the receipts you photograph or scan, creates the EÜR, the German cash-basis profit statement, and sends the German VAT pre-return to the tax office via ELSTER (Lexware Office features, as of October 2026).
What does yourtinyoffice do in your daily work?
Customers, offers, time tracking, invoices and a finance overview live in one place and hand over to each other:
- Customers: enter a VAT ID and the company details are filled in. Language, currency and hourly rate are stored once.
- Offers: built from your text blocks and sent as PDF. Once accepted, one tap turns the offer into an invoice.
- Time tracking: hours per customer and project, optionally with their own rate. Add them to an invoice from a drawer. Entries with the same text become one line.
- Invoices: every invoice is a Factur-X/ZUGFeRD e-invoice (EN 16931), in six document languages and more than 30 currencies. Recurring invoices are drafted on the day they are due.
- Finance: income, costs, result, and open and overdue invoices per month.
Do I still need a tax advisor or bookkeeping software?
For your bookkeeping and tax returns, yes: you need either a tax advisor or accounting software. yourtinyoffice covers the part before that, the daily work that produces your invoices. It is designed so the handover takes minutes, not an afternoon.
What should I send my tax advisor every month?
Most advisors want the same documents every month. On Basic and Pro, yourtinyoffice covers all five items with one download per month on the finance page.
- All outgoing invoices as PDF, including cancellations. The ZIP contains the PDF and the e-invoice XML of each one.
- An invoice list with number, date, customer, VAT ID, VAT case, net, VAT, gross and status (CSV, opens in Excel).
- Your recorded expenses for the month and a short summary of income, costs and result.
- Receipts for your expenses, such as supplier invoices and receipts. On Basic and Pro you attach them to the expense as a photo, PDF or e-invoice and they are part of the ZIP; on Free, add them from your inbox or scanner.
- Bank statements for the month, if your advisor does not get them directly from your bank. On Basic and Pro you can upload the statement's CSV export and match it with your expenses and invoices; the expense list in the ZIP then names the bank booking each expense was paid with, and the bank lines are included as an MT940 statement.
On Pro you can skip the sending altogether: invite your tax advisor by e-mail and they get their own free, read-only login. They download each month or the whole year themselves and send you a query when a receipt is missing. If they work with DATEV or BMD NTCS, they set up the booking export once, and every monthly ZIP then carries the matching booking file.
The same ZIP works if you do your own books: upload the invoice PDFs into your bookkeeping software, whether that is lexoffice or anything else. Lexware Office, for example, lets you upload existing invoices as original documents (Lexware help: importing data).
How do small helpers save time? The VAT ID check as an example
Most of the time saved comes from many small steps that are done for you. The VAT ID check shows how:
- You add a customer from another EU country and enter their VAT ID.
- yourtinyoffice checks it against the European Commission's VIES service.
- Company name and address are filled in from the registry.
- The VAT case is suggested, for example reverse charge for a business customer in another EU country. You review it before issuing.
This matters because a reverse-charge invoice must carry your customer's VAT ID (EU invoicing rules; § 14a UStG in Germany), and VIES shows whether it is valid (Your Europe: check a VAT number). You can try the same check without an account in the free EU VAT number checker.
Other helpers work the same way: placeholders like {month} fill in the billed month, payment terms come in the document language, and every e-invoice is technically validated before it goes out.
Which setup fits me?
- You have a tax advisor: yourtinyoffice for the daily work, and the monthly ZIP or a read-only login for your advisor.
- You do your own bookkeeping: accounting software for the books, and yourtinyoffice for offers, hours and invoices if you want it faster and on your phone.
- You invoice clients in other EU countries: yourtinyoffice's document languages, currencies, VAT ID check and VAT case suggestions are made for that.
Before e-invoicing becomes mandatory where you work, read e-invoicing mandates in Europe 2026 by country.
Sources
- Lexware: Lexware Office facts, launched as lexoffice, renamed in 2024 (German)
- Lexware: Lexware Office accounting features (German)
- Lexware help: importing data into Lexware Office (German)
- European Commission: VIES VAT number validation
- Your Europe: check a VAT number (VIES)
- European Commission: VAT invoicing rules
- § 14a UStG (Germany, German)
Status 29 October 2026. Product details of Lexware Office change; check the vendor's pages before you decide. This article is not legal or tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is yourtinyoffice an alternative to lexoffice?
Only for part of the work. lexoffice (now Lexware Office) is accounting software for bookkeeping. yourtinyoffice handles customers, offers, time tracking and e-invoices, and exports each month for your tax advisor or bookkeeping software.
Does yourtinyoffice do bookkeeping or VAT returns?
No. yourtinyoffice does no bookkeeping, VAT returns or tax advice. It produces correct e-invoices and a monthly export with invoices, receipts and the MT940 bank statement that your tax advisor or accounting software can work with. On Pro, the tax advisor can also download DATEV or BMD NTCS booking files.
What is in the monthly export for the tax advisor?
One ZIP per month with all issued invoices as PDF and e-invoice XML, an invoice list as CSV (number, date, customer, VAT ID, VAT case, net, VAT, gross, status), the recorded expenses with the receipts attached to them, a summary of income, costs and result, and the bank lines as an MT940 statement. If your tax advisor uses DATEV or BMD NTCS, they set up the matching booking file (Buchungsstapel or Buchungsimport) once in their portal, with their own accounts and tax codes.
Can I use yourtinyoffice together with my bookkeeping software?
Yes. Write offers and invoices in yourtinyoffice, then upload the invoice PDFs from the monthly export into your bookkeeping software, or send the ZIP to your tax advisor.
Why should I check a customer's VAT ID?
Reverse charge for a business customer in another EU country requires a valid VAT ID. yourtinyoffice checks it through the European Commission's VIES service and suggests the matching VAT case. The free VAT number checker works without an account.