Updated: May 2026
mika is the AI alternative to a tax firm. mika handles the complete bookkeeping of your GmbH, UG or AG (German limited companies and stock corporations) including the Jahresabschluss (the annual financial statement), the balance sheet and the corporate income tax, trade tax and annual VAT returns. Without a separate Steuerberater (a licensed German tax advisor).
sevDesk is bookkeeping software for doing the books yourself. It helps with capturing receipts, with invoices and with the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung (the monthly VAT return), but it is not enough for the accounts a GmbH is legally required to prepare. buchhaltung-test.com titles its 2025 analysis unambiguously: "SevDesk für GmbH: Rechnungen ja, Bilanz nein" ("sevDesk for a GmbH: invoices yes, balance sheet no"). For a GmbH that has to prepare accounts, that means sevDesk plus a Steuerberater. mika is like software and a tax firm in one.
Other tools stop after the ongoing bookkeeping. The Jahresabschluss is still done by the Steuerberater, separately and expensively. At mika it is part of the package.
sevDesk is one of the established bookkeeping tools in the German speaking market, with a broad user base among freelancers, sole traders and small limited companies. The software is mature, it has a modern interface, a decent app and solid receipt recognition. Receipts are captured, bookings are prepared, and the data goes to your Steuerberater over a DATEV export.
A GmbH, UG or AG is required to prepare accounts: double entry bookkeeping, a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, a corporate income tax return, a trade tax return, an annual VAT return and publication in the Bundesanzeiger (the German federal gazette). sevDesk covers the preparation for that. The balance sheet and the Jahresabschluss remain the firm's job. In its 2025 analysis, buchhaltung-test.com reaches a clear conclusion: sevDesk is not enough for the double entry bookkeeping with a balance sheet that a GmbH is legally required to produce.
mika is like software and a tax firm in one. With mika's AI you get the receipt checks, the account assignment, the ongoing bookkeeping, the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, the Jahresabschluss, the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the corporate income tax, trade tax and annual VAT returns. Trained bookkeepers (Steuerfachangestellte and Bilanzbuchhalter, the German bookkeeping qualifications) do the quality control. You file straight from mika, without your own ELSTER certificate. For the routine you do not need a Steuerberater on top. If you want to keep an existing relationship with a firm, you keep it and use mika for the ongoing bookkeeping. For complex tax questions mika matches you with a partner from its network when you need one.
The usual feature table compares what tools can do. This table compares what you, as the managing director of a GmbH, want to have finished at the end.
sevDesk captures receipts solidly: a photo in the app, an email inbox, drag and drop. Text recognition extracts amounts, dates and suppliers. What is not checked: whether the receipt is formally correct. A wrong or missing tax number, a mandatory detail missing under section 14 UStG (the German VAT Act), a wrong VAT rate: none of that surfaces until your Steuerberater takes a look, or until the Finanzamt (the German tax office) asks.
At mika the AI checks every receipt for the VAT rate, the recipient, the address and the mandatory details under section 14 UStG. Where there is doubt, the bookkeepers take a look. That saves corrections later on and it saves real money. A missing tax number or a wrong VAT rate on a supplier invoice costs you the 19 percent input VAT refund on the invoice amount. On €500 of goods purchased that is €95, simply gone.
Account assignment, meaning putting every booking on an account such as "office supplies" or "marketing costs", is the real craft of bookkeeping. At sevDesk you do the account assignment yourself, with booking suggestions from the software. You confirm per receipt whether "office supplies" or "advertising costs" is the right account. If you do not understand the bookkeeping logic, you assign accounts wrongly, and your tax firm rebooks everything at the end of the year. That costs considerably more than the software licence, often several times as much. It is one of the main cost drivers in small GmbHs: many people think they are saving money by booking themselves. In reality the firm does most of it a second time and puts it on the invoice.
With mika's AI the account assignment happens automatically at line item level, even on complex invoices with different VAT rates, a catering invoice with 7 percent on the food and 19 percent on the service for example. Trained bookkeepers do the quality control. You do not need any prior bookkeeping knowledge.
Something many people underestimate: since April 2026 mika has run its own bookkeeping ledger, independent of DATEV, and allows custom HGB accounts on top of SKR03 and SKR04. In practice that means: if your business does not fit the standard charts of accounts, say a holding with three subsidiaries, a SaaS business with staggered revenue recognition or a product mix with one-off revenue, you can set up your own accounts and structures in mika that match your reality. In sevDesk you are limited to SKR03 and SKR04, and individual reporting only comes through cost centres or the detour through your firm.
The monthly VAT return is routine for a GmbH, but it has to run reliably. With mika the AI calculates the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung from the bookings, the bookkeepers check it and you approve it. You can file straight from mika and you do not need your own ELSTER certificate for it. With sevDesk you file yourself over your own ELSTER access, or your firm takes it on as part of its engagement.
This is where the biggest and most expensive difference sits. For a GmbH, UG or AG the Jahresabschluss is mandatory: a balance sheet under HGB (the German Commercial Code), a profit and loss account, notes, corporate income tax, trade tax, the annual VAT return and publication in the Bundesanzeiger. sevDesk delivers none of that: you need a tax firm.
With mika you get the complete Jahresabschluss in the "Bookkeeping and financial statements" plan. The balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the notes under HGB are prepared from the ongoing bookkeeping, you approve them as the managing director and you file them. You do not need your own ELSTER certificate for it. The Bundesanzeiger XML for publication is included. For the eBilanz (the electronic balance sheet filing) mika works together with eBilanzPlus.
Both solutions create outgoing invoices in the XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoicing formats. sevDesk offers mature invoice creation with your own layout and has been established here for years. At mika every invoice also carries a QR code for instant payment from a banking app. In our experience customers pay faster, because they do not have to type out an IBAN and a payment reference first. You settle open invoices in a payment run straight from mika, without switching to online banking.
If you have freelancers submitting receipts every month, or employees paying with their own card, you need a clear workflow. mika has a native 5-step process for it: enter the expense, validate the receipts, confirm, pay, done. External people submit through a public one-time link, without a mika login. Expenses without a receipt (tips, parking fees) you record with a description. Everything stays in the app. mika's AI assigns the expense to the right account automatically and the reimbursement is recorded as a payment. No double entry, no CSV export.
sevDesk solves expenses through a partner integration with Spesenfuchs. It works, but it costs extra and it is a second tool, a second login and a second invoice.
mika is the first German bookkeeping solution with a native MCP server (Model Context Protocol) officially operated by the vendor, for Claude, ChatGPT and other LLM clients. Since March 2026, read-only, for every customer. You connect your AI tools straight to your mika data and ask bookkeeping questions with your real numbers as context. You ask Claude or ChatGPT: "how much cash will I have next month after the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung?" or "which single supplier am I paying the most?" The answer comes out of your data, not off the internet.
sevDesk has MCP connections, but only as third party solutions such as Composio or as community projects on GitHub. Functionally similar, but not an official product, with no support and no promise of updates.
On top of that there is the mika Agent in the app: sevDesk has a chatbot called Sevi that answers questions out of the sevDesk help centre. The mika Agent has access to your own data and answers concrete questions like "why does this invoice have a to-do?", "show me all AWS invoices from Q3" or "what do I owe the Finanzamt this month?". The mika Agent also turns letters from the authorities into clear instructions. A letter from the Finanzamt saying "section 152 AO late filing penalty" becomes: "you filed the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung late, the Finanzamt wants €50, and here is the deadline for appealing."
If you are in the middle of founding a GmbH or UG, the first few weeks are administrative routine: the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (the tax registration questionnaire), applying for a tax number, preparing an opening balance sheet.
mika solves the tax registration simply. You upload your incorporation documents, the wizard asks you a few questions, and after 10 to 15 minutes you can file. If you become a mika customer it is free. If not, it costs €49 one-off. sevDesk does not help with the formalities of founding a company.
Three special cases that come up often in mika's audience: payroll for a growing GmbH, ecommerce with Stripe volume, and strategic tax questions where the advice goes beyond the routine.
sevDesk has a broad review base and sits at around 3.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot as of May 2026, from over 3,000 reviews. The product is established and mature for the job it solves.
The criticism that comes back in several comparisons (at buchhaltung-test.com for example): sevDesk is not enough for the accounts a GmbH is legally required to prepare, and a tax firm is unavoidable. Other frequent criticisms in user reviews: automatic contract renewals, and VAT settings that are hard to set up without tax knowledge.
mika sits at 4.2 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. Niels Laupert, managing director of JUMPSEAT, describes a typical moment of switching: "record speed! For the first time in 12 years we filed on time." That is exactly the difference between the sevDesk plus Steuerberater workflow and mika: with one of them you are waiting on the firm in October, with the other the statement reached the Finanzamt long ago.
At sevDesk you see the software price. What you do not see: the Steuerberater invoice for the balance sheet, the Jahresabschluss and the tax returns that comes on top every year. At mika the fixed price is the total price.
For a GmbH the Pro plan (€34.90/month) is the minimum that makes sense, because only there do you get the BWA, cost centres and the API. sevDesk cannot prepare the Jahresabschluss itself on any plan, and for that you need a tax firm.
Under the StBVV, the German fee schedule that sets what a Steuerberater may charge, the mid-range fee for a GmbH works out at
A GmbH with a balance sheet total of €2.5 million and 10 employees pays €24,298/year to its Steuerberater at the StBVV mid-range fee.
mika scales with bank transactions per month, not with revenue and not with complexity. Six clear bands between €49 and €549 per month, anything above that as an individual quote.
Standard plan (agencies, consultancies, B2B and B2C SaaS, ecommerce with Pathway, real estate either purely commercial or purely private):
Three typical profiles show what this means in practice for a GmbH. The revenue and headcount figures are rough indications for service GmbHs (agencies, consultancies, SaaS).
mika prices: from the standard plan bands. sevDesk Pro plan: €34.90/month = €418.80/year. Steuerberater costs: from the StBVV mid-range fee for each size class.
For a typical GmbH that means a saving of roughly €8,000 to €20,000 per year against sevDesk plus a Steuerberater. Money that is better off in the business than with an adviser.
sevDesk is not the wrong tool, it is the right tool for a different situation. Specifically:
For mika's typical audience, meaning a GmbH or UG with 3 to 30 employees, no internal finance team and no close tie to a Steuerberater, sevDesk is the more complicated option: two tools, two contracts, two invoices, and at the end of it someone else still does the Jahresabschluss.
Sources
sevDesk is the right choice if you want to keep the classic workflow with your own tax firm and only digitise the routine. If you do not want that division of labour, mika is the obvious choice.
As of May 2026.
For a GmbH, UG or AG, mika is the right choice if you want bookkeeping off your plate as a task. mika is like software and a tax firm in one. With mika the bookkeeping takes care of itself, including the Jahresabschluss, the balance sheet and the tax returns. Trained bookkeepers quality check the ongoing books. The "Bookkeeping and financial statements" plan starts at €99 a month.
mika has made my life so much easier and more efficient!
Yes. Since March 2026 mika has had a native, official MCP server (read-only) for every customer. You connect Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP-compatible tool straight to your mika data and ask bookkeeping questions with your real numbers as context.
By July after the end of the financial year. At classic firms it often takes until October or longer, because the financial statement is scheduled as a separate job. At mika it is part of the package and takes shape continuously out of the data that has already been checked.
With mika the Jahresabschluss is included in the "Bookkeeping and financial statements" plan. The pricing scales with transactions per month: €99 at up to 25 transactions, €199 at up to 50, €549 at up to 150. So a small GmbH with up to 25 transactions per month pays around €1,188 per year for the complete bookkeeping plus the Jahresabschluss plus all three big tax returns. A typical agency with 50 transactions per month pays €2,388/year. For comparison: under the StBVV, the German fee schedule for Steuerberater, a GmbH with a balance sheet total of €2.5 million and 10 employees pays a mid-range €24,298/year to its Steuerberater, and over €40,000 at the top end.
For the routine (the ongoing bookkeeping, the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, the Jahresabschluss, the balance sheet, corporate income tax, trade tax, the annual VAT return) mika is enough. If you need strategic tax advice, for complex shareholder structures or cross-border matters for example, mika will match you with a partner Steuerberater. A common setup: mika for the routine, your own Steuerberater for the strategy. The DATEV EXTF export is available at any time.
Yes. mika exports your bookkeeping in the DATEV EXTF format at any time. You can hand the data to your Steuerberater without mika locking you in.
No. You do not need your own ELSTER certificate. You never have to log into ELSTER.
With mika the Jahresabschluss is included in the "Bookkeeping and financial statements" plan. The pricing scales with transactions per month: €99 at up to 25 transactions, €199 at up to 50, €549 at up to 150. So a small GmbH with up to 25 transactions per month pays around €1,188 per year for the complete bookkeeping plus the Jahresabschluss plus all three big tax returns. A typical agency with 50 transactions per month pays €2,388/year. For comparison: under the StBVV, the German fee schedule for Steuerberater, a GmbH with a balance sheet total of €2.5 million and 10 employees pays a mid-range €24,298/year to its Steuerberater, and over €40,000 at the top end.
No. You do not need your own ELSTER certificate for it. You never have to log into ELSTER, maintain an access or manage a certificate of your own. With sevDesk you file yourself over your own ELSTER access, or your firm takes it on.
By July after the end of the financial year. At classic firms it often takes until October or longer, because the financial statement is scheduled as a separate job. At mika it is part of the package and takes shape continuously out of the data that has already been checked.
No. sevDesk is meant for the ongoing bookkeeping, not for the balance sheet and the Jahresabschluss of a limited company. The buchhaltung-test.com comparison confirms that too. For the balance sheet and the Jahresabschluss you need a tax firm. With mika you get it done in the "Bookkeeping and financial statements" plan.
For the routine (the ongoing bookkeeping, the Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung, the Jahresabschluss, the balance sheet, corporate income tax, trade tax, the annual VAT return) mika is enough. If you need strategic tax advice, for complex shareholder structures or cross-border matters for example, mika will match you with a partner Steuerberater. A common setup: mika for the routine, your own Steuerberater for the strategy. The DATEV EXTF export is available at any time.
Yes, and mid financial year too. mika imports your master data and open items and takes over the ongoing bookkeeping from a date of your choosing. If the Jahresabschluss is still open, you do it with mika retroactively. The switch usually takes 14 days.
Yes. mika exports your bookkeeping in the DATEV EXTF format at any time. You can hand the data to your Steuerberater without mika locking you in.
All data on German servers, GDPR compliant, AWS infrastructure in Frankfurt. mika is built along the GoBD principles for proper bookkeeping in electronic form. Authentication with two-factor (a TOTP authenticator app).
Yes. Since March 2026 mika has had a native, official MCP server (read-only) for every customer. You connect Claude, ChatGPT or another MCP-compatible tool straight to your mika data and ask bookkeeping questions with your real numbers as context.