Year-end closing
You request documents as a checklist, your client uploads them, and any number of participants can work with you without needing a licence of their own.
For tax practices and tax advisory firms
Collect client documents and exchange them securely
5F is the client portal your firm uses to request documents, resolve queries and share files with clients. Clients and other external parties collaborate free of charge.
Data stored in Germany · Built for professionals bound by confidentiality · No charge for external parties · Developed in-house in Regensburg · Free trial after the demo
The status quo
Receipts by email, records in a paper folder
Documents reach the firm through several channels at once: by email, in a paper folder passed back and forth and occasionally via a cloud link. There is no shared overview of which receipts a client has already supplied; that information sits in individual staff members' inboxes. As a result, gaps often only come to light during processing, and the chasing starts all over again.
In the 5F client portal, one checklist per engagement replaces this process. Firm and client both see the same status.
Use cases
How you use 5F in tax advisory
Financial accounting
You collect ongoing receipts with one checklist per receipt type, and the 5F DATEV module transfers them to DATEV Unternehmen online where needed.
Tax returns
For the income tax return, you create a checklist whose columns you set up yourself for each use case, for example a column for the client's comments.
Payroll
You collect payroll documents by checklist, and your clients' new employees enter their own details using the 5F Payroll Data module.
Advisory
For a single project, you set up a data room, and a bank or notary joins with separate access and no licence.
AML checks and due diligence
For client acceptance checks under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (GwG) and for due diligence, you create your own checklists; ready-made templates are available as an add-on.
Core features
What your firm uses every day
Checklists for client documents
You compile a list of the documents you need and send it to your client. Each item has its own processing status, so both sides can see what is still outstanding. You decide for each use case which columns the list shows.
Data rooms per engagement and project
A separate area for each engagement or project, where documents, tasks and communication sit together. You resolve queries using comments directly on the document concerned, not in separate email threads.
Tasks
Responsibilities and deadlines are attached to the matter rather than kept in a separate list, both internally and with clients. Everyone involved sees the status in the same place.
Secure links
You share individual documents via a link or request them the same way, without the recipient needing an account, and with a password and expiry date if you wish. This replaces the quick email attachment.
5F App
Clients photograph receipts on the go and upload them directly, without opening a browser. The app is included in every licence at no additional cost.
How does 5F fit the way you work with clients?
In 45 minutes, we will show you the platform in action and discuss your requirements.
Benefits at a glance
What 5F does for you in tax advisory
- No licence costs for clientsYour firm pays for internal licences; any number of clients and other external parties collaborate free of charge.
- Mobile for clients tooYour clients submit receipts as they arise, instead of collecting them and scanning them later.
- One place instead of four channelsDocuments, queries and tasks sit in the same data room instead of being scattered across inboxes, cloud links and phone notes.
- Direct transfer to DATEVWith the 5F DATEV module, receipts and documents go to DATEV Unternehmen online and DATEV DMS without a second filing system at the firm.
- Less chasingFirm and client see in the same checklist, at the same time, which documents are still outstanding.
- Confidentiality to professional standards5F is built for the requirements of professionals bound by confidentiality, and data is stored exclusively in Germany.
In practice
What a firm says about 5F
5F understands the particular requirements of audit and tax advisory, implements them flexibly and so enables us at LKC to communicate with our clients ‘as equals’. That applies from bookkeeping and preparing annual financial statements through to group audits involving international collaboration.
Malte Thalemann
Auditor and tax adviser · LKC Grünwald
Available as add-on
Modules for tax advisory
Add-on modules are available for recurring processes in your firm. They run where your engagement documents are already held, so there is no second program to add.
5F · Module
5F DATEV
Receipts and documents go from 5F to DATEV Unternehmen online and DATEV DMS, without a second filing system.
Learn more 5F · Module5F Sign
You sign tax returns, annual financial statements and engagement letters with an advanced or qualified electronic signature, directly on the document.
Learn more 5F · Module5F Payroll Data
Your clients' new hires are handled via a digital employee questionnaire, after which an import file is ready for your payroll software.
Learn moreWhat is tax advisory software?
Tax advisory software covers the programs a firm uses to handle and manage its engagements. These include financial accounting, preparing financial statements and tax returns, practice management with document filing and deadlines, and exchanging information with clients. In many firms, DATEV or a comparable provider covers the specialist side. Exchanging information with clients is handled by dedicated platforms, often called a client portal, client platform or customer portal. 5F belongs to this second group and works alongside your existing practice software.
Paper folders or platform: the difference
| Merkmal | Email and paper folders | With 5F |
|---|---|---|
| Requesting documents | Free text in an email, retyped every year | Reusable checklist with individual items |
| Client access | Files by email, sharing without a permission model | Personalised access for each participant |
| Queries | Scattered across email threads and phone calls | Comment directly on the relevant document |
| Status overview | Only in the inbox of the person responsible | Status of each item, visible to both sides |
| Sending a single document | Attachment in the inbox, with no expiry and no protection | Secure link with password and expiry date |
| Traceability | Can only be reconstructed after the fact | Audit log and audit-proof archiving in the DMS |
| Transfer to the firm's systems | Download, sort, upload again | Transfer to DATEV Unternehmen online and DATEV DMS via the 5F DATEV module |
FAQ
Häufige Fragen
5F runs independently of your practice management software, so a DATEV environment is not a prerequisite. Checklists, data rooms, tasks and client communication work the same way for every firm. For firms that use DATEV, an optional module bundles the connections to DATEV Unternehmen online and DATEV DMS. For other systems, the 5F Integrations- und Schnittstellenlösungen are available, for example via the REST API or connections to common document management systems.
Clients do not need to learn the platform to provide documents. With a Secure Link, they can share a document or upload a requested file without creating an account. Clients who prefer to send receipts from their phone can photograph them with the 5F App and upload them directly to the right place. Either way, the documents arrive in your firm's checklist.
5F suits firms of all sizes. The Team licence includes three users and grows as your team grows. You only pay for licences for your own staff, and your clients work with you free of charge, however many there are. Everything a small firm needs, such as requesting documents, resolving queries and handing over receipts, is covered by the licence from day one.
Get started
See 5F in action for tax advisory
In a short online demo, we will show you the platform in action and discuss your requirements.
After the online demo, you can try 5F free of charge for 30 days.