What is Fiscalisation & How Can it Affect Your Business?

Written by Eurostop

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Fiscalisation refers to fiscal law, which aims to prevent retailer fraud. It ensures that VAT transactions are reported and paid correctly to the authorities. Fiscal law can vary greatly between countries that have adopted fiscalisation, so for retailers operating internationally, it can be extremely challenging, expensive and time consuming to ensure compliance (Read in French here).

Italy was the first country to publish fiscal legislation in 1983. Since then, other countries have introduced their own Authority for fiscal law. For most retailers, fiscal compliance may be hardware or software based, or a combination of the two. Several countries in Europe, Africa and South America have adopted electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) in their quest to combat noncompliance regards sales and the value-added tax (VAT) payable on sales. Others, such as France require that software is certified.

A retailer looking to setup or expand to a fiscal country (for example Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Republic of Srpska, Ukrain) must ensure that their retail systems meet with certification standards that have been set by that country.

Let’s take a look at how fiscalisation could affect you and your business.

 

Types of fiscalisation

In most cases, the majority of fiscalisation duties will rest upon your retail POS provider, which is why it’s so important to work with an experienced retail systems provider to ensure that you remain compliant and to implement as quickly as possible.

Depending on the country in which you are operating, you will need to comply with different fiscal requirements. In countries, such as Poland, fiscalisation is hardware based. In this instance, an approved fiscal printer must record sales on a memory card on the device. The tax information is recorded at the time of sale for use by the tax authorities and in Value Added Tax administration.

A software based approach, for example in France, could mean that retail businesses are required to record customer payments using certified secure accounting software or POS systems certified to NF525 requirements, with all financial and system related transactions being digitally signed and saved. The signature can involve various elements such as receipt number, transaction date and time, amount, and VAT. Data has to be submitted to the Tax Authority upon request in simple readable format. Certification also requires the documentation about the POS to be submitted to the Tax Authority upon request, with the user documentation provided in French while technical documentation in French or English.

 

What to consider when implementing fiscalisation

Whether you are considering addressing fiscalisation yourself, or discussing with your POS vendor, fiscalisation rules vary not only across geographical borders, but there could also be different rules which apply to different aspects of your retail business.

    • Payment methods – Fiscalisation requirements vary across payment options. So consider whether you will be taking cash, credit or other payment types.
    • Retail industry – Fiscalisation also varies across different industries, so if your outfit includes an in store café or restaurant, then you may need to follow different rules.
    • Unified commerce – while it is beneficial to implement connected systems, you need to be aware that online and offline trading can also be subject to different regulations.

 

Why Choose Eurostop?

When working in different markets or across multiple channels, keeping track of fiscal processes without support can be costly, time-consuming, and also leave room for mistakes in compliance. That’s why it’s important to choose an experienced hardware and software provider that’s certified and capable of meeting all of the fiscal requirements necessary.

As one of the leading experts in retail POS software, Eurostop is equipped to provide fiscalisation services for retailers in a number of countries, having implemented for international retailers such as Trespass, Joseph and Margaret Howell.

 

  • France: In France, the fiscal law requires that businesses invest in certified software to record transactions. The French Fiscal Law (Article 88 No 2015-1785 of December 29th, 2015 on Finances for 2016 (1)) was introduced to combat tax fraud and prevent subsequent changes to the basic electronic record.The POS system manufacturer must prove with proper documentation that the system is tamper-proof and explain how this is solved. Compliance with the rules is checked by an audit conducted by a certifier, such as Infocert or LNE. There are two possibilities to get the recording system ready for the France market, either through a certification by an approved certification entity, which requests documentation of the whole POS system, the user and a description of the internal procedures. Or through self-declaration to the tax authority, in which the software provider has to prove by detailed documentation that the POS system complies with fiscal laws.Note in France, there is no need to deliver a receipt to the customer contrary to other countries. And during tax authority audits it is required to generate and provide a specific export for France to the auditor.
  • Czech Republic: Fiscal law in the Czech Republic requires certified software capable of transmitting transaction data to the proper authorities. The transaction data needs to be sent directly to the financial administration (EET-System). Then it will be marked by an unique code (FIK – Fiscal Identification Code), that will need to be printed on the receipts and handed out to the customer. Note that to participate in the EET system, companies must register on the EET portal of the Czech Tax Administration.The law which requires companies to record sales data was implemented in several phases. First in 2016 it was required for all HORECA-Segment (hotels, restaurants, coffeehouses and gas stations). Then in 2017 for all retailers and wholesalers. In 2018 it was planned to be expanded to all other occupational groups including freelance professions, transport, agriculture, but has been postponed indefinitely.
  • Poland: Poland follows a standard, hardware-based approach that requires transactions to be processed by a certified printer.Poland introduced the law to register all sales by taxable enterprises in 1993, and cash registers with fiscal printers became mandatory. The Polish Value Added Tax Act of 11 March 2004 (Journal of Laws 2016 item 710) stipulated that taxable enterprises that sell goods or services, must register all these in cash registers before making any transactions. As per electronic records, the obligation to store these is subject to certain turnover limits. Depending on when the company opened, the turnover limits must be adjusted proportionately, as of when a cash register obligation applies. Either way, a SAF-T export from an ERP system must be available as a standard export.Starting in 2019, Poland switched to online fiscalisation. All transactions and documents will be sent directly to the tax authorities via internet. The changeover is taking place in phases, first in January 2019 all Petrol stations, then in July 2019 all catering trade businesses, and starting in January 2020 all service companies (cosmetics, medicine, hairdressers,etc.).
  • Slovakia: Much like the Czech Republic, Slovakia fiscal law requires transactions to be processed online and a certified fiscal printer is also required. In December 2018 it was decided to introduce the new eKasa project in Slovakia, so online fiscalisation was implemented, which means that all receipts and transactions are sent to the finance administration through the internet. Until 2019, the connection was possible on a voluntary basis, but from 07/01/2019, this is mandatory.

 

Contact us today for affordable fiscalisation services!

If you’re in need of a software and hardware provider to help you remain in fiscal compliance, the team from Eurostop would love to hear from you. With more than 30 years of experience providing international EPOS and retail solutions, we’ve developed a reputation for offering outstanding solutions and great customer care.

In addition to our retail EPOS hardware and software solutions, we also specialize in mobile POS systems, stock control software, and reporting services for businesses. Eurostop is committed to making your life easier by providing you with innovative software and hardware solutions that save money, streamline the transaction process, and help you stay better connected with customers.

To learn more about what we offer or determine whether you’re in compliance with local fiscal rules and regulations, contact Eurostop today online or call +44 (0)20 8991 2700.

Eurostop

Editor at Eurostop Ltd

Eurostop Ltd provides omnichannel retail software and services to international retailers in the fashion, footwear and retail industries.

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