Fiscalization

In previous article called “fiscalization slowed“, we mentioned that there has been a slowdown in the process of fiscalisation in the Czech Republic. Groups 3 and 4 had to wait for the fiscal law to be modified in order for them to be fiscalized. New Fiscal Law’s amendment passed the parliamentary procedure on 15.09.2019.

Groups 3 and 4 starts at the same time 1.May 2020.

Taxes for some individual activities covered by groups 3 or 4  are reduced from 21% to 10% to make fiscalisation more efficient (hairdressing and barbers’ services, bicycle repair, footwear, clothing and textile repair and repair, and draft beer sales, ….).

As announced in our previous News post (Slovakia: Virtual cash register -EKAS), in Slovakia, all fiscal cash registers must switch to online mode by the July 1. With this date, every taxpayer who did not register with the Tax Administration and took over the cash register code would be penalized. This is the biggest reform in Slovakia since introduction of the fiscal law in 1995.

By mid-June, the number of downloaded cash register codes was about 208,000, which is 85% of the expected number of fiscal devices. But as the number of taxpayers, manufacturers and services that did not prepare in time were great, a concession was made and at the last moment, an annex that moves the deadline for the end of the year came into force. Also as help, Call center advising taxpayers has extended their working hours.

One jurisdiction is currently preparing amendments to the fiscalization law with the desire to expand the list of taxpayers who must issue fiscal receipts. The inclusion of the owner of the vending machines on the VAT payer’s list that should be fiscalized has caused quite a lot of discussion through the media. The proposer of the law amendment in the reasoning of its offer states that the sale through vending machines is increasing from year to year, many of these machines are not registered and most owners of the machines are not declaring sales.

Opponents of the amendment suggest that no manufacturer of the vending machines supports fiscalization anywhere in the world because there is no technical possibility to upgrade the machine in such way to suite requirements. However the proposer remains on track with one concession to prolong deadline for implementation. The year 2021 is the year when all the vending machines will have to issue fiscal receipts and be connected to the tax administration server in Croatia.

Back in 2016 we have announced that there will be transition to the new fiscal cash register system in Russia by mid-2017. Nowadays Russia is entering the second year of this project with large numbers. The online cash register system includes:

• 2.400.000 fiscal cash registers,
• 1.000.000 taxpayers, and
• 120 million issued fiscal receipts per day.

These numbers will continue to increase. Fiscalization process is not completed. There are still several stages that will include new taxpayers who have not been included so far. The tax authority reports very good results of the fiscalization process which includes:

• revenue per cash register is doubled,
• number of involved taxpayers and cash registers has doubled, and
• overall budget revenue has increased.

One year ago Czech Republic introduced a modern online fiscal system (EET). The first two groups of taxpayers have been introduced (fiscalized) according to the original MOF plan. Third group was on hold as some members of the Parliament collected enough votes to stop implementation, challenging Government for invading privacy of taxpayers. The case was taken to the high court and after proceedings, some minor changes to the technical specification, implementation continues.

Fiji: Plastic bag levy

Leading ecologists have been alerting for years the large presence of plastic waste in nature, especially in seas and oceans. Plastic waste, which is non-degradable in addition to disturbing the image of our environment, seriously threatens living beings on our planet.  The primary method for reducing plastic waste is in the recycling of plastics if possible. The second aspect of the fight against plastics is based on activities related to the reduction of its use.

Plastic bags make up a significant percentage of discarded plastics, in stores, plastic bags are used in huge amounts, especially because they are free. Many countries for a long time directly charge for plastic bags and the latest surveys in Europe show that the results of this measure are positive.

Fiji, as a small Pacific country endangered by plastic waste, has made a major step forward with its approach. A fixed tax on plastic bags in the amount of 20 Fiji cents per bag was introduced to the existing environmental tax law (Act No 20 Environmental Levy – 2015) in 2017 (Annex 29).

The money that this tax collects is aimed at just ecological fighting against plastic. Citizens and visitors of Fiji Islands every time paying this tax are reminiscent of the fact that the consumption of plastic bags should be rational. On the other hand, if they already must ask for the bag they are aware that they pay a special tax that will be used for ecological purposes.

The long-announced modernization of the fiscal cash register system in Poland will begin this year. It will include all existing “first generation” fiscal cash registers. Since there are many taxpayers, the replacement will be organized in stages and will last for few years. The final list and user specification has not been completed yet, it is certain that there will be new amendments even after the fiscalization begins. According to some comments due to the incompleteness of the law, there is a danger that same user has to replace the cash register twice. The main novelties on which the modernization is based are: e-receipts, online data transfer to the tax administration server, archiving of receipt data in digital form and unification of the protocol between cash register and the payment terminal.