Online cash registers are coming - about the relief for the purchase of a cash register and cash registers in the form of software
This is the third post in the #nadchodzifiskalizacjaonline series! In the previous two posts, I've already written extensively about how recording sales using online cash registers will look from January 1, 2021, including what obligations—old and new—you'll have and what requirements the new online cash register must meet.
However, although I've already touched on many issues, there are certainly a few more to discuss. One of them, I assume, is of considerable interest to all restaurateurs: obtaining a tax relief for purchasing an online cash register . Is it possible, when, and under what conditions? You'll certainly learn more by reading the following post.
Relief for purchasing an online cash register
One of the most frequently asked questions by restaurateurs when it comes to the mandatory exchange of cash registers for online cash registers is certainly obtaining a tax relief for its purchase. These doubts and questions arise primarily from the fact that most entrepreneurs have already used the tax relief in question, hence the fear that it will not be possible to use the tax relief again.
However, I have good news for you.
The right to benefit from the cash register purchase tax relief will apply to both restaurateurs who are required to replace their existing cash register with an online one, as well as those who are purchasing a cash register for the first time and will immediately be using an online cash register. Please also note that the cash register purchase tax relief does not apply to cash registers used under lease, tenancy, leasing, or other similar agreements.
Remember!
Even if you have previously benefited from the tax relief for the purchase of a cash register, if you are required to exchange your cash register for an online cash register, you can benefit from it again, provided that you start keeping sales records using the new online cash register within the specified deadline.
What does this mean? Roughly speaking, you should fiscalize your new online cash register no later than January 1, 2021 – the cut-off date for restaurants – even if you intend to record your first sales not on January 1, but in the following days of January. I must warn you at this point that the stance of the Ministry of Finance and the Directors of Tax Chambers is very strict in this regard. Both institutions believe that if you don't fiscalize your cash register no later than January 1, 2021, you won't be entitled to the tax relief for purchasing an online cash register. The phrase "they started keeping sales records using online cash registers within the applicable deadlines" is, for them, equivalent to fiscalizing the cash register, not the first sales transaction. Therefore, you should fiscalize your cash register no later than January 1, 2021 , although there's nothing stopping you from doing it earlier.
This position is quite rigorous, I know that and I will say more – I would be willing to argue with it for a long time and lively, even in formal letters and complaints – but my role here on the blog is to warn you how to behave to avoid trouble. So if you no longer need additional attractions this year, because like all of us you had more than enough of them, for your safety and certainty of obtaining a tax relief for the purchase of an online cash register, fiscalize it no later than January 1, 2021, and in fact, due to the holiday season, even a few days earlier. When it comes to fiscalization, there is only one exception in this respect and it concerns the period of suspension of business activity, but I will write about it below.
Remember!
In order to maintain the right to benefit from the tax relief for the purchase of a cash register no later than the cut-off date for gastronomy - January 1, 2021, you should fiscalize the cash register, regardless of when you record the first sale on the online cash register.
You have a very limited time to claim the tax relief for purchasing a cash register online – this must be done within six months of the date you begin keeping records using that cash register. Furthermore, to claim the tax relief for purchasing a cash register online, you must purchase it within the validity period of the confirmation from the President of the Central Office of Measures, which I mentioned in the previous post. You must also have an invoice documenting its purchase and proof of payment of the full purchase price. Importantly, the new, amended regulations no longer require the taxpayer to submit a declaration of the number of cash registers and their location (address) that the taxpayer intends to use for this record, as was the case previously.
Can you pay for an online cash register in installments ? Of course, but you must remember that in order to claim the discount for the purchase of an online cash register, you must have proof of payment of the full purchase price. Therefore, the discount is available, but only after the full price has been paid and within the deadline I mentioned above.
You probably know this, but for the record I will remind you that the relief is settled in such a way that, as a rule, the relief amount reduces the amount of tax due, and if it happens that the amount spent on the purchase of an online cash register is higher than the amount of tax due, the excess may be returned to your bank account or may increase the amount of input tax to be carried forward to the next settlement period.
Importantly, and as you've probably guessed, you can't deduct the entire purchase price of a cash register, but only 90% of it, but no more than PLN 700. Is this amount available to a single restaurant for just one cash register? No. You are entitled to a tax relief for purchasing as many online cash registers as you choose. There's just one additional condition: for the relief to be granted, you must begin keeping records using each of these cash registers no later than six months from the date you begin keeping records. Therefore, you can't buy cash registers in stock, assuming you'll claim the tax relief now and start recording them when you need them. The legislature clearly limits the requirement that recording using each cash register must begin no later than six months from the date the taxpayer begins selling.
Also, remember that the tax relief can be lost. The key period is three years from the date sales records begin, as only within this period can you be obligated to repay deducted or refunded amounts spent on cash register purchases. Withdrawal is possible in four cases:
- when you stop running your business,
- if you do not subject your cash registers to a mandatory technical inspection within the deadlines specified by the legislator, which I have already written about in our #nadchodzifiskalizacjaonline series, this may be, in addition to a fine of PLN 300, the second sanction you may face for failing to observe the deadlines for mandatory technical inspections of your cash register,
- when you permanently stop keeping records using this cash register,
- when you breach the obligations to ensure a connection enabling data transfer between the online cash register and the Central Cash Register Repository - of course, this is not specified in the regulations, but I assume that in order to deprive you of the relief for purchasing an online cash register, the breach of this obligation will have to occur repeatedly, it must be persistent - in a word, it will have to be serious, and no one would think of taking such far-reaching steps for some trivial reason.
Of course, except in the event that you decide to discontinue your business activity, the refund of deducted or refunded amounts spent on the purchase of an online cash register will only apply to those cash registers to which the above-mentioned violations apply or with the help of which you permanently discontinue keeping sales records.
Fiscalization and suspension of economic activity
As I promised, I will return for a moment to the problem of fiscalisation of online cash registers and the date of commencement of sales records using online cash registers, which neither the Ministry of Finance nor the Directors of Tax Offices associate with the date of the first sales record, but only with the date of the deadline for the obligation to use exclusively online cash registers by specific entrepreneurs.
So what happens if, due to the difficult economic situation related to the coronavirus epidemic or for any other reason (the reason doesn't matter), you've suspended your business ? Of course, I'm referring to formally suspending your business through an appropriate entry in the CEIDG (Central Registration and Information on Business), not just ceasing business operations by, for example, temporarily closing a restaurant, without taking appropriate legal action.
You must remember that during the period of suspension of business activity, the entrepreneur cannot conduct business activity and generate current income from non-agricultural business activities, but at the same time he must fulfill all obligations required by law, and therefore, theoretically, he should also obligatorily replace the cash register with an online cash register.
To the benefit of entrepreneurs who have suspended their business activity, fortunately, the Ministry of Finance has taken a position in this respect that meets the interests of the entrepreneur, recognizing that they do not have to replace their cash register with an online cash register while their business activity is suspended , therefore, in order to retain the right to benefit from the tax relief for the purchase of an online cash register, the entrepreneur must be ready to record sales on the day they resume their business activity.
Remember!
If your business activity remains suspended on January 1, 2021, you do not have to purchase an online cash register or fiscalize it by that date. However, you must fiscalize the new online cash register no later than the first day after resuming your business activity.
Cash register in software form? Why not!
The last topic I'd like to discuss in the #nadchodzifiskalizacjaonline series is the possibility of using a software-based cash register instead of a traditional cash register , which you can use on your tablet or smartphone. This is a so-called virtual cash register , which, unlike an online cash register, will not only automatically send data to the Central Cash Register Repository but will also have no physical form at all. As the name suggests, it will be software, something like an app, that will require connection to a printer that prints receipts for restaurant customers.
Similarly to online cash registers, the legislator allows issuing cash to customers
e-receipts, but only if our client agrees to it. The basic form of issuing fiscal receipts will therefore remain printed receipt.
Importantly, not all entrepreneurs will be able to use this solution, but the gastronomy industry – and specifically PKD: 56.10, 56.21, 56.29 and 56.30 – has been classified as an industry in which cash registers in the form of software can be used to record sales.
Yes, this includes all types of POS , most of which have already been adapted or will soon be adapted to meet all the requirements of a virtual cash register.
Importantly, virtual cash registers will have to meet the same conditions as online cash registers - send data to the Central Cash Register Repository and undergo the certification process carried out by the President of the Central Office of Measures, before starting to keep records they will have to be fiscalized, and if the virtual cash register ends its work in fiscal mode, it will not be possible to keep records using this virtual cash register.
So, as you can see, for an industry like the restaurant industry, using a POS system that also has a built-in cash register function seems like a near-ideal solution. It's easier to use (since we can combine two pieces of software and devices into one) and cheaper (since we don't have to buy a cash register online). And—though you'll have to take my word for it—I'm not writing this because this series of posts will be published on the website of one of these POS systems. I'm writing this solely because this solution truly seems optimal for the restaurant industry. And we'll certainly have the opportunity to see how it performs soon.
Thus, it seems we've essentially navigated the entire body of legislation that essentially redefines the rules for recording sales using online cash registers. From online cash registers , which will be widely used in the restaurant industry in less than a month – on January 1, 2021 – to software-based cash registers – the so-called virtual cash register, which will have no physical form at all – we can see just how many changes the legislator is preparing for us. Therefore, #nadchodzifiskalizacjaonline is certainly not just an empty phrase, but an almost complete change in the approach to sales recording rules. Of course, I realize that I haven't managed to cover all the practical issues. Moreover, many practical issues are still unknown; we will only become aware of them once we acquire online or virtual cash registers and use them daily.
Nevertheless, I hope that at this point you know just enough about online cash registers and virtual cash registers to properly prepare for the arrival of January 1, 2021. Just remember about fiscalization so as not to lose the right to receive relief for the purchase of a cash register 🙂
And if you have or will have any questions related to the new rules for using online cash registers and virtual cash registers, please contact me and, above all, visit the blog: zapisnagastronomie.pl
Attorney Marta Kosecka
