GENERAL: Why is monitoring of fiscalization news important?

European Union legislation defines many topics on a general level with the intention to unify various aspects of living and doing business across Member countries. Let us see whether it is also the case with fiscalization!

If we take a look at fiscalization or retail-focused topics, the three very good and practically relevant examples of such regulations are:

•     treatment of vouchers

•     VAT rules for e-commerce in the form of one-stop-shop (OSS) regulation

•     e-invoicing

Vouchers were defined by Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065 of 27 June 2016 amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards the treatment of vouchers.

In the Directive basic concepts of determining the single-purpose and multi-purpose vouchers were defined which, later on, Member countries have introduced in their national legislations, some in a simple transposition of the Directive definitions in the original form and some with additional practical and more detailed clarifications.

Regarding OSS, from July 1st 2021, a number of amendments to Directive 2006/112/EC (the VAT Directive) will start to apply affecting the VAT rules applicable to cross-border business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce activities. The Council adopted these rules by Directive 2017/2455 in December 2017 and Directive 2019/1995 in November 2019 (VAT e-commerce Directives), followed by many other amendments to existing regulation. These rules, as well, needed to be included in national regulations by countries.

E-invoicing is basically defined by Directive 2014/55/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on electronic invoicing in public procurement. Years now already and in the upcoming years the same is expected and planned, countries are gradually including these rules in national legislation, B2G e-invoicing being the first in place.

However, on the other hand, no matter the unification tendencies of the EU, still all countries have interest to define fiscalization rules specifically on the country level. Not only does the interest exist, but also the necessity, since these must be very detailly defined requirements, adjusted to specific market needs, history of fiscalization and taxation rules of a country.

Majority of European countries have specific fiscalization laws. The number is increasing but also existing systems are being modernized and new fiscalization trends introduced.

In 2021 alone, the fiscalization world is being faced with many and major changes.

Generally observed, the changes refer to:

•     Completely new/modified fiscalization systems going live in:

◦   Albania

◦   Montenegro

◦   Germany

◦   Poland – for certain sectors of activity

•     Introducing and/or detailly defining new rules with mandatory implementation date being January 1st 2022 in:

◦   Spain – in certain provinces the TicketBAI – online fiscalization system

◦   Serbia – new online fiscalization system

◦   Portugal – unique document code and QR code inclusion on receipts

•     Start of application of additional fiscalization requirements:

◦   Croatia – QR code on receipts

◦   Greece – QR code on receipts, new intervals for sending transaction data to the authorities, myDATA obligation

◦   Hungary – B2C transactions real-time reporting to the authorities

◦   Italy – lottery rules, newest protocol for information exchange with authorities

◦   Russia – clear indication of the article name on the receipt, labeling of different groups of products

◦   Portugal – obligation to use a certified software for non-resident entities not established in Portugal if a certain turnover limit is reached

◦   Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – new types of fiscal devices, QR code on receipts

As it is possible to conclude from everything above stated, fiscalization world is quite a dynamic world, requiring constant monitoring and an expert insight and point of view.

For the authorities to make sure that an effective controlling system is implemented in practice, it is necessary to precisely define many elements of these types of regulations. On the other hand, practice implies many case-specifics, variables, especially having in mind different needs of retailers and diversity of POS systems.

Going into deeper analysis and focusing on fiscalization details is the core of the business activity of JB Fiscal Consulting.