New Polish cash register system for VAT
The Polish Ministry of Finance plans to introduce a new generation of fiscal cash registers which report real-time information about sales performed by retailers as from 2018.
Real-time reporting as a new standard in VAT compliance
These new cash registers would send information to the Tax Authorities through a data communication system, which automatically would record and store all information reported. Data content requirements have not been listed yet by the authorities, however, it is expected that the communications include the same information that invoices in format paper, i.e. net amount, VAT amount, supplier’s data, etc.
Update:
The Ministry of Finance postponed the project of changing the entire system and decided on a slow rollout. The new fiscal cash registers will be introduced in January 2019. In the first phase of the project, online-reporting registers will be obligatory for some industries: gastronomy, fuel industry, cosmetic services, hairdressing services, auto-repair services, fitness services (as those sectors are rendered most prone to generate inconsistencies during controls). Other industries are to be included gradually in subsequent phases of the reform.
The purpose of this new reporting obligation is to reduce VAT fraud, by allowing the Tax Authorities to carry out a cross-check analysis between the data collected by the system and the information reported on VAT returns.
Portugal and Hungary have already introduced a system of certified cash registers and the French tax authorities have also published plans to introduce a similar system in 2018. Giving the successful results in those countries where they have been introduced, is not ruled out that more jurisdictions start to introduce this requirement in the coming years.
