Among the topics of interest during this period is the legislative regulation concerning the obligation of the fiscal cash register. In this context, we believe that an expert analysis of this issue is useful, as it is of interest both to economic operators, who are directly concerned, and to people who wish to set up a new business.
According to the Emergency Ordinance no. 28/1999 on the obligation of economic operators to use electronic fiscal cash registers, economic operators who collect, in whole or in part, in cash or through the use of credit/debit cards or cash substitutes, the value of goods supplied at retail level, as well as services supplied directly to the public, are obliged to use electronic fiscal cash registers.
So the question is who is actually obliged to use fiscal cash registers?
The answer to this question is simple. There are two categories of people who should use them:
– those who deliver goods at retail and charge them with cash, debit/credit card or cash substitutes;
– those providing services to the public.
What we think it is important to mention is that, in the case of trade operations and supplies of retail goods, it does not matter whether the customer is a legal entity, a natural person or an individual, the economic operator is obliged to have a cash register.
According to the legislation in force, retail supply is the activity carried out by traders who sell products, as a rule, directly to consumers for their personal use, and wholesale – the activity carried out by traders who buy products in large quantities with a view to reselling them in smaller quantities to other traders or professional and collective users.
However, the legislation in force also provides for exceptions. So there are cases where economic operators do not have to have cash registers and are exempted from this provision. These exceptions are:
- occasional trade in agricultural products from own production carried out by individual agricultural producers, authorised under the law, in markets, fairs, market stalls or other authorised public places;
- the sale of newspapers and magazines through specialised distributors;
- public passenger transport within a locality on the basis of tickets or season tickets printed in accordance with the law, as well as by metro;
- activities for which receipts are made on the basis of fixed value vouchers printed in accordance with the law – tickets for admission to shows, museums, exhibitions, fairs and markets, zoos and botanical gardens, libraries, parking places for motor vehicles, tickets for participation in games of chance and the like;
- insurance and pension funding activities and financial intermediation, including activities auxiliary to insurance and pension funding activities. The activities of currency exchange with cash and cash substitutes for natural persons, other than transactions carried out by currency exchange offices within credit institutions belonging to those institutions, are not exempt;
- activities carried on in a self-employed capacity under all forms of organisation not involving the creation of a company;
- the sale of religious objects and religious services provided by religious institutions;
- retail sale by mail order and mail order, with the exception of the delivery of goods to the doorstep by shops and catering establishments on the basis of an order;
- installation, repair and maintenance services of goods carried out at the customer’s home;
- the sale of packages of tourist services or components thereof by travel agencies, as defined by law;
- the collection at the customer’s home of the cost of electricity and heat, natural gas, water, telephone services, including mobile telephony, post and courier, sanitation, television, including cable, Internet;
- carrying out construction, repair, improvement and maintenance work on dwellings;
- public rail passenger transport services in domestic and international traffic, provided by Romanian legal entities, on the basis of tickets or season tickets printed in accordance with the law;
- gambling activities carried out with technical means of gambling operating on the basis of banknote or coin acceptors;
- car parking services for which the charge is collected by means of automatic machines operating on the basis of banknote or coin acceptors;
- supplies of goods or services carried out by commercial vending machines operating on the basis of banknote or coin acceptors and containing an electronic and/or mechanical metering system, as a constructive integrated part of the machine, allowing the registration, recording and control of the amounts received, with the exception of supplies of energy products, as defined in Title VII of Law no. 571/2003 on the Fiscal Code, as amended;
- cash and carry trade carried out by traders selling goods through the self-service system to individuals registered in the vendor’s database for use as consumables.
So, if economic operators carry out one of the above-mentioned activities, they will not be obliged to have a cash register.
On the other hand, if we refer to lit. f), which provides for the liberal professions, it is covered by it:
- the liberal professions in all forms of organisation not involving the creation of a company, carried on by notaries, lawyers, certified public accountants, doctors, certified public accountants, chartered accountants, architects and other natural persons providing services of a professional character in the scientific, literary, artistic and educational fields
- self-employed activities, including the pursuit of a trade or profession by natural persons authorised by law, with the exception of taxi driving for goods and persons.
An important point to note with regard to the exceptions is that although there is no obligation to use a cash register, it should be noted that receipts must be issued for cash receipts.
If economic operators do not comply with the legal provisions, they will commit a contravention and will be fine.
Another interesting discussion concerns the obligation for legal entities to own a POS terminal.
Therefore, from 2023 onwards, legal entities carrying out: retail, wholesale and service activities are obliged to have a POS terminal if they have an annual turnover of more than €10,000. We note that the threshold has changed compared to 2022 when it was €50,000.
The point at which the obligation to accept debit, credit or prepaid cards via the POS terminal arises is the quarter following the quarter in which the receipts during the year.
Please note that if the threshold has not been exceeded for 2 consecutive years, entities are no longer obliged to accept debit, credit or prepaid cards via a POS terminal.
Finally, as far as the sanction is concerned, the refusal of legal entities to accept debit cards and credit cards as a means of payment constitutes a contravention and is punishable by a fine from 5,000 lei to 7,500 lei.
This article was drafted, for the Costaș, Negru & Asociații – Lawyers’ Civil Partnership blog, by Atty. Loredana Maria Feier, affiliated to the Cluj Bar Association.
Costaș, Negru & Asociații is a lawyers’ civil partnership with offices in Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest and Arad, providing legal assistance, representation and consultancy in a number of practice areas with a team composed of 17 lawyers and consultants. Details regarding legal services and the members of the team can be found on the website https://www.costas-negru.ro. All rights for the materials published on the company’s website and on social media belong to Costaș, Negru & Asociații, their reproduction being allowed only for information purposes and with the correct and complete disclosure of the source.
