Only 30,000 electronic cash registers installed by September 1 as required by new law

There are around 100,000 large and medium-size companies that must replace old cash registers with new ones able to keep a digital record of the transactions and the deadline was September 1 for VAT paying companies, but, so far, only 30,000 electronic cash registers have been installed. For the rest of the companies, including the non-VAT ones, the deadline is November 1.

The Fiscal Authority (ANAF) issued 32,000 unique registration number certificates for over 44,000 cash registers. According to the rules of prevention law, in the first stage the economic operators that have not yet installed the new cash registers will only receive a warning, but soon they will be fined with sums between RON 8,000 and 10,000 and the company’s economic activity may be terminated until the cash register is installed.

At the end of August, just before the first deadline, it was reported that around 30,000 registers were installed in accordance with the new legislative provisions, out of the 100,000 used by large and medium-sized operators.

“If sales in June and July were similar to those in previous years, sales have increased four to five times since the second half of August, with the cash changeover date for large and medium-sized taxpayers coming closer. We expect that in the next period the demand for cash registers will increase at least 10 times, as the deadline for small taxpayers is November 1. Many traders leave the decision to change their cash registers to the last few days before the deadline,” said Florin Bajan, general manager of Zeus Service.

All companies delivering retail goods as well as providing services directly to the population, such as restaurants, grocery stores, beauty salons or pharmacies, are required to use electronic cash registers. Economic operators must submit to ANAF, by the 20th of each month, the daily sales reports in the form of computer files in the previous month, and it is not yet possible to submit them online.

“Romania, unlike other countries, does not yet use the online connection for the transmission of tax files directly to ANAF. We do not know why, but if the reason is technical, we are ready to cooperate in the light of the experience we have gained in the 10 countries where we have electronic cash registers. Installing the necessary software on the financial administration servers does not take more than 30 days. Most cash register makers already have this experience, like us, and it will not take long until the online connection is established,” said Lyubomir Gerasimov, general manager Daisy Tech.

“Our company is one of the largest manufacturers of cash registers in the world, based in Bulgaria, where the electronic cash register system has already been successfully implemented. In Romania, we already have four models of new generation cash registers, which are approved according to the new legislative provisions. We are suppliers of cash registers in over 52 countries around the world, which allows us to have the best value for money in Romania,” also said Gerasimov.

The measure of replacing old cash registers with electronic logbooks was taken in order to reduce tax evasion and ensure a fair competition environment for all taxpayers, while increasing the level of collection at the level of the fiscal body.