New anti-tax evasion measure could affect all retailers using cash registers

Cash registers in Romania will no longer be equipped with paper rolls fro printing out purchase bills and instead they will keep an electronic journal, connected to a central server operated by the fiscal authority, according to a new set of measures proposed by the Finance ministry to fight against tax evasion. Furthermore, the ministry will start a lottery that will award those who pay their taxes on time, minister Ioana Petrescu announced on Wednesday, quoted by Mediafax.

The measures, currently in debate, will need time to be applied. Ioana Petrescu wants at least 18 months for cash registers to be switched. According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, making these steps will lead to the gray economy dropping by 10 percent in the next seven years and the Government winning back EUR 14 billion from tax evasion.

Going from paper rolls to electronic journals will especially help with VAT evasion.

“Romania is the only country in Europe that still uses cash registers with paper rolls (…) We will make this transition in several steps and we will allow people a year and a half to make the switch”, Petrescu said.

To avoid irregularities in retailers’ activities, a draft bill from the Finance Ministry includes transition periods for companies using cash registeres: 180 days since the bill is adopted for big tax-payers; 210 days for medium tax payers; 390 days for small taxpayers.

Another measure that is currently in debate is setting up an online fiscal lottery for taxpayers, that could be awarded monthly prizes: 160 equal prizes, 20 for each fiscal region of ANAF. The estimated value for each prize will be RON 1,200.

“We are talking about an online raffle, where people can sign up and add details regarding their fiscal code and we will have a lottery draw every month, with prizes”, the minister explained.

A third measure that is being proposed is insuring an automated exchange of information between ANAF and the banks.

“Here we are talking about communication, on a monthly basis, on enrollment and transactions between banks and ANAF. It’s a highly effective measure to combat high tax evasion”, Petrescu argued.