Cash registers – changes in the rules of use

In the Official Gazette (Part I) no. 344 of 24 April 2023 was published the Government Decision (HG ) no. 355/2023 on the amendment and completion of the Methodological Norms for the application of OUG no. 28/1999 on the obligation of economic operators to use electronic fiscal cash registers, approved by Government Decision no. 479/2003.

 

Important changes:

 

  • A number of technical and functional characteristics of electronic fiscal cash registers (AMEFs) integrated in unattended equipment, i.e. devices such as vending machines, which operate on the basis of card payments, as well as banknote or coin acceptors, as appropriate, through which food and/or non-food products are retailed or services are provided directly to the population, have been established. Unattended equipment also includes devices for the collection of fees for self-service, such as, but not limited to, those provided in car washes and automatic textile washing stations.
  • The provision according to which the fiscal vouchers issued by the exchange offices are signed and stamped by the issuer has been repealed.
  • The possibility for cash registers to be supplied with low-voltage electricity directly from the vending machines has been introduced.
  • According to GOVERNMENT DECISION 355/2023, devices such as vending machines, through which food and/or non-food products are retailed or services are provided directly to the population, which are not equipped with a control unit, are not considered unattended equipment.
  • A label is visibly affixed to the casing of the machine delivered to the user, indicating the manufacturer, the authorised distributor with his contact details, the serial number of the machine and the number of the authorisation issued by the Commission.
  • Inside unattended equipment of the commercial vending machine type, a self-adhesive holographic film is applied, so as to be visible from the outside, personalised by printing on its surface, in block capitals, the FISCALIZED text and the identification data of the authorised distributor, as well as by manually inscribing the characteristic symbol of the accredited service unit and the identification number of the service technician, in a dedicated space, ensuring the legibility of the inscribed data. The foil shall be provided by authorised dealers and shall be of a sufficient size so that the texts printed on its surface are easily legible, and shall be applied by the service technician with the installation of the electronic fiscal tagging device.
  • New situations have been introduced where these cash registers automatically lock
  • Other important changes concern the procedure to be followed in the event of failure of the electronic tax ticking machine, as well as how to complete the special register
  • It also specifies the procedure to be followed in the event of the cessation of activities in the supply of retail goods and services directly to the public, as well as in the event of the transfer of an electronic cash register from one point of work to another

 

With a view to the uniform application, at the level of the territorial units of ANAF, of the provisions which allow the tax authority to request other documents, apart from those expressly provided for in the Government Decision no. 479/2003, when taxing an electronic fiscal cash register, it is specified that the documents which may be requested are established by order of the President of ANAF.

On the date of entry into force of this decision, the legal provisions on the technical approval procedure, as well as on the assignment of the order number in the Register of electronic fiscal cash registers will be repealed, as they concern the log roll cash registers (old machines), the signing and stamping, by the issuer, of the fiscal vouchers issued by the exchange offices, etc..

In another context, it should be noted that the authorities have recently established, through another normative act, that the authorization for the distribution of cash registers can also be issued to companies in electronic format.

Finance Order 1.307/2023 was published in the Official Gazette and is in force from 21 April 2023. It replaced, in practice, the model authorisation that companies need for the distribution of cash registers.

According to this document, the authorisation for the distribution of cash registers no longer needs to be stamped, so it can be issued to companies in electronic format.

Specifically, the new normative act regulates the issuance in electronic format of the authorization for the distribution of electronic fiscal cash registers, in which context the annex to OMFP no. 158/2015 has been amended as follows:

-the requirement of stamping the authorization is removed, and it can be signed with a qualified electronic signature;

-replacement of the term “commercial company” with the term “company”, in accordance with the provisions of article 794 of Law no. 76/2012 for the implementation of Law no. 134/2010 on the Code of Civil Procedure.

 

 

Legal basis:

-GOVERNMENT DECISION 355/2023 amending and supplementing the Methodological Rules for the application of OUG no.28/1999 on the obligation of economic operators to use electronic fiscal cash registers, approved by GOVERNMENT DECISION no.479/2003;

-MF Order 1307/2023 for the amendment of the Annex to the Order of the Minister of Public Finance No 158/2015 on the approval of the model of the distribution authorization of electronic fiscal cash registers.