Accounting Offices

Online cash register in an accounting office - is it mandatory?

Pursuant to the amendment to the act on tax on goods and services, taxpayers conducting business activity in certain industries are obliged to use online cash registers. Does an accounting office also have to have an online cash register or can it be released from this obligation? The amendment to the act and the online cash register in the accounting office.

Online cash register in the accounting office

On May 1, 2019, the act amending the act on tax on goods and services and the act on measures entered into force. Pursuant to it, the provisions on the possession of cash registers were changed. The provisions of the act provide for the possibility, and for taxpayers conducting business activity in the indicated, sensitive industries, the obligation to use online cash registers. The new type of cash registers is to be used to keep records of sales to non-business natural persons and flat-rate farmers.

The content of the amended act on tax on goods and services, commonly known as the VAT Act, specifies the terms and groups of taxpayers that are required to have an online cash register. If the taxpayer conducts business activity in an industry other than that specified in the Act, this obligation does not apply to him. In this case, the sale may still be recorded using a traditional cash register - that is, with an electronic or paper record of a copy, which does not allow connection and data transfer between the cash register and the Central Repository of Cash registers.

Is an online cash register in an accounting office necessary?

The correct interpretation of the regulations sometimes raises some doubts on the part of entrepreneurs. The owner of the accounting office asked the Director of the National Revenue Administration about the necessity to use an online cash register. As he pointed out, he has a cash register, but it is not used because the office does not support individuals and individual farmers. In addition, the entrepreneur does not intend to provide services to natural persons who do not conduct business activity and flat-rate farmers - the accounting office conducts activities only for business entities.

In such a situation, is the accounting office obliged to use an online cash register, despite the fact that it does not achieve turnover that would require it and does not provide services to individuals and individual farmers? According to the position of the tax authority, in this case the accounting office does not need to have an online cash register. It was found that since the activity of the office is based solely on the performance of activities for business entities, i.e. companies, the entrepreneur does not have to record such sales with a cash register, and thus - he is not obliged to use an online cash register.

On the other hand, when can an accounting office take advantage of the subjective exemption from the obligation to record sales using a cash register? Accounting offices do not have to keep records of sales with the use of a cash register in the case of not exceeding the amount of turnover in the previous tax year for natural persons not conducting business activity and lump sum farmers in the amount of PLN 20,000. Such information can be found in the individual interpretation of the Director of the National Tax Information of February 22, 2021, number 0112-KDIL3.4012.705.2020.1.LS.

An important aspect is also the provision from the regulation on cash registers, which provides for the obligation to use a cash register in the case of providing tax advisory services to people who do not conduct business and flat-rate farmers. Accounting offices very often provide services to such entities once a year and they concern the preparation of the annual PIT tax return. The Minister of Finance issued a general interpretation on April 9, 2015, which defines what tax advisory services are and that they are not related to accounting and bookkeeping services, which include, among others:

bookkeeping,
keeping tax books,
keeping other records for tax purposes,
completing tax returns.

Who needs to use an online cash register from 2021?

Pursuant to Art. 145b paragraph. 1 point 3 of the Value Added Tax Act, taxpayers could record sales using cash registers with electronic or paper copy entry until December 31, 2020 in the case of the provision of services:

hairdressing,
cosmetic and cosmetological,
medical care provided by doctors and dentists,
construction,
legal,
related to the activities of facilities to improve physical condition - only in the field of admission.

This provision applied only to cash registers that were used to keep records of the sale of goods or the provision of services listed in paragraph 1 Art. 145b paragraph. 2 of the Act.

Online fiscal registers from July 1, 2021 - who must have?

On June 19, 2020, an ordinance of the Minister of Finance entered into force, pursuant to which, until June 30, 2021, the deadline for which sales could be recorded using cash registers with electronic or paper copies was extended. The same cut-off date for the commencement of keeping sales records using an online cash register was July 1, 2021. This obligation applies to the industries previously indicated and listed in the Value Added Tax Act.

The amendment to the act on tax on goods and services imposed on certain groups of entrepreneurs the obligation to record sales with the use of online cash registers. However, this obligation does not always apply to accounting offices. They are not obliged to use online cash registers if their activity consists solely in providing services to other business entities or providing services other than tax consultancy to people who do not conduct business, but their total value does not exceed the limit of PLN 20,000 per year. .