What is a cash register? Who is required to use a cash register?

A cash register is a device for recording and reporting sales of goods or services by issuing cash register receipts, and for storing data on the recorded turnover in its fiscal memory.

If you are a trader selling goods and/or services, you must record and report your sales by issuing a fiscal receipt (fiscal slip) from a fiscal device (referred to as a ‘FD’ for short) or a cash register receipt (system receipt) from an Integrated Automated System for the Management of Commercial Activities (referred to as IASUTD for short).

It is the trader’s obligation to install and commission fiscal devices registered with the National Revenue Agency from the date on which the premises commence trading.

The legislative acts governing the registration and reporting of sales by taxable persons are the Value Added Tax Act (VATA), Regulation No. H-18 of 2006 on the registration and reporting of sales in retail outlets via cash registers, the requirements for the software used to manage them, and the requirements for persons who make sales via an online shop (Regulation No. H-18 of 13 December 2006, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Regulation’ for brevity) and the Personal Income Tax Act (PIT Act).

Depending on the specific nature of the business carried out at the premises, the four types of cash registers described below may be used to record sales:

1. Electronic cash registers with fiscal memory. These electronic cash registers issue a paper fiscal receipt, have fiscal memory (FM), a control tape on electronic media (CTEM), a keyboard used to perform various operations (such as entering or removing amounts, entering items, discounts, surcharges, barcodes, etc.), and a display on which information is shown. There are various types of stationary and mobile cash registers, numerous devices capable of operating in ‘fiscal printer’ mode, those specialised for e-commerce and the generation of electronic fiscal receipts, devices enabling connection via Bluetooth, etc. There are also specialised electronic cash registers for recording and reporting bus journeys.
2. Fiscal printers. Fiscal printers (FP) issue paper receipts; they do not have a keyboard, and the operator enters commands for recording and reporting sales, reversal transactions, internal operations, etc. Fiscal printers are particularly suitable for retail outlets with high volumes of business where there is a need for frequent registration and reporting of revenue from the sale of goods and services. Fiscal printers are also used in electronic systems with fiscal memory. There are fiscal printers designed for integration into electrically powered self-service machines (e.g. self-service fiscal printers, car park pay-and-display machines, vending machines for various goods and services, self-service currency exchange machines, etc.).
3. Electronic systems with fiscal memory for recording turnover from the sale of liquid fuels (hereinafter referred to as ‘ESFM’); Various types and models of flow/volume, which are approved within the meaning of the Measurements Act or have assessed conformity within the meaning of the Act on Technical Requirements for Products. Persons using EFSFs are obliged to transmit data to the National Revenue Agency via the established remote connection, enabling the determination of the quantities of fuel present in the storage tanks at retail outlets/refuelling of liquid fuels/. For this purpose, a liquid fuel level measurement system of an approved type, with an information output for connection to the ESFP’s central recording device, is used as a measuring instrument and is subject to metrological control.

Where the EUF is also used by persons refuelling for their own use (in accordance with Article 118(8) of the VAT Act), the refuelling transactions must be finalised by selecting the payment type ‘reserve 2’ – ‘internal consumption’.

There are several approved types of ESFP operating in self-service mode (without an operator or cashier). When submitting registration details for self-service EFSPs to the National Revenue Agency’s server, the systems may be registered as operating in:

• A fully self-service retail/refuelling outlet for liquid fuels;
• A mixed-use retail/refuelling facility for liquid fuels – with both staffed and self-service options.

The following applies to premises where EFSPs are used in ‘fully self-service’ mode: Any person selling goods or services using an EFTP must print a full daily financial report, including a zeroing and an entry in the fiscal memory, for each day during which sales, reversal transactions and/or refuelling of liquid fuels have been recorded in the EFSP, with the exception of sales of liquid fuels in or from premises that are entirely self-service /Article 39(1b) of Regulation No H-18 of 13 December 2006 /.

For sales of liquid fuels at and from outlets that are entirely self-service, the daily financial report is generated at 23:59:59 for each calendar day. For sales of liquid fuels at and from fully self-service outlets, it is permissible not to print the daily financial report and the data from the level measurement system and the dispensers’ counters/flow meters/measurement systems. /Pursuant to Article 39(3) of Regulation No. H-18 of 13 December 2006/.

In the case of sales of goods and services from self-service vending machines, including sales of liquid fuels at and from premises that are entirely self-service, the trader shall not keep a book of daily financial reports (pursuant to Article 39(5), third sentence, of Regulation No. H-18 of 13 December 2006).

• 4. Fiscal devices built into self-service machines (hereinafter referred to as ‘FDU-SMS’). In the case of sales of goods or services provided by electrically powered self-service vending machines and recorded and accounted for by means of fiscal devices integrated into the self-service vending machines, with the exception of currency exchange services, the fiscal receipt recording the sale may be displayed on a screen only, without a paper document being issued. A trader who sells goods or services via an electrically powered self-service vending machine, with the exception of currency exchange services, is obliged to record and report every sale via a fiscal device built into a self-service machine (FUVAS). The device does not issue a paper receipt; instead, the fiscal receipt certifying the sale is displayed only on the screen. /Article 3(8) of Regulation No. H-18 of 13 December 2006/

To start using a fiscal device, you must first enter into a technical maintenance and repair contract with a party authorised by the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology (BIM) and holding a service certificate. Upon commissioning, the service provider will issue you with a certificate of registration for the fiscal device and the Integrated Automated System for Tax Administration and Control (IASUTD). The device then sends a message to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and receives a response confirming whether the registration was successful. Fiscal devices must have the technical capability to establish a remote connection through which they can transmit data to the National Revenue Agency.

Obligations of traders

When a cash register is used to record sales, a document known as a cash register receipt is issued, which must contain the details specified in Article 26 of the Regulation and comply with the template set out in the annex thereto:

Persons who meet the regulatory requirements of the Ordinance may use an alternative method for recording sales of goods and/or services, namely the IASUTD. In this case, when a sale is recorded, a document known as a ‘system receipt’ is issued, which must also contain the mandatory details specified above.

A fiscal receipt from the cash register and a system receipt from the IASUTD are not issued when: the payment is made by depositing cash into a current account, a credit transfer, direct debit or cash transfer carried out via a payment service provider within the meaning of the Payment Services and Payment Systems Act, as well as in the case of a postal money transfer carried out via a postal operator licensed to carry out postal money transfers within the meaning of the Postal Services Act.

Where payment is made by postal money order, the customer shall be provided with a document, either in paper or electronic form, containing at least the information specified in Article 26(1)(1), (4), (7) and (8) of the Regulation.

Persons who sell liquid fuels using flow meters must record and report sales of liquid fuels by issuing a fiscal receipt (fiscal receipt) from an electronic system with fiscal memory (ESFM), including for: payments made by depositing cash into a payment account, credit transfer, direct debit, cash transfer or postal money order carried out via a licensed postal operator authorised to carry out postal money orders within the meaning of the Postal Services Act. The obligation to issue a fiscal receipt also applies to sales made via an ESFP operating in self-service mode.

Self-employed persons are not required to issue a fiscal receipt from a fiscal device. They are subject to the provision of Article 9(2) of the Income Tax Act, under which they are required to issue a document detailing the income they have received, containing the details required of a primary accounting document.

Important:

• The cash register/IASUTD sends data on sales documents and reversal transactions every 5 minutes, starting from the time of registration of the cash register/IASUTD. If a particular receipt cannot be sent, a new session is initiated and an attempt is made to send the unsent documents;
• In the event of a power cut, an inspection of the cash register by the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology (BIM), repair of the cash register (for the period specified in the certificate), a blocked cash register/IASUTD due to a disrupted remote connection with the National Revenue Agency (for no more than 48 hours), a blocked ESFP, malfunction of the cash register due to temporary failure of the cash register control unit, or in the event of a disaster, reversal cash receipts shall be issued from a receipt book;
• Cash registers must not be able to issue a ‘temporary receipt’ for an order before the sale has been completed;
• The sale of goods and/or services via an electrically powered self-service machine is not permitted if the connection between the self-service machine and the FUVA/fiscal printer is interrupted.
• Every receipt must feature a printed QR code containing details of the purchase and enabling a check to be carried out to confirm that the sale has been reported to the National Revenue Agency.

The procedure and method for issuing sales and reversal documents at a retail outlet, as well as the content of the documents, are set out in detail in Chapter 4, ‘Issuing a sales document via a cash register and the Integrated Automated System for Tax Documentation’, of the Regulation. Apart from sales and reversal transactions, any change in the cash balance—such as the opening balance, or the deposit or withdrawal of cash into or from the till—shall be recorded in the cash register or the integrated automated sales and tax control system via the ‘officially deposited’ or ‘officially withdrawn’ transactions.

The requirements for changes to cash balances do not apply when recording sales of goods and services via built-in fiscal devices in self-service machines (FUVAS). When using the ‘officially entered’ or ‘officially withdrawn’ operations on a fiscal device (FU) or an integrated automated sales and tax device (IASUTD), a receipt is printed bearing the message ‘Official receipt’.

The keeping of records by liable persons in commercial premises, such as the maintenance of: a book of daily financial statements; a book (register) of daily sales; a special register of cash register receipts used from a roll; and the submission of data to the National Revenue Agency (NRA) regarding the receipts used from a roll, as set out in detail in Chapter 5, ‘Reporting of Turnover from Sales Made’, of the Regulation.

In every permanent retail outlet, the trader is required to display the following in a prominent place near the cash register:

• A copy of the current registration certificate for the cash register;
• A notice informing customers of their obligation to retain their receipts until they leave the shop;
• Telephone number for contacting the National Revenue Agency (NRA) office in the area where the business premises are located.

Customers’ obligations

• The customer is required to keep the receipt until they leave the shop;
• Where a retail premises is situated in a shared space with other retail premises or within the grounds of a market or fairground, leaving the retail premises shall be deemed to mean leaving the shared space, or the market or fairground, as the case may be.

The Value Added Tax Act (VAT Act) provides for penalties for traders and customers in the event of non-compliance with the requirements.