Source: epravda.com.ua.
Many entrepreneurs refuse to use cash registers because of their high price. There is a way out: soon these devices will “move on” smartphones.
A cash receipt is a document that not only records payment operations, but also provides a quality guarantee of goods and services purchased.
The refund for non-quality goods is provided on its basis.
On the other hand, a receipt serves as a guarantee that an entrepreneur honestly accounts for incomes and pays proper taxes to the state. It should be so, but…
The system of using cash registers in payment transactions is outdated and slow. It is expensive for entrepreneurs and ineffective for all parties.
According to the State Fiscal Service, there are more than 268 thousand payment transactions recorders (PTR) and more than 70 thousand business entities using them registered in Ukraine as of the beginning of 2017. About 600 enterprises and organizations provide maintenance services for cash registers.
According to experts, not less than half of retail payments are made without the PTR. The main argument of the “half-shadow” business is a high price of these devices.
According to the calculations of the State Regulatory Service, the cost of installing and servicing the PTR is almost 25 thousand hryvnas, 5 thousand of which is the PTR cost and the rest – the cost of materials, maintenance, transferring data to the SFS through acquirer companies, staff training, in the first year of use.
Reloading or PTR without waste paper
It is possible to create a simple and clear legal framework in the PTR area. We offer three steps that will greatly simplify these procedures.
Firstly, it is necessary to simplify the registration procedure of cash registers as much as possible. An entrepreneur buys the device, and a seller registers the equipment in the SRS electronically. This will allow to save both time and money.
Secondly, it’s time to revise technical requirements for cash registers. The existing regulatory framework was adopted 15 years ago, when there were other technologies, and the most of payment transactions were carried out in cash. Modern technologies allow reducing the price of cash registers twice, up to $100, such models already exist.
Thirdly, it is necessary to simplify the reporting and refuse to duplicate it. Now cash registers are coupled with paper reports, a record book, in which a cashier should make records every day, certify them with a signature and a stamp. SFS inspectors check just the hand-written paper books.
Given that reporting is already submitted electronically, it is time to get rid of waste paper. A record paper book should be used in cases of force majeure, when there is no electricity or Internet.
These three proposals can be implemented in the regulatory framework by the government’s decision that will accelerate the system reloading. Actually, the BRDO Office is currently engaged in this activity.
Digitalization or PTR in smartphones
Today, cash reports are sent via information acquirers – the companies, which receive reports from cash registers, and then send them to the SFS. These companies earn about 100 million hryvnas per year. We propose to start using a system, when the data from cash registers is sent directly to the SFS. It is technically possible.
How will this work? Due to using a certified reliable data storage device and an electronic digital signature to store and send fiscal data through a sim-card in the PTR fiscal units.
In this case, it is guaranteed that the possibility of destroying or changing data on transactions performed in the PTR is excluded. In addition, there will be no need for intermediaries.
In such a scenario, the PTR cost for businesses will go down to zero. There will be no need to buy any hardware or program; it will be enough to download a mobile application from the Fiscal Service’s website and you will have a cash register in your smartphone.
It will also allow to keep an eye on the staff and use the digital PTR as a marketing tool. For example, to “couple” cash receipts with contests or promotions.
This approach is not a new one, it has been tested by a number of European countries. PTRs in a smartphone are used in Canada, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, and Kazakhstan. Ukraine is in a position to be included in this list and make the PTRs simple, cheap and affordable. For this purpose, there are two working groups established in the Cabinet of Ministers.
We hope that in 2017 we will see changes that will lead to more civilized and modern business doing practices. We hope that soon we will not hear: “We do not install cash registers, because we do not have 5 thousand hryvnas”.