New changes to the Law on fiscalization

The Law on Fiscalization began its application on November 1, 2021 (“Official Gazette of the RS”, No. 153/2020 and 96/2021) (hereinafter: the Law or the Law on Fiscalization), when the transition period began which should facilitate and gradually regulate the transition to a new fiscalization system. It is envisaged that this transition process will last until May 1, 2022, when the previous Law on Fiscal Cash Registers (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 135/04 and 93/12) will cease to apply.

The new fiscalization process is a process of electronic issuance of fiscal invoices that will be recorded in real time directly in the Tax Administration, and the Law regulates the subject of fiscalization, the process of fiscalization through an electronic fiscal device and other important issues.

a) Subject of fiscalization

The subject of fiscalization is, as before, the retail trade of goods and services, with the novelty of received advances for retail trade that is also the subject of fiscalization (hereinafter: retail). The obligor of fiscalization is any taxpayer of income tax from self-employment as well as every taxpayer of corporate income tax, who performs retail trade, except for those activities for which it is prescribed that such an obligation does not exist in accordance with the Decree on determining activities where there isn’t an obligation to record retail trade through an electronic fiscal device (“Official Gazette of RS”, no. 32/2021 and 117/2021) such as urban and suburban land passenger transport, taxi transport, telecommunications, postal services of the public service and the like.

b) Abolition of fiscal cash registers and introduction of new Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD)

The obligor is required to record each individual retail trade, regardless of the method of payment (cash, card, etc.), including advances received – through an electronic fiscal device.

He has the right to decide on the type of EFD he will use, either:

– an electronic fiscal device that uses its own fiscal invoice processor and which enables the issuance of fiscal invoices even in the event of temporary or permanent loss of Internet connection and / or

– electronic fiscal device that uses the fiscal invoice processor in the Fiscalization Management System and which enables the issuance of fiscal invoices exclusively through a permanent real-time Internet connection, provided that if the obligor decides on the EFD referred to in point 2, it must ensure the smooth operation of at least one EFD referred to in point 1.

These devices, which consist of a fiscal invoice processor and an electronic invoicing system, must be approved by the Tax Administration, which maintains a register of these approved elements of electronic fiscal devices.

The obligor is required to enable the smooth operation of the EFD and is responsible for its proper use, maintenance and operation. Before starting to use the EFD, the obligor is required to electronically register the information on business premises and in which he will use the electronic fiscal device, for each business premises individually, and inform the Tax Administration about any changes in information no later than 24 hours after the occurrence of such a change. User instructions for submitting data and generating a unique label about business premises and business premises can be found at the following link https://www.sky-pos.rs/uploads/Korisnicko%20uputstvo%20PGJO%20-%20v1.0.pdf

c) Security element

The obligor is required to have and use the security element for signing fiscal invoices for the purposes of conducting the fiscalization procedure and verifying the identity when exchanging data and information with the Tax Administration. Instructions for submitting an application for the issuance of a security element can be found at the following link: http://budiefiskalizovan.gov.rs/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Uputstvo-Prijava-za-izradu-bezbednosnog-elementa-v.1.2.1.pdf

d) Invoicing procedure

The obligor is required to process each invoice at the time of retail trade through the processor of fiscal invoices and with the use of the security element, i.e. to fiscalize the invoice and to submit data on issued fiscal invoices to the Tax Administration via a constant real-time Internet connection at the time of retail trade. Exceptionally, if there is an interruption of Internet connection or it is not available at the place of trade, the obligor submits to the Tax Administration data on issued fiscal invoices periodically, immediately after establishing an Internet connection, and no later than five days after issuing of each individual fiscal invoice. The Tax Administration records the received fiscal invoice, which is signed with an appropriate electronic signature in the prescribed form in the Fiscalization Management System.

If the data is not submitted to the Tax Administration in real time, at the time of retail trade, the obligor is required to store the data in the internal memory of the electronic fiscal device until the transfer of this data to the Tax Administration, after which there is no obligation to further store such data.

Buyers and recipients of fiscal invoices can check whether their fiscal invoice was issued in accordance with the provisions of this law immediately after the issuance of the fiscal invoice.

e) Supervision and punitive measures

Supervision over the application of this law is performed by the Tax Administration. During supervision, the inspector may impose a ban on performing business activities of the obligor for up to one year if he finds that the obligor does not record each individual retail trade, including received advances for future retail trade through electronic fiscal device.

In addition to these measures, fines in the range of 300,000 to 2,000,000 dinars are envisaged for violating the provisions of this law.

The new model of fiscalization should reduce the operating costs of obligors, eliminate unnecessary administration, and there will be no need for fiscalization / defiscalization of cash registers, mandatory device services, printing daily reports, printing and storing control tapes. Benefits of the state refer primarily to more detailed and comprehensive monitoring of obligors and their trade, which further means more regular and orderly flows into the budget, and contributes greatly to the reduction of the gray economy as it reduces the possibility for abuse.