Focus: Informal extension until the end of August for “smart” cash registers

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Extra time, with an implicit extension, until the end of August is given by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance to businesses of focus to install “smart” cash registers that put an end to trickery with receipts and erased turnovers.

According to information, already 50,000 old-style cash registers have been replaced by new ones while about 15,000 businesses remain which have not adapted to the new requirements, with industry entrepreneurs reporting problems of shortages in the market and a lack of technicians to make the changes.

GSEVEE and SEPE have sent a letter to Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and the director of AADE Giorgos Pitsilis in which they have requested an extension explaining the reasons justifying their request. According to the joint letter, “currently it is estimated that approximately 20,000 new type tax machines are missing from the market.

Tat least 20,000 companies cannot proceed with the replacement of the old FIM not because they do not want to or because they have neglected it, but because the new equipment is not available and/or there is no possibility in terms of human resources from the companies – supplier installers to install them during the summer”.

The compliance deadline for the replacement of legacy FEMs was 31 July 2024 and from 1 August 2024 theoretically non-compliant businesses face fines. The request for an extension was not granted but reportedly an informal credit of time has been given until the end of August for the market to adjust.

With the new tax mechanisms, the receipt is only printed by a built-in printer, pending orders (“open” tables) and pending receipts are recorded in the tax memory, while “Z” is issued only when all open tables have been closed.

The Obligors

Those liable to use the new cash registers, according to the relevant decision of the AADE, are those who provide:

  • Catering services with full restaurant service
  • Restaurant services within a sleeping hotel
  • Meal services from a restaurant, tavern, fish tavern, grill, with live music from an orchestra of at least three instruments with serving service
  • Meal services from a restaurant, tavern, fish tavern, grill, without live music or with an orchestra of less than three instruments with serving service
  • Services for the provision of meals from a fast-food restaurant, with service provision
  • Meal services from entertainment center – secular tavern
  • Meal services from a wine restaurant or winery (family business, without staff)
  • Services for the provision of meals from a pizzeria, with the provision of serving
  • Services for the provision of meals from steakhouses – steakhouses, with service provision
  • Services for providing meals and drinks from ouzo, mezedo shop, tsipouradi, beer shop with serving service
  • Services of providing meals and drinks from a snack bar, with the provision of serving.

Excludes catering businesses, which exercise their activity in settlements with a population of up to 500 inhabitants and on islands with a population of less than 3,100 inhabitants, according to the latest census, except for places considered as tourists.

Source: ot.gr