Electronic receipt: what it is, how it works and what are the obligations
What is the electronic receipt
The paper receipt that has characterized for decades the Italian trade is destined to disappear. In fact, the electronic receipt, thanks to the use of telematic cash registers, is able to send the data of each individual payment to the Revenue Agency. In this way, the dematerialization process of the tax system will continue and, at the same time, it will be possible to impose a further push on tax evasion. Also because, it should be remembered, starting from January 1, 2019, the obligation of electronic invoicing in the B2B world has also begun.Everything revolves around the so-called daily fees, which must be communicated by the merchant to the Revenue Agency. Anyone who uses an electronic cash register has to worry only about having an active internet connection, at least when the cash desk is closed. After this operation, in fact, the RT will automatically prepare the file containing the data of the payments to be transmitted. The RT, in fact, after the cash desk will try to connect with the Agency servers and, as soon as the interview channel is active, will transmit the file.
If at the moment when the cash desk is closed, there will be problems with connectivity to the internet, there will be 12 days to transmit them: either by reconnecting the RT to the internet or by copying the payment file (sealed by the RT) on an external memory ( e.g. USB key) and using the specific upload function of this file in the Invoices and Correspondence portal. This "emergency" procedure, therefore, was provided for in all those cases in which the operator should have problems with the internet connection of his RT. In relation to the periods of closure of the commercial exercise, the merchant will not have to make any registration on the RT: it will be the latter who, at the time of the first transmission of the payments on the opening day, will communicate the closing days.
The roadmap of the electronic receipt
The measure developed by the Government therefore envisages being able to completely abandon the paper battle in favor of the electronic one. In this sense, it is important to keep in mind the dates that represent, at a regulatory level, the fundamental stages of this innovation. After all, as said at the beginning, anyone who wants to enter the business world today must know everything that revolves around the electronic receipt.1 July 2019: the obligation of the electronic receipt has been activated for all commercial activities characterized with a turnover exceeding 400 thousand euros. The Revenue Agency, in the resolution published on 8 May 2019 (exactly number 47), specified how the turnover to refer to was that relating to the year 2018 (in general, therefore, to the previous calendar year) . 31 December 2019: up to this date, the obligation of the electronic receipt (and therefore of the electronic transmission of the data of the daily fees) has not been applied to the related transactions and to those not subject to the certification of the fees referred to in Article 2 of the DPR n. 696/1996, of the Decrees of the Ministry of Finance of February 13, 2015 and October 27, 2015. Similar speech for those connected and connected to the collective public transport of people, vehicles with luggage. Starting from January 1, 2020, these activities are also included in the obligation. July 1, 2020: starting from this date, as clarified at the beginning, all subjects who carry out the operations indicated in Article 22 of Presidential Decree no. 633/1972, will have to electronically store and transmit electronically to the Revenue Agency the data relating to their daily payments. This sending replaces the registration of the fees referred to in Article 24, paragraph 1 of Presidential Decree no. 633/1972. There were no penalties until June 2020, which have now entered into force.
Sanctions
We did not talk about obligation in a casual way. In fact, the 2020 Budget Law, approved in October 2019, introduced an administrative penalty for traders who refuse to enter the consumer's tax code in the electronic transaction or who do not transmit the data of each individual service to the Revenue Agency. In particular, it ranges from 500 to 2,000 euros depending on a series of variables applied to real cases. It is therefore important to keep this aspect in mind.It is essential to underline how the legislation provides for sanctions even in the event that merchants refuse payments by debit or credit cards from customers. In this case, the penalty is 30 euros, plus 4% of the amount of the transaction that should have been carried out. Therefore, according to the law, paying without cash is a right for consumers. Keep this in mind.
The news for customers
For the end customer, the news is few but substantial. The purchase of goods and services remains the same, in commercial activities there is always a cash desk (with electronic recorder) where transactions can be made. Compared to the past, however, the merchant is no longer obliged to deliver a paper receipt. On the other hand, the customer receives a commercial document (in any case not valid for tax purposes) on paper or via email.It will therefore be this document that can be used to exercise the rights of return and guarantee. Similarly, the customer without a receipt can no longer be fined following a possible control by the Financial Police outside the shops. However, agents can ask for the amount spent, subsequently verifying that the shopkeeper has actually registered that amount in the electronic cash register.
Electronic receipt, those exempted from the obligation
Ci are cases of exemption from the obligation of the electronic receipt (and of all the rules illustrated up to now). In fact, on 10 May 2019 the Ministry of Economy and Finance issued the Decree by which it regulated these exemptions. In particular, the text was published in the Official Gazette on May 18, 2019 and in Article 1, paragraph 1, it is specified that the obligation does not apply to transactions not subject to the certification of the fees referred to in Article 2 of the Presidential Decree n. 696/1996. These include:didactic services provided by driving schools and aimed at obtaining a driving license; collective public transport of people and vehicles with luggage in tow by any means exercised; sale of balloons, small objects for children, ice creams, sweets, roasted chestnuts, olives, seeds and the like by street vendors without motorized equipment; sales of tobacco and other goods marketed exclusively by the Administration of State monopolies; transfer of assets registered in public registers; sale of automotive fuels and lubricants to customers who purchase outside the business, art and profession; administration of food and beverages in company, inter-company, school and university canteens, as well as in popular canteens managed directly by public bodies and by assistance and charitable organizations; sale of daily newspapers, periodicals, supplementary supports, books, administration of food and drinks carried out in itinerant form in stadiums, railway stations and the like, in cinemas, theaters and other public places and on the occasion of events in general.
The receipt lottery
Starting from January 1, 2021, the so-called receipt lottery, introduced by the 2017 Budget Law, will start. After countless extensions and changes, the measure seems to be finally at the start . Not surprisingly, starting from December 2020, you can ask for the code to participate in the draws, and aim to win the prizes up for grabs. There is no shortage of news of the last hour: the new maneuver being examined by the Chambers in fact cancels the prizes for payments with cash; only the cashless section will remain, with the aim of encouraging the use of cards and ATMs.But what does this receipt lottery consist of? This is a real lottery with optional participation: only those who communicate their code to the merchant will compete for the draws. All natural persons of age residing in Italy who make purchases of goods or services, outside the exercise of business, art or profession, can participate. The anti-evasion prize game is linked to the obligation to memorize and electronically transmit the fees for all VAT operators, that is the electronic receipt.
The conditions of the lottery
It will be the first measure anti-evasion which will directly involve the consumer, who at the time of issuing the receipt will have to provide the retailer of the goods or the professional with his lottery code in order to participate in the drawing of the monthly and annual prizes provided. The released code will end up in the cauldron of data that the VAT number holder will have to transmit to the Revenue Agency which, in turn, will provide the information necessary for the drawing by lot to the Monopoly Agency.Each week there will be 15 draws, with prizes of 25,000 euros for the consumer and 5,000 euros for retailers. Instead, there will be 10 monthly draws, with prizes of 100,000 euros and 20,000 euros for retailers. To these is added the maxi-prize at the end of the year, equal to 5 million euros for the consumer and 1 million for the shopkeeper. The first useful step to participate in the lottery drawings of the receipts will be to acquire the lottery code, to be requested from 1 December 2020 on the portal of the Revenue and Customs Agency.
