Plans to eliminate the obligation to integrate payment Terminals with cash Registers

On September 10, 2024, the Ministry of Finance published a draft of significant legal changes to the Goods and Services Tax Act, the Excise Duty Tax, and certain other laws. The main proposal? Eliminate the obligation to integrate payment terminals with cash registers.

What changes is the government proposing?

According to Article 19a(3) of the Entrepreneurs’ Law, which will come into force on January 1, 2025, entrepreneurs accepting payments via terminals must ensure effective integration between the terminal and the fiscal cash register. Failure to comply with this obligation, under the VAT Act, will result in a financial penalty of PLN 5,000 for VAT taxpayers.

Until these provisions come into force on December 31, 2024, transitional regulations require settlement agents to report structured payment transaction data to the Head of the National Fiscal Administration (under the Law of November 16, 2016, on the National Fiscal Administration).

Terminals without integration? The Ministry opts for simplification

In response to concerns about the availability of payment terminals that can be integrated with cash registers, the Ministry of Finance proposed the following:

• Eliminating the requirement to integrate payment terminals with cash registers, by repealing Article 19a(3) of the Entrepreneurs’ Law (Article 5(2) of the draft),
• Abolishing financial penalties for failing to integrate terminals with cash registers by repealing Article 111 paragraph 6kb of the VAT Act (Article 5 point 1 of the draft),
• Maintaining reporting obligations for settlement agents by amending the National Fiscal Administration Act (Article 4 of the draft), and
• Amending Article 83 § 1 of the Fiscal Penal Code (Article 2 of the draft) to include fines for hindering or obstructing control activities related to payment transaction data carried out using a payment terminal, software, or IT system.

Reporting instead of integration

The draft law proposes the indefinite continuation of the current legal framework, meaning settlement agents will continue to be responsible for reporting payment transaction data, thereby relieving entrepreneurs of the obligation to integrate terminals with fiscal cash registers.

The draft is currently under review – explore the details!

The draft bill is now under review, and the full text can be found here.

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