Less than 40,000 economic units of the 400,000 that had to own cash registers with fiscal memory observed legal regulations, while the others might have to pay fines worth between 50 and 100 million lei.
“The Financial Control Body has already drawn over 700 reports with a view to suspending the activity of economic units that didn’t observe the stipulations of Law 28/1999,” Marian Pasulea, deputy general commissioner of the Financial Control Body, told Ziarul Financiar.
Both economic units whose annual turnover amounts to 50 million lei and those that cash over 100 million lei annually were compelled, according to Emergency Ordinance 28/1999, to acquire, starting April 1, one of the cash register models homologated by the Commission for the Use and Distribution of Fiscal Cash Registers.
The Emergency Ordinance number 28 stipulates that all economic units and service providers have to acquire such cash registers, except for bread shops, newspaper and bus ticket kiosks, cinema and theatre halls.
Pasulea says that the Financial Control Body inspectors started a large verifying campaign at the headquarters of various companies all over the country. The action will also involve controlling all economic units in towns, as well as the customers, who are supposed to have a fiscal receipt when leaving the store. Penalties might involve closing the store for the economic units and fines amounting to 500,000 lei for the customers.
A fiscal cash register costs between 300 and 500 dollars. There are various types of cash registers, manufactured by famous companies, such as Samsung, Eurocash, Cartex, Sfera, and Elka. Cash registers have normal or thermal selfcopying paper. The memory of these machines can store and archive information for periods up to 10 years. The companies that distribute cash registers have to provide both the distribution networks and the services involved.
Finance Ministry officials estimate that the number of necessary cash registers amounts to about 500,000-600,000 items, which involves a total investment of 300 million dollars.
Up to the present, there are more than 30 companies authorised to sell cash registers. “Sales are very low, maybe because small economic units cannot afford to pay 10 million lei for a cash register,” a representative of a company that distributes cash registers said.
Small economic units from the very beginning expressed their fear that they would not be able to acquire the new type of cash registers. They say that the decision of the Finance Ministry is not grounded, as their daily sales are too low to justify the acquisition of cash registers.