Tax Identification Number on Receipt – One More Inconvenience for Entrepreneurs

On January 1^st, 2020, a substantial change to the Good and Services Tax Act came into force. Currently an invoice to a receipt may be issued only if on the receipt is placed Tax Identification Number of the purchaser.

Until the end of last year, issuing an invoice for a transaction registered on the fiscal cash register was very easy. If you had a receipt, an invoice could be issued according to the following rules:

1. if the demand to issue an invoice was made by the end of the month in which the goods were supplied or services were provided, or the payment was made in full or in part;
2. not later than on the 15^th day from the date of making the demand – if the demand to issue an invoice has been made after the lapse of the month referred to in p. 1 above.

However, from the beginning of this year there is a substantial limitation of the above possibility. In Article 106b of the Good and Services Tax Act, section 5 was added according to which: “In the case of sale recorded with the use of a cash register and confirmed by a fiscal receipt slip, an invoice for the tax payer or value added tax payer shall be issued exclusively if the fiscal receipt slip confirming making this sale contains a number by means of which the acquirer of goods or services is identified for the purposes of tax or value added tax”. If there is no Tax Identification Number on a receipt, issuing an invoice will be impossible.

Purchasing goods or services you should remember to ask for an invoice or give your Tax Identification Number. If you don’t do that, the seller will issue a standard receipt (without Tax Identification Number) and issuance of an invoice will not be possible.