E-receipt in September 2023. What are the benefits for entrepreneurs and consumers?

Soon, entrepreneurs will be obliged to issue e-receipts if the customer wishes to avoid receiving a traditional paper receipt. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Development, Labor, and Technology have developed a plan according to which the implementation of this solution is to take place in September 2023, and its dissemination will take the next two years. Will the introduction of e-receipts be beneficial for the entrepreneur? What will consumers gain? What solutions will retailers be able to use?

Adapting cash registers to sending e-receipts

The obligation to issue a receipt or invoice for each transaction is regulated by art. 111 sec. 3A Act 1 of the VAT Act of March 11, 2004, on tax on goods and services. This provision is supplemented by the regulation on technical requirements for cash registers (Journal of Laws, item 1759) and criteria and technological conditions that must be met by cash registers with electronic copy recording (Journal of Laws, item 1753). In the announcement entitled “E-receipts will be available online soon” on September 28, 2021, the Ministry of Finance informed that the introduction of the possibility of issuing electronic receipts would give the customer a choice in which form he wants to receive confirmation of the purchase, and the solution benefits both entrepreneurs and consumers

Savings and ecology for retailers and stationary sellers

The implementation of e-receipts is to bring benefits to entrepreneurs in terms of optimizing the costs associated with the purchase of technical paper, which is used to print approximately 12 billion receipts annually. Fewer printed receipts also mean saving toners and inks and lower electricity consumption. It is also worth adding limiting contact with a substance that harms health – Bisphenol A found on paper for fiscal printers. The solution goes hand in hand with the goals of sustainable development and the related mandatory ESG reporting.

Easier returns and complaints

A lost receipt preventing you from returning or claiming an item and faded ink rendering your proof of purchase illegible will be acceptable. The consumer will access the e-receipt for 30 days or longer if he uses solutions prepared by companies designing and integrating IT solutions and services.

e-Receipt+ system – a comprehensive solution for retailers and their customers

E-Paragon+ from Exorgio Upos, whose MVP version is ready for testing from the beginning of 2023, is a solution offering several functions not available in the system prepared by the government. Launching the MVP version is not the end of work on e-Paragon+ because the system will continue to be developed. Currently, it offers the function of handling non-fiscal printouts, storing documents in the repository for two years, integrating with retailers’ own applications, and viewing e-receipts and after-sales documents. The solution is to support online cash registers per the Ministry of Finance requirements, both from Upos and other manufacturers.

The advantage of the e-Receipt+ system is the readiness to provide an electronic receipt to the consumer in any situation. Even when the customer cannot access the ID from the government application, the cashier will be able to perform fiscalization after entering the customer’s data in the cash register system panel, which will allow the e-receipt to be issued and recorded in the repository, and then made available to the customer.