The upcoming obligation to issue receipts, also known as the obligation to issue receipts or receipts, is leading to many irritations and misunderstandings. Let's take a closer look!

The obligation to issue receipts comes into force in Germany on January 1st, 2020. This means: Entrepreneurs with electronic cash register systems must provide their customers with a receipt. The obligation to issue receipts is NOT a requirement for cash registers; an open cash drawer is still permitted.

What exactly this means and what this obligation to issue receipts looks like is sometimes conveyed in an inaccurate or even reactionary manner. There is confusion, especially among customers, about what to do with the pieces of paper.

A look abroad

Austria has had an obligation to issue receipts for a long time. The point is that customers have to accept a receipt so that the purchase is documented and nothing is sold to avoid tax.

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However, the customer is NOT obliged to keep the receipt. This means that at the next opportunity the receipt can be disposed of without penalty ( see here ). Like in Austria.

Obligation to issue receipts and customers

It will be similar in Germany : the customer himself does not have any major obligations. The receipts can, as before, be retained as part of warranties, exchanges or guarantees, but the obligation to issue receipts does not constitute an obligation to retain them.

But somehow it crept into people's minds that they now have to take tons of paper home with them. This is simply wrong!

As a customer, you can even refuse to accept the receipt. It is important that the receipt is provided after purchase. Disposal after handover is also possible at any time. There is no obligation to carry a receipt with you or even take it home.

Note: If you dispose of the note at home, you should check whether it is BPA thermal paper. This receipt must not go into the waste paper! why and how to recognize thermal paper here .

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However, many receipt papers are now phenol-free. In the future, newer papers will be printed physically instead of chemically and will therefore no longer have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. Additional information: Bisphenol-A (BPA) may no longer be used in the production of receipts from January 1st, 2020. However, this does NOT mean that the remaining stocks can no longer be used up.

Duties in business

The basic rule is that a receipt must be generated for every checkout process. This can be issued in paper form or electronically. Nobody is obliged to print out a receipt. § 6 – Cash Security Ordinance (KassenSichV) states, among other things:

“The information on a receipt must be readable by everyone without machine support. A receipt can be issued in paper form or, with the consent of the receipt recipient, electronically in a standardized data format.”

And this is where it gets exciting, as people often talk about endless paper waste: Both thermal paper and paper waste can be avoided because there are definitely practical electronic solutions. The retailer does not have to invent any solutions himself, but can join existing systems.

These electronic solutions are also GDPR-compliant. There are various systems for this (via app, email, print as PDF), which we will not introduce in detail here.

Of course, the pitfalls have to be noted at this point: Electronic receipts usually require that, on the one hand, cashless payments are possible in the store, but on the other hand, the customer is also willing to have the receipt sent to them electronically.

There may also be a lack of availability of these systems if demand is greater than supply because many retailers are now looking for solutions. But more on that in the next paragraph.

Furthermore, the providers of such electronic systems must adhere to data protection, because in the end it is these companies that know exactly which customer has bought which item. It should not be forgotten that a provider of such a system would be able to create a buyer profile.

But now the obligation to issue receipts suddenly comes!?

Just because the obligation to issue receipts has been a hot topic since November 2019, it doesn't mean that it has suddenly come along. In principle, it has been clear for over 3 years that an obligation to issue receipts will start in Germany from January 1st, 2020.

Already on December 15th and 16th. In 2016, the “Law to Protect Against Manipulation of Basic Digital Records (KassenG)” was passed. This also means that there is already the possibility of retrofitting or converting for three years.

Duty vs. trash

Now one can certainly criticize the obligation to issue receipts in view of the increased paper waste. In fact, an increased amount of waste is likely to arise due to each receipt provided. Therefore, in the long term, the electronic form has a twofold advantage in avoiding waste, because up to now the receipts have already been printed out automatically in most stores.

As already noted, this waste will not be avoided overnight, which is actually a shame. Since it had already been clear for more than three years that the obligation would come, work could definitely have been done towards it.

Cost

Of course, the obligation to issue receipts will mean additional costs for retailers. However, a distinction must be made here: in reporting or on social media, reference is often made to the “little master baker”. This is not at all wrong, as small retailers in particular who do not use an electronic receipt issuing system or who have so far forgone the printing of receipts are likely to have higher costs.

However, one should not lose sight of the fact that nothing will change for many companies, as receipts have been issued for years. What is important for everyone, however, is the information that appears on such a receipt:

  • Name & address of the issuing company
  • Date / time
  • Quantity and type of item
  • Consecutive transaction number
  • Invoice amount and tax rate of the product
  • Serial number of the cash register system, amount per payment type, signature counter and check value

politics

It is undisputed that the obligation to issue receipts is also a political dispute in which blame is shifted back and forth both at the political level and on social media. Sometimes even on both levels, as you can see on Twitter:

Therefore, there are various statements on the political stage regarding the pros and cons of the obligation to issue receipts. And this is where things get exciting, of course: It should be clear to everyone that the obligation to issue receipts is an unpopular topic that no one wants to take up. Public surveys show quite clearly how negatively connoted this topic is.

In summary

Nothing changes for the end consumer. Nobody is obliged to take the receipts home or keep them. For many shops nothing changes, because in most cases a slip is already printed out automatically (pay attention to this the next time you go shopping BEFORE the end of the year).

It can be annoying for small companies that face financial problems due to the change. It is also imperative for the future that the companies responsible for electronic receipts work in absolute compliance with data protection regulations and that no problems arise.

This might also be of interest:

The receipt requirement – ​​a political scandal?

Article image: Shutterstock / By Le Do

 

 

 

 


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