On 16 March 2016, the Senate adopted the bill on electronic records of sales, which – as the government hopes – should settle the business environment. Together with this bill, a reduction in VAT on catering services from 21% to 15% was adopted.The bill is now only waiting to be signed by the President, after which the act will be published in the Collection of Laws. After completion of the legislative process, a technical solution of the system will be developed and tested, which will take seven months. A month before the act takes effect, a test operation will be started, i.e. a period during which electronic records of sales can be tried out by entrepreneurs.
This new act requires each entity that receives a payment in cash to register the transaction in the database of the Ministry of Finance using a special device. A one-time discount of CZK 5,000 will be applied to all payers of the tax on income of natural persons, namely in the year in which an obligation to record sales arose. This discount should compensate for the increased cost for the acquisition of the necessary equipment.
It is expected that the law will take effect by the end of 2016 and that the first subjects that will have to submit to it will be facilities providing accommodation and catering services. After three months, they should be joined by retail and wholesale units, and 15 months after commencement of effect the obligation to record sales will also apply to other entities (with the exception of selected crafts and production activities which will be subject to the obligation three months later, i.e. from the 19th month after the act takes effect).
In addition to being an effective tool against the grey economy, the act on electronic records of sales should lead to a considerable increase in revenues in the state budget (according to the Ministry's estimates, it should be about CZK 18 billion per year). Approximately 4 billion from this amount will be allocated to municipal budgets and 1.5 billion to regional budgets.