The NAP will receive information about online sales

The state tax inspectorate in Bulgaria will take part in online trade. Every purchase on the internet may be registered with the National Revenue Agency (NAP) even before the customer receives a message that their order has been accepted. This will become possible after the introduction of software fiscalisation, which a NAP working group discussed in January 2021. An agreement on this has already been reached between business representatives and the NAP.

The idea is that in online trade cash registers will no longer be required; turnover data will be sent from the online shop directly to the NAP using the appropriate software. Under this scheme, as soon as the buyer places an order in the online shop, data on the product and its price is sent to the NAP server. After that the seller receives from the tax authority information on the registration of the transaction and the data needed to generate a QR code. The customer then receives an electronic fiscal receipt with the code.

Use of this scheme for online trade will not be mandatory – companies may use it if they wish. Sellers may also continue to issue paper cash receipts to customers.

Electronic cash receipts can be issued in various ways – by e-mail, via a link, in a personal account or with the option to download a file immediately after the purchase. If they wish, customers can check whether the QR code is valid and find out whether the transaction has been registered by sending a request to the NAP.

Initially, options were discussed for sending turnover information to the NAP through intermediaries – specialised companies, courier firms, payment operators. However, businesspeople and tax authority representatives concluded that it is best to do without intermediaries and transmit the data directly. In this case transactions can be reported to the NAP regardless of the type of payment – bank transfer, bank card, cash on delivery or postal transfer. For each online shop, either the new method of fiscal reporting or the old one (a cash register) may be chosen. However, whichever option is chosen, it must be used for all types of payment.

The data sent to the NAP is encrypted so that hackers have no opportunity to gain access to the information. The NAP plans to publish guidance on how a seller should operate if problems arise with the internet connection. Sellers may be able to work for up to 72 hours even without a connection to the NAP. In this case customers will receive electronic messages about the purchase, but without a QR code certifying that the transaction has been registered with the tax authority. Once the connection is restored, the seller will send the NAP data on all sales made after the outage, and customers will receive new messages confirming registration of the transactions. In emergency situations the period of operating without a connection to the NAP may be extended.

The new rules apply where the order is placed online and the goods are delivered to the customer at an address or to a courier company office. If a person orders something online but goes to the shop to pay for and collect the purchase, they must receive a paper receipt. This rule has been introduced so that traditional offline shops cannot circumvent the requirement to issue cash receipts.

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