The thousands of professionals who have not yet done so have another month to purchase POS and thus on the one hand to avoid the fine and on the other hand to be ready “when the button is pressed” for their connection with the cash registers.

By February 29th, professionals should have advanced ordering or POS procurement, so that they are not fined. Within the week, it is expected that there will be a new decision, from the competent authorities, on the manner and time of imposing fines, in the case of non-compliance.

Regarding the date of interconnection of cash registers with POS, this does not change and remains March 1, 2024. Sources from the Ministry of Finance indicate that no further extension will be given to the schedule.

As noted by the financial staff and the AADE, the specific interconnection project is an emblematic one, the implementation of which they estimate will cut the umbilical cord of tax evasion.

But what exactly will happen? From March 1, when the customer buys a product or a service and pays with a credit or debit card, then the receipt with the payment amount is automatically sent to AADE.

What changes compared to today?

Some could falsify information, since it was possible to write another amount on the receipt and another to type in the POS. From March 1, there will be no keyboard at the POS or the possibility to type in the amount. Whatever amount the receipt says, the customer will be able to pay with his credit or debit card.

In the meantime, a pilot has already started, in order to test the systems, the interconnection of the cash registers with the POS, so as to determine if there are failures and correct them before the start of the universal application of the measure.

This move is considered the first step for the interconnection of the systems. These tests will continue as they will have to “click” to create the closed circuit in the issuance of receipts. It is noted that businesses are required, no later than February 29, 2024, to upgrade their cash register, if required, and to complete the interface with their POS by calling a certified FIM technician.

From 1 March 2024, EFT POS terminals will not work autonomously for debit transactions. That is, it will not be allowed to enter the payment amount by typing in the POS. The amount will come out of the cash register.

In February, a new cycle of subsidies (vouchers) is expected to be opened for the supply of POS by the professionals to whom the mandatory use of POS was extended. So far, 52,577 applications submitted by 14,080 businesses have been approved for the POS replacement, with the value of checks issued amounting to 2.08 million euros, while checks with a total value of 541,288 euros have been cashed. 107,521 applications from 59,809 businesses have been approved for the upgrade of cash registers in order to be able to interface with POS, checks with a total value of 7.676 million euros have been issued and checks worth 4.378 million euros have been cashed.

Particularly important is the recording made by AADE in the POSs that operate throughout the territory and per company. The electronic POS Register currently contains 1,022,484 POS which have been declared by 564,578 businesses. And this is because the control mechanisms want to know in advance, the number of POS they have, which ones are declared and which ones are used legally or illegally.