Cash register in the legal industry. Dynamically changing regulations on running a business mean that not only consumers are lost in the maze of regulations. Also, people running a business have a difficult task ahead of them, wanting to meet all requirements. In 2017, the ordinance of the Ministry of Development and Finance on recording sales with a cash register came into force. According to its content, the obligations of persons providing legal services are subject to the new rules of settlement. When a lawyer does not need a cash register and whether such a scenario is still possible in 2019, the answers to these questions are below.
Changes in regulations
According to the aforementioned regulation, each lawyer and tax advisor, whose services are used by private recipients (persons who do not have business activity), is obliged to use the cash register from the first sale. Previously, this necessity could be postponed until the second year of operation, if the income from the provision of legal services did not exceed PLN 20,000 in the previous tax year. This amount related to the performance of activities for the benefit of people who do not own a business or who are flat-rate farmers.
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When does a lawyer not need a cash register?
There is one special exception to the obligation to document transactions at the cash register. A consultant or attorney does not have to install it when selling his legal services remotely. This is mentioned in item 39 of the annex to the 2017 regulation and in § 4 sec. 3 point 2 of the same document. This means that if the payment is collected, e.g. by means of an online transfer, and the legal opinion is delivered to the customer by e-mail, there is no obligation to record this fact at the cash register.
New products from 2021
When setting up a business that offers legal services , it is worth thinking about acquiring a device that offers online transaction recording. From 1 January 2021, the obligation to change traditional cash registers to those that will connect to the central base via the Internet will come into force. This necessity is being introduced gradually for various industries, and lawyers will be charged with it on the date indicated above. Thanks to this change, politicians gain another tool in the fight against the sparse leaks in the complex tax system.
Of course, when buying a cash register, the entrepreneur does not have to cover the entire expenditure out of his own pocket. Everyone can apply for reimbursement of up to 90% of the total net investment, but in the amount not exceeding PLN 700. There are already quite a lot of cash register models on the market that can connect to CRK, i.e. the Central Repository of cash registers. The average price of small stationary and mobile models is usually around PLN 1,500.
Obligations of the cash register holder
It is worth recalling that a person setting up a business and intending to purchase a cash register must report this fact to the competent tax office. Thereafter, the device must be pre-fiscalized for a legal fee to be charged. This can only be done by a specialized service with permissions. It is a one-time operation, during which we can make a possible decision to use the service in the future, when it becomes necessary to carry out a technical inspection or repair. It is worth remembering that periodic inspections are mandatory and must be recorded in the attached service book.
During the use of the cash register, each receipt must be archived and kept for five years with the entrepreneur for possible inspection at the office. In older models of archive cash registers, this was created on a separate roll of thermal paper. In newer devices, an SD and microSD card reader is installed, which definitely facilitates the entire operation, and also reduces the costs associated with it.
The answer to the question of when a lawyer does not need a cash register is unambiguous; if it provides its services only to companies or provides them in the form of advice provided online and other remote communication channels. From January 1, 2017, setting up a business with legal services, the obligation to fiscalise occurs from the first sale. The purchase of a cash register is associated with a discount, which can be applied for by submitting an appropriate application.
During the operation of the device, it is worth remembering about obligatory, periodic technical inspections and the related maintenance of a service book. Any changes to cash registers should be immediately reported to the tax office. The archiving process of issued receipts is also very important, for newer devices it is carried out not on a separate thermal roll, but on a memory card mounted inside. It is worth remembering that from January 1, 2021, an important change will come into force for the legal industry, introducing the need to replace the cash register with an online model that connects to the CRK system.
