Fiscalisation - what's that and what is it for?

We define fiscalisation as laws and regulations that are passed by the tax authorities of some countries with the aim of creating more tax fairness in the settlement of VAT.

Essentially, fiscalisation laws affect the operators of cash register systems, Point Of Sale Systems (POS) and other electronic recording systems that are used to process cash transactions with their respective customers.

Fiscalisation laws are intended to prevent the subsequent alteration of electronic records.

In this context, the different states each enact individual regulations with different technical and organisational requirements as well as processes. There is no harmonisation, e.g. within the European Union.

Within the European Union, there are currently (as of 07/2021) still some countries - such as the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, etc. - which have not yet passed any laws on the fiscalisation of cash register systems. Germany joined the list of "fiscal countries" on 01st January 2020. Since this date, the Cash Register Security Ordinance (KassenSichV) has been in force there. However, the German Federal Ministry of Finance had introduced a non-objection regulation until 30th September 2020, which most of the federal states had extended until 31st March 2021. Austria had already introduced the Cash Register Security Ordinance (Registrierkassensicherheitsverordnung, RKSV) a few years earlier, namely when it came into force on 1 April 20217.