Government adopts amendments to FBiH fiscal systems

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Government of the Federation of BiH, at today's session in Mostar, adopted the Bill on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Fiscal Systems. Namely, after years of applying this law, the need to improve the fiscalization system has been expressed, with the aim of a comprehensive way of recording turnover and enabling the sending of data on each individual turnover to the Tax Administration in accordance with technological development, increased data transmission speed, and the introduction of the 4G network in BiH.

One of the newly proposed solutions relates to fiscalization subjects, and the scope of business entities and entrepreneurs operating with cash has been expanded. Business entities and entrepreneurs engaged in activities exempt from VAT payment are excluded if they do not operate with cash. Wholesale trade is also excluded, given that, in accordance with internal payment traffic regulations, payment is made cashless, which was also the proposal of employers. The exception also applies to organizers of games of chance who are connected to the Tax Administration through a special IT system.

It is also new that turnover for which VAT invoices are issued (payments and exemptions) will be recorded through fiscal devices, thereby establishing a direct link with the VAT Law. New legal solutions for the supervision mechanism over manufacturers or representatives of fiscal devices and service technicians have been proposed. An obligation to provide a guarantee of 300,000 KM has been introduced as a preventive control mechanism for manufacturers or representatives of fiscal systems in cases where they do not fulfill their legal obligations, which will be used to compensate fiscalization subjects who have suffered damage.

The penalty policy is designed to act preventively on all participants in the fiscalization process. In the past period, it has been shown that fines are not high enough. Therefore, the amounts of misdemeanor fines have been increased in accordance with the Law on Misdemeanors of the FBiH. In addition to the amendments to the Law, today the Government also considered information on the current state of fiscalization and expectations and benefits of improving this system.

In 2010, the first year of this system's application in FBiH, there were 34 fiscalized systems in operation. The following year, this number rose to 13,545, and according to indicators as of May 14, 2020, there were 83,547.

Among numerous advantages, the improved system will introduce a combination of software and hardware fiscalization, ensure real-time delivery of all indicators that will be available immediately, and at the latest within five minutes on the Tax Administration's server, and will be stored in the device's memory and always available to control bodies.

The new system also resolves the issue of recording turnover for those economic entities and small entrepreneurs who have a specific way of selling goods, such as remote sales via the internet (on-line). This method of sale is not recognized in the current regulations, which leaves room for manipulation and concealment of turnover, as well as leaving the buyer unprotected. Citizens are also enabled to participate in control, as they will be able, based on the unique code of each fiscal receipt, to check the validity of the received receipt and report any irregularities to the Tax Administration.

It will be possible to increase the participation of the Federation of BiH in the distribution of indirect tax revenues between entities through an increased number of VAT payers due to the recording of each individual turnover and thus an increase in the VAT threshold.