​The Ministry of Finance presents for a public discussion a draft law on terms for distance trade and de-shadowing of payments in trade and service sectors (“cashback”)

The Ministry of Finance presents for a public discussion a draft law establishing conditions for distance trade and de-shadowing of payments in trade and service sectors (“cashback”).

What’s it about?

To increase transparency in trade and service sectors and to remove legal gaps in regard to the use of PPО for distance trade operations, a working group including representatives of the Ministry of Finance, experts, representatives of business and the State Fiscal Service has prepared a corresponding draft law.

The draft law contains the following points:

- a mechanism is implemented to reimburse the purchase price to buyers who detect violations when purchasing goods or services whose value is higher than 50 non-taxable minimum incomes and file a claim to the responsible authorities. This should motivate buyers to control compliance with the law when making payments;
- an information system is implemented in the format of an electronic office where buyers can check the authenticity of payment receipts;
- a legal framework is established for systems saving, collecting and registering PPO data; also, it shall be allowed to use electronic copies of mandatory payment receipts and fiscal checks as a source of tax information;
- a two-level system is implemented to examine written requests or claims from consumers via the portal for the examination of payment transactions. At the first level, a governmental examination is conducted for the respective request; at the second level – if the vendor can’t confirm the sale of goods or services during the governmental examination or if the vendor fails to appear for the governmental examination – a physical examination is conducted to check compliance with the regulations on the use of РРО, registration and turnover of goods as well as cash transactions;
- liability is enhanced for violations against payment procedures to implement the refund of a part of penalties to consumers whose requests were acknowledged as a reason to charge these penalties;
- regulations are implemented for payment transactions and hand-out of payment receipts to buyers in distance trade with goods delivered by vendors and payments made at locations other than the vendor’s facility; copies of payment receipts can be sent to the buyer’s email address and/or mobile phone via SMS messaging and/or to the buyer’s personal office on the vendor’s website. Also, a PPO is not mandatory for each vendor’s courier, i.e. the draft law does not entail additional costs for the purchase of PPO;
- 96 hours are granted for the registration of cash received by the vendor’s couriers from buyers at the vendor’s cash desk starting from the moment when a receipt is printed out to confirm the transfer of goods to buyers through the vendor’s own delivery service.

What’s the benefit?

- the draft law will contribute to the de-shadowing of cash payment;
- legal gaps are removed in regard to the use of РРО in distance trade;
- corruption risks are reduced in tax administration;
- the right of consumers to receive payment receipts is protected.

What comes next?

After a public discussion, the draft law will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers and, once approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, to the Parliament.