Horeca: who must dispose of a registered cash register?

On 14 October 2015, the Supreme Administrative Court issued a ruling on the registered cash register system.

In this way it followed the view of the court officer who is of the opinion that the 10% rule is partly contrary to the Constitution (see our Infoflash of 4 November 2015).

How will the judgement be acted upon?

The FPS Finance has published on its website the decision of the inner cabinet on the registered cash register system (RCRS). The inner cabinet has decided to amend the legislation on horeca establishments obliged to dispose of a registered cash register.

The 10% rule [1] is abolished and replaced by this rule: every establishment offering meals on site and having a turnover from meals of at least € 25,000 (VAT excl.) is obliged, from 1 January 2016 onwards, to issue VAT receipts by means of a RCRS.

This threshold must be calculated for the first time on the turnover of the calendar year 2015.

The threshold for the obligation to dispose of a registered cash register will from now on be determined on a turnover of € 25,000.

The FPS Finance also informs the employers about the steps that must be followed (or not) according to their situation. 3 situations may occur:

1. The new threshold causes that your company comes under the obligation for the first time:

• You must register your horeca establishment via the on-line RCRS application of the FPS Finance not later than 31.03.2016.
• You must register the delivery of a cash register system and FDM (black-box) via the on-line RCRS application of the FPS Finance not later than 30.06.2016.
• Your RCRS must be active on 31.12.2016 at the latest. So you must apply for the VSC (VAT signing card) soon enough in order to allow activation by the supplier before this date.

2. Your company came under the 'old' measure but this is no longer the case given the new threshold:

• Your choice:

1. You can continue to work with the RCRS and continue to appeal to the social recovery measure of the target group reduction for permanent workers;
2. You will no longer work with a RCRS. You must then again issue VAT receipts.

• It is currently examined whether a compensation can be attributed to establishments that have already installed a RCRS and do no longer come under de RCRS measure.

3. Your company came under the 'old' measure and still comes under it given the new threshold:

• Your RCRS must still be active on 31.12.2015.

The legal text has not yet been published in the Official Belgian Gazette.

Source: notice of the FPS Finance - www.geregistreerdkassasysteem.be

[1] The 10% rule said that every establishment of whom the turnover derives for at least 10% from meals served on site (restaurant and catering services) was obliged to issue VAT receipts by means of a registered cash register.

Author: Anne Ghysels

08/02/2016