On 07.12.2022, i.e. on Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies will discuss the draft law on amendments to GEO 28/1999 – on cash registers.

Thus, economic entities with the CAEN code (5610 – restaurants and 5630 – bars and other activities for the service of drinks) are obliged to give the customer a payment receipt before issuing a tax receipt, which contains sections intended for the customer to choose from the proposed tip level from 0% to 15% of the cost of consumption.

What changes are expected?

The payment statement must also include another column in which the customer can specify the amount offered as a tip in absolute value, if he chooses this method of determining the value of the tip.

IMPORTANTLY

Business entities are prohibited in any form to condition the delivery of goods or the provision of services on the provision of tips.

Tip or tip:

• does not fall under the scope of VAT, cannot be equated, from the point of view of VAT, to the supply of goods or the provision of services.;

• is not included in the calculation of social contributions;

• there will be income from other sources subject to taxation for the employee;

• 10% withholding tax;

• will be declared in the Declaration 100 and in the Declaration 205 – nominally on the employee’s unemployment insurance;

• cannot be reclassified as salary income;

• their distribution to the employee is not an expense;

• they cannot be attributed to the element of the nature of income for an economic operation;

• is registered in the accounting of economic entities under accounts receivable by distinction and is fully distributed among employees on the basis of their personal records.

• Business entities shall establish the order and manner of distribution of sums received from the collection of tips among employees by internal regulations.

• transferred to the same tax receipt with the amount of consumption; ;

• if an invoice is issued, the tip amount will also be indicated on the invoice;

• gratuity amounts allocated in this way in the invoice are registered in the accounting of business entities or other payers as protocol expenses and have their own tax regime within the level of deduction established by the Tax Code.

• home delivery activities are exempt (from the mentioned CAEN codes), business entities can choose to tip under this law (with all the resulting obligations);

• fines are from 2,000 to 4,000 lei and half the minimum for 15 days;

• enters into force on January 1, 2023

Editor’s note: Cornel Grama is a Cluj-based tax consultant and one of the founders and administrators of the Association of Tax Consultants and the Tax Consultants Facebook Group with over 40,000 members. Its services cover the following areas: preparation of tax returns and taxes, assistance in fiscal matters and budget receivables, representation of interests before fiscal authorities, training and education in the fiscal field. The opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author.