Obligation to Register Services at Car Washes

When does it take effect?

From 1 July... or maybe 1 October 2022? Now confirmed! The obligation takes effect from 1 October 2022.

Legal basis

Under § 4(1)(2)(m) of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 28 December 2021 on exemptions from the obligation to keep sales records using cash registers (Journal of Laws item 2442), the following services became subject to the obligation to register on fiscal devices:

• car washing,
• car cleaning,
• and similar services (PKWiU 45.20.30.0),
• including through devices operated by the customer in an unattended system, which accept payment in coins, banknotes or another (non-cash) form.

The deadline for this obligation was set in § 7 of the Regulation as 1 July 2022.

Change of deadline

According to information published on the Ministry of Finance website, this deadline was to be moved to 1 October 2022.

Confirmation of the change

On 29 June 2022, the Journal of Laws (item 1368) published the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 24 June 2022 amending the regulation on exemptions from the obligation to keep sales records using cash registers. The regulation set the date of the obligation to register using fiscal cash registers at car washes as 1 October 2022.

What does this mean?

This means that by 1 October at the latest, cash registers must be in place at every car wash station.

Above all, it must be a fiscal cash register with a valid type approval from the President of the Central Office of Measures (Prezes Głównego Urzędu Miar) – only such fiscal cash registers may be used by a taxpayer to fulfil the statutory obligation to register sales and services using a fiscal cash register.

An important legal aspect

In the case of car washes and self-service devices, there is an additional important legal aspect. The Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 29 April 2019 on cash registers (Journal of Laws item 816), in § 7.3, clearly states:

§ 7.3. In the case of a special type of sale or a special method of keeping records, for which the use of cash registers for special use is required, taxpayers are obliged to use such cash registers.

An automatic car wash and the devices installed on it, used for washing, cleaning and drying vehicles, constitute a place of "special record-keeping". Because there is no cashier operating the till, specialized devices must be installed at car washes.

Types of fiscal cash registers

The regulation on cash registers defines the types of cash registers as follows:

• General-purpose cash registers – intended for keeping records in a way that does not require special functions or design solutions.
• Cash registers for special use – taking into account special applications, meeting special technical requirements, including, among others, cash registers:
  • installed in devices for the automatic sale of goods and services.

Under the regulations, general-purpose cash registers may not be used at car washes. They must be specialized cash registers, in accordance with § 7.1.2(f) of the Regulation.

Confirmation of the obligation by the National Revenue Information Service

The obligation to use specialized cash registers at car washes is also confirmed by the National Revenue Information Service (Krajowa Informacja Skarbowa). Such cash registers make it possible to:

• view the sales data on the device's display,
• not print paper receipts, if this data is visible on the device for 30 seconds.

Data shown on the device

The cash register's display must show the purchaser, for 30 seconds, the following information:

• the cash register's unique number,
• the taxpayer's tax identification number (NIP),
• the date of sale,
• the sequential receipt number,
• the total gross sales value,
• the total tax amount,
• the payment method,
• other payment methods.

Other ways of presenting the receipt, such as a QR code or a link to an e-receipt, do not meet the Regulation's requirements.

E-receipts and the Regulation

It is worth stressing that an e-receipt may only be issued with the customer's consent. If the purchaser has no way of viewing the receipt electronically, it must be displayed in accordance with the Regulation or printed.

Taxpayers keeping records using cash registers are required to issue and give the purchaser a fiscal receipt without being asked at the time of sale, no later than when payment is accepted, regardless of the payment method (§ 6.1.1 of the Regulation of the Minister of Finance).

This means that the receipt should be registered and issued or displayed no later than when payment for the service is accepted.

Location of the fiscal cash register

The place of business is every car wash station that accepts payment for services, regardless of the payment method. A fiscal cash register must be installed at every such station, which:

• registers the receipt,
• issues the receipt to the customer or displays that receipt's data.

The Ministry of Finance, in response to a question on the podatki.gov.pl website, stressed that no provision has been made for using a central cash register serving several car wash stations.

"At the current stage of development, no provision has been made for the car wash industry to create a central cash register to which the stations at a given car wash would be connected."

— Deputy Minister of Finance Artur Soboń

Confirmation by the Ministry of Finance

During a special meeting on 4 August 2022 between representatives of the automatic car wash industry and the management of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Goods and Services Tax, it was confirmed that specialized cash registers must be used at automatic car washes. The regulations do not allow the use of general-purpose cash registers. The cash register must be installed at every station where a fee for the service is collected.

Experts' position

The same position was presented in a tax-law opinion by the Modzelewski i Wspólnicy Institute of Tax Studies, regarding the obligation to use specialized cash registers at automatic car washes.

The Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 26 May 2020 on cash registers in the form of software (Journal of Laws item 957), in § 8, sets out the obligations of a taxpayer using a cash register. One such obligation is:

• Drawing up and signing a declaration by the person operating the cash register.
• For cash registers installed in vending/automatic machines – the declaration is signed by the cash register's owner.
• In the declaration, the cash register's owner states that they are familiar with the obligations set out in the Regulation.

A template of the declaration is set out in Appendix No. 3 to the above Regulation. The obligations imposed on the owner include, among others:

• Recording every sale of goods or a service to a natural person using a cash register.
• Issuing and giving the buyer a fiscal receipt, even without being asked.
• Issuing the fiscal receipt no later than when payment is accepted, regardless of the payment method.

Consequences of non-compliance

Part B of Appendix No. 3 to the Regulation sets out the consequences of failing to comply with the rules for keeping sales records using cash registers and for issuing and giving fiscal receipts:

A person who makes a sale bypassing the cash register or fails to issue a fiscal receipt may be liable to a fine for a fiscal offence or a fiscal misdemeanour (under Article 62 §§ 4 and 5 of the Act of 10 September 1999 – the Fiscal Penal Code).

There are many ways to integrate a fiscal cash register with a car wash station, depending on the type and capabilities of the car wash in question. The most popular method is connecting the cash register to information sent from devices such as a coin acceptor or a payment terminal to the car wash's control module (e.g. a vacuuming or cleaning device).

Integration methods

• Connection to a coin acceptor:
  • Obtaining information from pulse signals, the CC Talk or MDB protocol.
  • The fiscal cash register registers the value of the inserted coin, fiscalizes the correct amount on the receipt and applies the correct VAT.
• Integration with a payment terminal:
  • Obtaining payment data from a terminal installed at the car wash station.
  • The cash register records whether payment was made in cash or by payment card.
• Integration via a communication protocol:
  • For modern car washes controlled by a computer system, data can be sent directly to the fiscal cash register.
  • The communication protocol allows precise control and fiscalization of transactions.

Benefits of proper configuration

With the right configuration and software on the fiscal cash register, it is possible to:

• Automatically determine the transaction value and fiscalize the amounts on the receipt.
• Record the payment method (cash, payment card).
• Integrate with the various devices at the car wash, ensuring full compliance with legal requirements.

At self-service car washes, besides coins and payment cards, customers often pay for services using tokens or prepaid cards. The key point is that these forms of payment are fiscalized at the moment they are sold at dedicated points. The buyer then receives a fiscal receipt or an invoice for their purchase.

How to avoid double fiscalization?

To avoid double registration and taxation of services paid for with tokens or prepaid cards, it is necessary to properly configure:

• The coin acceptor – it should recognize tokens and tell the cash register that the transaction does not require fiscalization.
• The payment terminal – it must identify payments made with prepaid cards, so the cash register can skip fiscalizing them.

A practical solution

In practice, many modern fiscal cash registers, such as the Novitus SDF-3, offer the functionality of correctly fiscalizing only those payments that have not already been fiscalized. This avoids the problem of double taxation.

Confirmation of this solution can be seen in a recording made at a working car wash. In the video, the installed fiscal cash register correctly registers only new payments: Watch the video.

Various service tasks are carried out at self-service car washes that are not treated as services for customers. These operations include, among others:

• Calibrating coin acceptors by repeatedly inserting coins.
• Washing the devices and the car wash stations.
• Test washes.

Since these are service activities rather than the sale of services, they should not be counted towards the car wash's turnover or be subject to VAT.

The fiscal cash register's service mode

To avoid fiscalizing such operations, fiscal cash registers installed at car washes are equipped with a service mode. Once activated:

• A message about the activation of service mode appears on the cash register's display.
• The time remaining until service mode ends is also displayed.
• All operations carried out in this mode are not recorded as sales or fiscalized.

Service mode usually lasts 10 minutes. After it ends, the cash register automatically returns to normal operating mode, allowing services to be recorded and receipts to be displayed.

Why is service mode important?

Service mode lets car wash owners avoid problems related to incorrectly charging VAT on operations that are not actual sales of services. This keeps the car wash's operation compliant with tax regulations, and turnover records are kept correctly.

Fiscal cash registers installed at car washes must meet the requirements for online cash registers. This means they are required to communicate with the Central Cash Register Repository (CRK). Below we describe how to establish this connection.

Methods of connecting a fiscal cash register to the CRK

Fiscal cash registers can be connected to the internet in several ways, depending on the available infrastructure:

• LAN (Ethernet): the cash register connects to the network using a network cable.
• WLAN (WiFi): the cash register connects wirelessly, using the WiFi network available at the car wash.
• GSM modem: if there is no access to a fixed internet connection at the car wash, a modem with a SIM card can be used to provide a connection via the mobile network.

Internet access at the car wash

Internet access is available at most car washes, since it is needed for other functions, such as:

• Operating video monitoring.
• Card payments for car wash services.

This makes it easy to integrate the fiscal cash register with the internet and ensure its required communication with the CRK.

Additional benefits of an internet connection

An internet connection also allows the car wash owner to control the fiscal cash register remotely. Through a dedicated website, it is possible to:

• View recorded fiscal receipts.
• Adjust the fiscal cash register's configuration.
• Monitor the device's status in real time.

Why is a connection to the CRK important?

Communication with the CRK is a legal requirement that allows transaction data recorded on the fiscal cash register to be sent on an ongoing basis to the Ministry of Finance's system. This way, the taxpayer:

• Fulfils the obligations arising from tax regulations.
• Avoids penalties for lack of a connection to the CRK.
• Ensures the transparency of the business.

With the installation of fiscal cash registers at automatic car washes, it has become possible to obtain a receipt with the buyer's NIP, which makes it possible to account for the service in a business. Below we present, step by step, how to obtain such a receipt.

Instructions for obtaining a receipt with the buyer's NIP

1. Find the QR code: next to the coin acceptor or the display at the car wash there should be a QR code with the relevant information.
2. Scan the QR code: use your smartphone to read the QR code before making payment.
3. Open the website: after scanning the code, a dedicated website will open.
4. Confirm the location: check that the car wash address shown on the site is correct.
5. Enter the details: enter the buyer's NIP in the relevant field (or leave it blank if not required) and a valid e-mail address.
6. Make the payment: make the payment (insert coins into the acceptor or pay by card).
7. Receive the receipt: the fiscal receipt will be shown on the cash register's display, and the e-receipt:
   • will be shown on the page open on your smartphone.
   • will be sent to the e-mail address provided.

Important information from the Ministry of Finance

• Only specialized fiscal cash registers are permitted for use at car washes.
• The fiscal cash register must be located where payment is made.
• Central cash register systems are not permitted.
• The start date of the fiscalization obligation has been set for 1 October and will not be moved, unless a taxpayer obtains an individual extension.