Fiscal receipt
A receipt produced by a point-of-sale system that is registered with, or reports to, the tax authority. Each sale can be verified.
In short
- Fiscalization rules exist to stop sales being rung up and then deleted to avoid sales tax.
- In Quebec, restaurants and bars must issue bills through a sales recording module (SRM).
- A fiscal receipt usually carries extra data, such as a transaction number or a verification code.
A fiscal receipt is a receipt that the tax authority can trace. It comes from a cash register or point-of-sale system that is certified, registered or connected to the authority, and it carries details that prove the sale was recorded and cannot be quietly removed later.
Why fiscalization exists
Cash-heavy businesses can underreport sales by deleting transactions after the customer leaves, sometimes with software built for the purpose. Fiscalization closes that gap. Depending on the country, the register signs each transaction, stores it in a tamper-proof memory, or sends it to the authority in real time.
Examples
- Quebec: restaurants and bars must produce customer bills through a sales recording module (SRM, or MEV in French) certified by Revenu Québec, and must give the customer that bill.
- Germany: registers need a certified technical security device, and receipts show its signature data.
- Italy and several other EU countries: registers transmit sales data to the tax authority electronically.
For the buyer, a fiscal receipt is usually stronger evidence than an ordinary one, because its details can be checked against what the seller reported.
Worked example
A restaurant bill in Montréal
A team dinner comes to $187.40 including GST and QST. Because the bill is printed through the restaurant's SRM, it shows the establishment's registration details and a transaction reference. If Revenu Québec audits the restaurant, that bill can be matched to the sale in its records, which is exactly the point of the system.