Fiscal automation

Fiscal Automation

Fiscalisation is the legal governance, which ensures that VAT transactions are reported and paid correctly to the tax authorities. For most retailers, fiscal compliance may be hardware or software-based, or a combination of the two.

There are two common methods to manage fiscalisation:

1. A Fiscal Printer / Machine typically stores fiscal information at the time an invoice is generated.
2. An electronic fiscalisation process that makes use of software or a combination of hardware and software. A permanent internet connection needs to be available for this fiscalisation process.

This chapter explains how Electronic Fiscalisation works in ResRequest and provides links to more details for this process.

The functions of different stakeholders in Fiscalisation

To understand how you would implement fiscalisation it is necessary to know the functions stakeholders perform in the process.

• Tax Authority. The Tax Authority refers to the Governmental Authority responsible for the imposition, assessment, or collection of any Tax (domestic or foreign). The Tax Authority determines the Tax amount or percentage for products and services, and they dictate the fiscalisation process for their jurisdiction. Some Tax Authorities rely on an auditor-based tax submission to verify that the Tax Payer’s taxes are correct; however, in some countries Tax Authorities prefer to authenticate against the actual invoice processed, this is when electronic fiscalisation becomes important. Examples of Tax Authorities are the KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) in Kenya and the URA (Uganda Revenue Authority) in Uganda.
  
  Their role in the Automated fiscalisation process: Tax Authorities using an electronic fiscalisation process has introduced software to store and track transactional information on invoices generated by Tax Payers.
• Tax Integrator. Tax Authorities generally do not integrate directly into the point-of-sale. Instead, they leave that to Tax Integration partners who are certified to connect to the Tax Authority software. These integration partners provide middleware between the point of sale and the Tax Authority. They also offer consulting services to help Tax Payers define services and products based on categorisations by the Tax Authority.
  
  What is their role in the Automated fiscalisation process? The Tax Integrator supplies middleware (software that acts as an interpreter between two systems). Some Tax Integrators may supply both middleware and hardware for their solution to work.
  
  Even though the process is similar, each Tax Integrator and Tax Authority has some unique requirements.
  
• ResRequest. As the point of sale provider, ResRequest is responsible for tracking consumption and payments for products and services rendered. Taxes are due on these products and services, the Tax amounts or percentages of Tax are determined by the relevant Tax Authority. When these products or services are consumed, an invoice is raised as proof of the transaction, and applicable taxes are considered due.

ResRequest’s Role

ResRequest generates invoices and credit notes for processing to the Tax Integrator. These financial documents are made up of products and service transactions. These products and services (Accommodation and Extras) are mapped in ResRequest to codes that are recognised by the Integrator’s middleware, along with the Tax for these Products and Services.

When an invoice is generated in ResRequest, ResRequest pushes the details to the Tax Integrator’s system, which then pushes it to the Tax Authority’s system. Once the Tax Authority records the details successfully, a reply is sent to the Tax Integrator, then on to ResRequest where ResRequest then certifies the invoice or credit note.

Steps to activate Fiscalisation

The main steps involved in fiscalisation are:

1. Select a Tax Integrator partner that has an active integration to ResRequest.
2. Map data in ResRequest.
3. Test the integration process.
4. Set up SOPs for operations and accounts teams to manage the fiscalisation process.
5. Train operations and accounts teams.
6. Go live and continue to manage new mapping when required.

The interface process

Once mapping between ResRequest and the Tax Integrator is completed and the integration is activated, the invoice is sent to the Tax Authority electronically. As the PMS / CRS, ResRequest does not have the authority to pass the invoice directly to the Tax Authority, instead, we pass the invoice to a Tax Integrator who then passes it to the Tax Authority. Once the Tax Authority successfully receives the invoice, it returns a confirmation that the process has been successful to the Tax Integrator, who in turn notifies ResRequest. ResRequest then indicates that the invoice has been fiscalised based on the norm defined by the ruling Tax Authority.

1. A ResRequest generated invoice is electronically sent to the Tax Integrator when the invoice is generated. The invoice has a Fiscalisation status. Once the invoice is electronically sent, this status is set to ‘Pending’.
2. The Tax Integrator receives the electronic transactions, checks fields are mapped as expected, stores the transactions, and sends the transactions to the Tax Authority.If the transactions cannot be validated, the Tax Integrator sends a rejection status to the invoice in ResRequest for user intervention. The status on these invoices is set accordingly.
3. The Tax Authority receives the transactions from the Tax Integrator and processes them.
4. The Tax Authority sends a Success status to the Tax Integrator, including relevant verification details for the invoice.
5. The Tax Integrator sends the status and verification details to ResRequest.
6. ResRequest updates the invoice’s fiscalisation status to show a successful message and adds Fiscalisation details like the number, or a QR Code are added to the invoice.

Activating fiscalisation

Fiscalisation is unique depending on the country and the Tax Integrator partner being used. We integrate with Tax Integrators that have been able to work closely with us to ensure that the integration is easy for our customers to work with, and stable.

We offer customers consultation services to set up their Fiscalisation Professional Services package. This includes consulting around verified integration partners and the process to map and manage automated fiscalisation. Find out more about it on our Professional Services Packages page.