About keeping copies of payment terminal receipts

Paragraph 44.1 Article 44 of the Tax Code of Ukraine determines the taxpayer’s obligation to keep records of income, expenses and other indicators related to the determination of taxable objects and / or tax liabilities based on the primary documents, accounting records, financial reporting and other documents related to the calculation and payment of taxes and fees, records of which is prescribed by the legislation.

Also, the taxpayers are obliged to secure the storage of documents specified by Paragraph 44.1 Article 44 of the Code, as well as documents related to compliance with the legal requirements, control over compliance with which is vested to the supervisory authorities, within not less than 1095 days from the date of submitting the tax reporting, for the preparation of which the specified documents were used, and in case of reporting failure – from the deadline for submission of such reporting prescribed by the Code (Paragraph 44.3 Article 44 of the Tax Code of Ukraine).

The Law of Ukraine № 265/95-ВР “On the use of registrars of calculated operations in the sphere of trade, catering and services” (hereinafter – the Law №. 265) as of 06.07.1995 determined the legal basis for the use of registrars of calculated operations (hereinafter – the RCO) in the sphere of trade, catering and services. It is applied to all business entities, their economic units and representatives (authorized individuals) of business entities that carry out cash and / or non-cash payment operations.

According to Article 2 of the Law № 265 the payment document – is a document of the established form and content (cashier’s check, merchandise check, payment receipt, travel document, etc.) confirming the fact of sale (return) of goods, provision of services, receipt (return) of funds, purchase and sale of foreign currency, printed in cases stipulated by this Law and registered in accordance with the established procedure by the registrar of calculated operations or filled in manually.

Consequently, payment terminal receipt (copy of such receipt) is not the payment document within the meaning of the Law № 265.

General principles for functioning of payment systems in Ukraine, concept and general procedure for transferring funds within Ukraine are determined by the Law of Ukraine № 2346-ІІІ “On the payment systems and money transfer in Ukraine” as of 05.04.2001(hereinafter – the Law № 2346).

Thus, Article 1 of the Law № 2346 defined terms and concepts that are used in the calculation and transfer of funds, including:

document on the operation with the use of electronic payment device – is a document confirming the execution of operation using an electronic payment device, on the basis of which the corresponding documents for the transfer or crediting of funds are formed (Paragraph 1.5 Article 1 of the Law № 2346);

electronic payment device – is a payment device which enables its holder to receive information about his/her funds and initiate transfer of such funds(Paragraph 1.14 Article 1 of the Law № 2346);

payment terminal – is an electronic device intended to initiate the transfer from account, including cash withdrawals, obtaining reference information and printing a document for electronic payment operation (Paragraph 1.32¹Article 1 of the Law № 2346).  

Also, at the request of the STS, the National Bank of Ukraine provided clarification (Letter dated 28.11. 2019 №. 57-0007 / 62082) regarding the procedure for payment through the electronic payment device

Taking into account provisions of the Law № 2346 and in accordance with the aforementioned letter of the NBU, the electronic payment device is an instrument for an access to account used to initiate the transfer of funds from the payer’s account or relevant bank account, in particular to pay for the cost of goods and services.

Herewith, initiation of the transfer by means of electronic payment device should be documented with the appropriate documents for operations with the use of electronic payment device (payment terminal receipt).

That is, the payment terminal receipt only confirms initiation of the transfer of funds from account of the electronic payment device holder, not the fact of sale of goods (obtaining of services), so the payment terminal receipt is not a settlement document in the sense of the Law № 265.

In such way the STS and the NBU share the same position regarding the possibility of assigning the payment terminal receipt (copy of such a receipt) to the settlement document within the meaning of the Law № 265.

In the context of the all mentioned above, the STS informs that copy of the payment terminal receipt is not a primary document within the meaning of Paragraph 44.1 of the Code, and therefore there is no obligation to save such copy for the period prescribed by Paragraph 44.3 Article 44 of the Code.

We ask business entities to take note of this information and use it in their business activities.