Internet acquiring and 54-FZ: is it possible to work without an online cash register and is a receipt needed?

The transition to online cash registers is a measure that will affect almost all companies and retail outlets from July 1, 2021. Two waves of entrepreneurs have already experienced the innovation, but questions still remain about the need to purchase a new type of equipment. We will talk about how to choose an online cash register when using Internet acquiring technology.

Acquiring

To accept plastic cards in a real store, in addition to the cash registers, special devices are installed - acquiring terminals . The seller enters into an agreement with the bank, receives or buys a terminal and installs it at the point of sale. When the buyer pays with a card and uses this terminal, he gives an order to debit funds from his account. This information is verified, processed and transmitted to the buyer's bank. There are several links in the data exchange chain - the buyer’s and seller’s banks, the processing center, the payment system (Visa, MasterCard, Mir). As a result, the money is reserved in the buyer’s account, and the machine reports that the purchase was successful. This entire complex process takes just a few seconds.

Internet acquiring is a type of acquiring and is intended for online payments. Every time we pay with a card on the Internet - we pay for an order in an online store, communication services or housing and communal services - Internet acquiring works.

The principle is the same as for merchant acquiring, but everything happens remotely, and therefore a terminal is not needed. Its role is played by the page with the payment form .
When the buyer enters the card number, expiration date, security code, the same thing happens as when he uses the terminal in a real store. Next, the information is transmitted to the buyer’s bank, and if there are enough funds, they are reserved. In this case, the user will see a message page indicating that the payment was successful.

Features of choosing a financial organization for acquiring

Almost every major bank in the Russian Federation can offer this service. Despite their large number, the payment for connecting to the service is practically the same, and the limited number of functions does not please the end consumer.

Therefore, entrepreneurs are provided with special conditions:

1. reduction in the amount received by the bank when using acquiring in stores with high traffic;
2. reduction of acquiring bank tariffs for cards they issue;
3. reduction of tariffs provided that the individual purchases and installs the equipment independently.

An online cash register with acquiring is needed by almost all individual entrepreneurs and LLCs on a single imputed income, on the simplified tax system or the PSN.

How to connect

To connect to your online store or online acquiring payment service, there are two options:

• contact the bank;
• enter into an agreement with one of the payment aggregators (these are Yandex.Kassa, Robokassa, PayAnyWay, RBK Money and many others).

In practice, most stores use the second method, since it is more profitable. After all, in addition to payment cards, there are other electronic means of payment - WebMoney wallets, Yandex.Money, QIWI and others. So, payment aggregators have this name precisely because they offer customers a choice of different payment methods. This is also convenient for sellers. One buyer, for example, paid through Yandex.Money, another used a card, a third used a QIWI wallet, and the seller will eventually receive all these funds to his current account .
If you connect online acquiring from a bank, the site will be able to accept payments exclusively by cards. Of course, the seller can directly enter into an agreement with each popular payment service, but this is less convenient.

Why is it beneficial to have a sales website?

Websites provide wide functionality for customers to choose the product or service they need, get acquainted with its characteristics, photo and video presentation of the product, read reviews from real customers and buy at a convenient price, most often with the option of door-to-door delivery.

At the same time, the seller also receives a large package of options. An online store or sales page does not incur any other costs other than payment for hosting services. There is no need to rent premises, hire staff to service a retail outlet, there is no need for a cash register or additional services such as cash collection. Those. a website today is a convenient, technological tool to which you can connect a payment system and sell.

Transstroybank provides its clients with Internet acquiring service.

For business, the speed of decision-making, transaction security and maximum control over funds entering the account are important.

What does the cash register have to do with it?

Cash registers should already be used by many stores today, and from July 1, 2021 - by almost all. This also applies to those who sell goods online. Since the middle of last year, the provisions of Law 54-FZ on cash register equipment came into force, which oblige sellers to use cash registers, including when accepting payments via the Internet with cards and other means of payment . Since then, when paying online, the seller is required to generate a receipt.

As a general rule, checks are issued at the time of settlement . But for remote payment, an exception is made - you need to generate a check no later than the day following the payment. This is due to the fact that the seller cannot always quickly track the moment of payment, because sales on the site are carried out automatically.

When accepting online payment, a receipt can be transferred to the buyer in several ways:

• electronically by email or phone number;
• in paper form along with the purchase;
• in paper form during the first direct interaction with the buyer after the sale.

But what you can’t do is knock out a check in advance . Although some online stores still practice this. Meanwhile, this is a direct violation of Law 54-FZ, which requires that the check be generated at the time of settlement. The rule here is simple - if a courier or delivery service representative accepts cash, he must have a mobile cash register with him and issue a receipt.

What does 54-FZ say?

Starting in 2021, online cash registers will be gradually introduced for entrepreneurs.
The obligation to establish a cash register system that complies with the new requirements fell on all individual entrepreneurs and legal entities that sell goods and services, regardless of the field of activity, the presence of employees and the taxation system. Only entrepreneurs without employees who sell self-made goods received a deferment until 2021. The law provides for exceptions. For example, business representatives who:

• live in places recognized as inaccessible;
• produce and sell items of national artistic crafts;
• provide care services for children, the elderly, the sick or disabled;
• provide ceremonial and ritual services.

The full list of exceptions can be found in paragraph 2 of Art. 2 54-FZ.

Which cash register is suitable for online acquiring

A feature of online trading is the absence of direct contact between the seller and the buyer at the time of purchase. The calculation is carried out automatically, without the participation of a store representative. This means that the cash register must be able to independently recognize the moment of payment and generate a check. And such equipment has been created - these are special cash register models that connect directly to the server . Such a cash register does not have a printing device, input keys and other usual attributes.

Cash register model for an online store

These machines can only be used to process automatic payments . Here are the popular models of online cash registers for an online store:

• Atol 42FS. Based on this cash register complex, the Atol-online service was created, offering cash register rental services (cash register as a service).
• RP-System 1 FS. The manufacturer offers a CCP rental service and ready-made modules for integration into popular CMS.
• NETPAY-FS. Also offered as a service, it connects to popular online store engines.
• Terminal-FA. A compact and inexpensive model that has everything you need and nothing extra. CCP can be purchased or rented as a service.

In principle, no one prohibits an online store from using a regular cash register . But the problem is that you will have to track purchases and issue receipts manually. If the store has only a few sales per day, then this will not be difficult. But if there are many of them, then difficulties will arise.

There are also mixed-type devices on the market, for example, “Kassa F” from Dreamkas. This solution is suitable for online stores with their own point of sale.
The cash register operates as usual, but when an online sale takes place, it generates an electronic receipt for the buyer and transmits the data to the Federal Tax Service. In this case, the cashier can use the device as usual - nothing interferes with its operation.

How the new type of equipment works

Each online cash register has a fiscal storage unit inside. He collects all data on the economic activities of the enterprise and sends them to the tax authorities. To ensure that the process goes quickly and does not cause problems, you can use the services of a fiscal data operator. The OFD will help purchase equipment, financial statements of the required volume, register them with the Federal Tax Service and take care of the timely transfer of information. This operating principle makes the economic activities of any enterprise more transparent.

Popular models

The Russian market offers a wide range of cash register systems with acquiring functions. Moreover, you can buy them in installments. The best solutions are presented in the table:

What affects the quality of acquiring

It doesn’t matter who pays with the card: a client or a non-client of the bank whose acquiring you have connected, the level of reliability and speed of transactions are the same. The only difference is technical: when paying by bank clients, the payment information is processed in the bank’s own processing center, and in the second case, a payment system, for example, Visa, is also connected, which transfers the data to another bank that issued the card.

The quality of Internet acquiring depends on the operation of the payment gateway - a software module that allows you to make payments.

Surely you are familiar with this page that appears as soon as you click “Pay” on the website. This is Sber's payment gateway

There are two key indicators: the smooth operation of the gateway and conversion - the ratio of the number of people who went to the payment page to the number of those who completed it.

The page conversion is affected by the characteristics of the gateway. For example, it increases if the form:

• user-friendly, especially on mobile screens;

• supports Apple Pay and Google Pay;

• loads data into the form automatically if the client has already paid by card on this site;

• determines the payment system so that the client does not mix up the cards.

We can’t help but boast: the conversion of the SberBusiness payment gateway page is one of the best on the market - 99%.

Work algorithm

When acquiring without a cash register, the following actions are performed:

• The card is swiped through the terminal or applied to it, and the device sends data about it to the server;
• If there is money in the required amount on the card, then it is written off in the amount specified by the seller;
• The money is subsequently transferred to the seller’s account;
• 2 checks are issued, one of which is given to the client.

As can be seen from the list of manipulations and their consequences, the principle of operation is quite simple. Is it possible to independently become familiar with such equipment? No special knowledge is required when using a POS terminal. But when installing it, instructions must be provided by specialists in the field of operation of such equipment in order to avoid possible errors in the process of working with payment devices. Specialists are employees of a specialized company or acquiring bank. They not only provide instruction, but also directly install, connect and maintain payment terminals.

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Today, the percentage of payments in cash and by payment card is 85:15 (for comparison, in 2000 this proportion was only 97:3). The growing popularity of acquiring is influenced by the growth of household incomes, frequent trips of Russians abroad (where card payments are made everywhere) and the fact that it is easier for an employer to transfer salaries to a card than to pay them in cash, which means that more and more individuals are acquiring a payment card.

Acquiring solves the problem of counterfeit bills (cash is simply not used in such payments), eliminates the need to draw up special cash documents and eliminates the cost of cash collection. Taking into account the fact that payment cards are not only debit, but also credit, the ability to pay with a credit card in the absence of free cash at a particular moment increases the solvency of the population, and this only benefits sellers.

The special regulation of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated December 24, 2004 No. 266-P “On the issuance of payment cards and on transactions performed with their use” regulates transactions carried out with bank cards in Russia.

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How the acquiring process is structured

If for a buyer paying by card is a simple and quick process, then for an entrepreneur who receives payment for his goods and services in this way, not everything is so simple. We invite you to consider acquiring in more detail.

First of all, you need to know that with this payment method, the money does not go directly to the seller’s bank account. Between the buyer and the seller there is an intermediary - a bank. Based on this, acquiring is a method of conducting non-cash payments, that is, a banking service, and the seller, in order to use such a service, must open a current account in the selected bank.

The next step should be to conclude an acquiring agreement with the bank. The acquiring bank must meet the following requirements:

• work with international (the most common are Visa and MasterCard) and regional premium payment systems;
• have a special structural unit (processing center) that carries out and controls the uninterrupted processing of payments;
• provide the fastest possible online communication using modern data transfer protocols (PCI DSS, SSL, 3D Secure);
• provide the client with stationary or mobile terminals for making payments and train its employees to serve customers when paying by card;
• monitor the availability of the amount of money required for the purchase on the buyer’s payment card and block the purchase process if there is insufficient money;
• promptly transfer funds received from the buyer to the seller’s bank account.

For making payments using cards, banks charge the seller a commission - from 2 to 6% of the payment amount. The buyer is not always charged a commission for card payments.

After the purchase is paid for by card, the money is debited from the buyer’s account and goes to the acquiring bank with which the seller has entered into an acquiring agreement. Within the period specified in the contract, the money is credited to the seller’s account (minus the bank commission).

Attention! Organizations and individual entrepreneurs selling goods at retail or providing services to the public, which received revenue of more than 60 million rubles in a year, must ensure the possibility of payment by bank cards. Administrative liability is provided for violation of this requirement (Article 14.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) in the form of a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles for legal entities and up to 30 thousand rubles for officials (including individual entrepreneurs).

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Types of acquiring

Acquiring, as a payment method, is relatively new, but several of its varieties already exist.

Trade acquiring - settlements via POS terminal. Widely distributed in stores, catering and service industries. A POS terminal is the entire software and hardware complex that is installed at the cashier’s place of work, including a cash register, card reader, monitor and keyboard for the cashier, as well as special software.

There are also compact terminals that are convenient to use for courier delivery, outdoor trading, in small shops and markets, for example, the Evotor online cash register.

Internet acquiring - payment for physical and digital goods, services, tickets through special interfaces on the Internet. The main problem with this method is ensuring the security of the data that the buyer enters on the processing center page. For additional protection, an SMS method of informing the client is used - requesting confirmation for payment. Internet acquiring requires increased security measures, so this is the most expensive (in terms of commission) method of card payment. In this case, the commission is charged not only from the seller, but, often, from the buyer as well.

ATM acquiring - payment terminals (such as Qiwi) and ATMs for replenishing a bank card and withdrawing cash from it.

Mobile acquiring is payment for goods and services via a smartphone or tablet connected to the Internet using a special device - a card reader. This is the newest type of acquiring, still little known, but it has a great future. A card reader costs much less than a POS terminal, and is even provided by some banks for free.

It should be noted that when paying by card, the use of a cash register and the issuance of a cash receipt are required. The receipt issued by the POS terminal (also called a slip) and the electronic receipt that arrives after paying for a purchase using a mobile card reader do not replace a cash receipt. A cash register is not needed only if the client pays for a service, physical or digital product through the interface on the processing center page (prepayment).

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Accounting for income during acquiring

The moment of recognition of income when paying by card depends on which accounting method the taxpayer uses. Under the simplified tax system, this can only be the cash method, that is, the moment when the money is received at the cash desk or in the current account. We find confirmation of this in Article 346.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation: “The date of receipt of income is the day of receipt of funds to bank accounts and (or) to the cash desk.”

But at the same time, the same article 346.17 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation contains the following description: “... as well as repayment of debt (payment) to the taxpayer in another way.” Based on this provision, the Ministry of Finance argued that payment with a plastic card is another method, therefore, the income of the simplifier must be recognized by the date the money is written off from the buyer’s account (letter dated October 14, 2004 No. 03-03-02-04/1-30).

At the same time, in later letters (Ministry of Finance dated April 3, 2009 No. 03-11-06/2/58; Federal Tax Service of Russia for Moscow dated November 26, 2010 No. 16-15 / [email protected] ) the department is of the view that the moment income recognition under the simplified tax system is the day the funds are received in the seller’s current account.

As for the amount of income taken into account, it must correspond to what is debited from the buyer’s account, and not to what is credited to the buyer’s account (minus the bank’s commission). At the same time, with the “Income” object they cannot take into account the costs of bank commissions, since they cannot take into account any expenses at all when calculating the tax base. “Simplified” with the object “Income minus expenses” can take into account the costs of services of credit institutions, including the costs of commissions under the acquiring agreement.

Organizations and individual entrepreneurs operating on a common system and using the accrual method take into account income by the date of sale of goods or provision of services, regardless of the actual receipt of funds. Payers using OSNO can take bank commissions into account as expenses.

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The article was provided by the platform of knowledge and services for business “Business Environment”.

Advantages

If you still have doubts about the advisability of using a cash register with acquiring, then it is worth considering the advantages that you may miss:

• increase in profit by 40-45%;
• increase in the number of clients;
• speeding up the transaction procedure;
• minimizing the likelihood of errors occurring when paying customers;
• savings on payment for collector services;
• providing protection against fraudulent actions of sellers;
• guarantee of non-acceptance of counterfeit banknotes;
• a large amount of built-in memory at the terminal, which allows you to enter a larger range of goods.

Advantages of using cash registers with acquiring
Additional information! When the online cash register is already installed, there is no need to change it. It is enough to buy and connect additional equipment (PIN-Pad or terminal for making card payments).