All VAT registered subjects are legally obliged to keep regular accounting. But, the method they use to do it can vary and is influenced by the terms set forth in the pertinent legislation. It depends on the juridical nature of the company, on its turnover and accounting scheme, among other things. In this article we will deal with the Ecommerce daily takings book: tax and regulatory aspects.
Faced with a complex scenario of laws, the legislators have decided to introduce a few useful simplifications to help subjects that carry out their business activity through e-commerce.
E-commerce activity owners doing operations with final consumers residing within the territory of the State, are not obliged to certify the daily takings of their sales. Practically speaking, this means that companies operating through electronic commerce are not obliged to issue invoices or tax receipts. They only have to record their entries in the daily takings book.
In order to get a better understanding of this topic, we shall proceed by dividing the subject matter into direct e-commerce and indirect e-commerce.
Daily takings book for e-commerce: direct e-commerce
Let’s start with direct e-commerce. This category comprises all those transactions that take place entirely online and in which the object purchased by the consumer is an intangible asset. This type of asset is any “product” that doesn’t need a physical device in order to be transferred. We’re basically talking about files (videos, e-books, etc.) that can be downloaded from the network onto the buyer’s drive.
Well, in direct electronic commerce the tax jurisdiction of the activity makes the transaction fall within the country of the buyer. Hence, VAT will be applied in the buyer’s country and the location of the supplier will not be relevant to this end. As far as Italy is concerned, for example, when the buyer resides in the territory of that State, direct electronic commerce services will be subject to VAT in Italy.
The certification of daily takings is mandatory in direct e-commerce only and exclusively for operations carried out with buyers who are taxable subjects, regardless of the fact that they be economic operators residing in Italy or not. The issuance of an invoice becomes mandatory when the buyer is an economic operator.
As for the certification of the daily takings from direct electronic commerce operations with private consumers on the other hand, it is not at all mandatory to issue an invoice, unless it is requested by the customer at the time of purchase.
In the case of direct electronic commerce involving private consumers, the daily takings from sales with VAT included must be recorded in the Daily Takings Book. Furthermore, they must be entered within and not later than the first working day after the date the transaction was performed, referred to the day it was carried out.
Daily takings book for e-commerce: indirect e-commerce
And what about indirect e-commerce? First of all, let’s define indirect electronic commerce as the set of operations in which the supply of the goods as well as the conclusion of the contract between the seller and the buyer are all expedited by electronic means, whilst the physical delivery of the goods is handled through traditional channels. The sale of goods through indirect electronic commerce is comparable to mail orders. Consequently, the same VAT rules are applicable
Indirect electronic commerce operations become juridically relevant in the country of the buyer. Just like the operations carried out within the bounds of direct electronic commerce that we briefly discussed earlier. Furthermore, there are no differences between the operations effected with buyers that are taxable subjects or private consumers.
The certification of daily takings is mandatory in e-commerce only for operations carried out with buyers who are taxable subjects, be they resident or non-resident. In this scenario the issuance of an invoice is compulsory.
For operations carried out with private consumers within the bounds of indirect e-commerce the same rules as those for mail orders apply. Therefore, it’s not compulsory to issue an invoice except in the case in which it is requested by the buyer at the time of purchase. Furthermore, it is not even mandatory to certify the daily takings by issuing a bill or a tax receipt, thanks to the exemption provided for by ex article 2, letter oo) of the PRD n.696/1996.
Clearly, the daily takings of the sales, including added value tax, must be recorded in the sales Daily Takings Book. They must be entered within and not later than the first working day after the date the transaction was performed, in relation to the day it was carried out.
The daily takings book in electronic commerce
Having explained the above, and given that taxpayers running indirect e-commerce activities are not obliged to manage their electronic daily takings (as provided for by the M.D. EFM dated May 10, 2019), they are nonetheless required to comply with their tax obligations in that the daily takings that have to be recorded in the appropriate register.
At this point, we wish to draw your attention to the fact that taxpayers who transmit their daily takings by electronic means are not required to keep this register. Also note that the exemption is valid only for mail order sales.
Therefore, if a business manages its sales activities both through online selling and simultaneously through a shop which is open to customers, then the daily takings from the sales made in the shop will have to be certified by a commercial document issued thereupon, and subsequently transmitted by electronic means. Hence, only the daily takings from mail orders will be recorded in the daily takings book.
Entries are to be recorded paying due attention to:
- respecting the progressive numbering of the pages;
- labelling the front cover of the register with the company name, fiscal code, VAT number and company address;
- writing the name of the month referred to on the first page;
- indicating the overall total of each day’s takings including VAT, subdivided according to tax rate;
- inserting the overall daily takings relative to all the non-taxable and exempt operations in a special column;
- showing the total of all the operations of the month at the bottom.
We would like to remind you that ZonWizard can help you handle this task too, through the automated daily takings book that groups your data according to the various local tax jurisdictions in which you operate and where there could be different VAT rates in force.
Take a look at the features of this service by watching the live demo in the Daily Takings Book section, or send us an email if you want to find our more about it and we’ll be happy to answer your queries!
If you’re an Amazon seller you may also be interested in reading our practical guide to filling in the daily takings book.
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