April 15, 2021
By: Mohamed M. Sesay
As the National Revenue Authority commenced the installation of the Electronic Cash Register Machine in the Business premises of all registered GST taxpayers such as supermarkets, hotels, guest houses, restaurants, bars, night clubs, building materials stores, boutiques, saloons, general merchandise, and other service providers, the Authority has warned that a fine of five hundred million Leones (Le 500,000,000), or a prison term of five years awaits anybody who tampers with the installations of the systems, or refuse to allow NRA staff to install the systems in their respective business premises.
The National Revenue Authority further reminded that the use of these machines are compulsory as provided for by the Finance Act of 2020 and other related legislations. The Authority added that all registered GST taxpayers are mandated to input all transactions into these machines and generate a receipt for each transaction adding that, it is an offense if a taxpayer fails to issue a GST receipt generated from the ECR Machines even without being requested for by the customer.
The Authority emphasized that, any taxpayer who fails to issue an electronically generated receipt from the ECR machines or other related software for this purpose, or tampers with the installations of these systems, or refuse to allow NRA staff to install these machines, or willfully, recklessly or carelessly damage the machines and systems will be construed as impeding tax administration for which a fine of up to Le 500 Million Leones and or an imprisonment term of up to five years will be imposed on conviction or both such fines and imprisonment term as appropriate.
“The general public is hereby informed that the National Revenue Authority has commenced the installation of the Electronic Cash Register (ECR) Machines in the business premises of all registered GST taxpayers such as Supermarkets, hotels, guest houses, restaurants, bars, night clubs, building materials stores, boutiques, saloons, General merchandise, and other services providers, among others”, it disclosed.
The Electronic Cash Register is a system comprising of Certified Invoicing System (CIS) and Sales Data Controller (SDC) connected together as one system. Also, the Certified Invoicing System means an electronic system designated for the use in business for efficient management of sales transactions, while the Sales Data Controllers (SDC) or Electronic Signature Device (ESD) is a device connected to CIS for; signing on receipt, storing receipt information and sending receipt information to the National Revenue Authority.