Gas stations should record the fuel and license plate numbers of the cars they fill up on their receipts. This is one of the means to combat the gray economy and increase budget revenues, announced by the head of the Budget Committee in parliament Delyan Dobrev a few days ago. The expected revenues in the state treasury would be around 250 million leva, the MP believes.
According to the industry, if the idea is adopted, its implementation would take at least half a year, Nova TV reports.
Martin Marinov is one of the drivers who welcomes the idea of recording car license plates on receipts as a measure against the gray economy. He says he always takes his receipt when he fills up.
“So far, I have never been denied a receipt”, says Marinov. However, he admits that the additional information may cause delays at the cash registers.
“It is a bit annoying, because sometimes queues can form”, he explains.
The idea that gas stations should also include the license plate number of the car for which fuel was filled in the receipt was announced by the head of the budget committee, Delyan Dobrev. The aim is to stop the practice of collecting uncollected receipts and then issuing an invoice to a company based on them. According to the industry, if such a decision is made, the introduction of the change will take at least a year for gas stations.
"Cameras should be installed at gas stations to detect car license plates and automatically write them on the receipts", suggests Svetoslav Benchev, chairman of the Bulgarian Oil and Gas Association.
"Purely technically, this could take between 6 months and 1 year, as it is really not an easy process, especially if it is automated. If it is manual, this will first of all slow down the process of processing all customers at a gas station", said Benchev.
According to gas station owners, the investment in equipment would be at the expense of consumers, as it would lead to an increase in prices.
"I think it will be difficult for everyone in the industry to implement this technology. It will hardly take less than a year or a year and a half. The other question is what it will cost the industry financially, who will pay this bill. These will be the end users. We will have to raise the price a little to recoup this investment”, explained Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov, Chairman of the Association of Bulgarian Traders, Producers, Importers and Transporters of Fuels.
According to Benchev, measures to improve control are certainly needed, but in a shorter time frame.
“What we are proposing is to have a single invoice when fuel is purchased in cash, namely the extended cash receipt, which is issued at each gas station. This extended cash receipt should be the only document that the NRA accepts in terms of reporting and refunding VAT on fuel”, said Benchev.