Cash register system

Draft regulation on the technical conditions for cash registers

The Minister of Finance has previous notified Act and regulation on Cash Register Systems etc. under the Notification Number 2013/9010/N.

The regulations no. 1616 of 18.12. 2015 relating to requirements for cash register systems (the Cash Register Systems Regulations), Section 2-7 (1) Electronic journal, states that:

“The system must be capable of producing a file directly from the electronic journal or other electronic medium in a standardized form determined by the Directorate of Taxes.”

The Directorate of Taxes has determined a standardised form; the SAF-T Cash Register format.

Norwegian SAF-T (Standard Audit File - Tax) Cash Register is standard file format for exporting of cash register journal data using an XML format.

The primary purpose of the SAF-T Cash Register data format is to:

- Serve as an export format for cash register journal data after request from the Norwegian Tax Administration, public accountants and other parties.

- be used as format of moving data to book keeping systems and other systems (transaction line or z-report).

This documentation is intended for software developers and vendors of cash register systems who are to incorporate export functionality of SAF-T Cash Register data in their system.

The Norwegian Tax Administration set a working group with participants from system suppliers, who detailed the needs and possibilities in the standard based on best practice and the legal requirements.

The working group detailed the XML scheme with the basis in the Auditfile Afrekensystemen (XAA) used in the Netherlands. Adjustments have been made to the point where the format is not fully compatible, but the same basic structure and principles are intact. As with the XAA there are no restrictions on use of this format. A consultant version of the format was out for the system developers to comment in May 2016, and the final version was published in July 2016. The format is part of the Norwegian SAF-T standard formats, which at this time also consists of the SAF-T Financial data format.

The constitutive meeting in the administrative body of the Norwegian SAF-T standards (Financial & Cash Register) were held on June 9th 2017. The objectives of the body are to manage the standards to suit the needs for both the private and public sector. The body consists of representatives from The Norwegian Tax Administration, Accounting Norway and The Norwegian Institute of Public Accountants.

Future changes will be done after recommendation by the administrative body and in partnership with the cash register systems suppliers.

The new standard will be taken into effect as soon as possible.