Documentation

Fiscal service environment

The "fiscal4brand" service acts as an intermediary between the cash register system and the financial administration. The service processes the data from the POS system and ensures that it is formatted according to the requirements of the financial administration. 

In addition, the "fiscal4brand" service offers additional functions such as storing data, creating reports and managing certificates.

Below you'll find schematics in how the clients works via middleware and a signature unit. There are three examples shown here. First the initialization of the API and the fiscal service. Next ist the creation and processing of a fiscal transaction und last but not least, the execution of an exported function is shown.

Initialization of the fiscal API

Processing of transactions

Exported functions

Supported countries

General Settings

The Fiskalservice has a configuration file (config.sofia) which is located next to the executing file of the Fiskalservice. The configuration allows several options of the fiscal service to be switched on or off and connected hardware to be configured.

It is planned to switch off HTTP operation from 01.01.2024. From this date, there will be a new switch that allows legacy operation with HTTP, but is excluded from any warranty.

Config file (“config.sofia”)

Hardware config

HTTPS Konfiguration

The "HTTPSEnabled" switch activates the HTTPS connection for Fiskalservice 3.X. Currently, the connected client must confirm a standard certificate. At a later date, the connection should be extended so that there is either a separate certificate that must be confirmed or the service should be extended so that a separate authentication is required.

Country-specific information

Germany [DE]

StartTransaction

The german fiscal laws require to mark the starting point of a sale transaction. With retail stores this is done, when a new shopping cart is created by the client, as well as when the first PLU item is scanned by the cashier. In our solution this has to be called explicit by the client. The result of calling this function, will result in a transaction ID which is to be used by the client. Date and time of this execution is the used in the fiscal unit mit mark the start of a sale.

For further information, please check out our development guide here:

Technical docu

EndTransaction

When the cashier finishes a sales transaction, let's say by receiving the payment from the customer, the transaction is sent to the fiscal service. Our service then verifies the contents of the transaction, processes it and the relevant fiscal data is sent to the fiscal unit. With a successful processing within the fiscal unit, the transaction is finished and there is no need to call EndTransaction explicitly.

Available exported functions

In the german fiscal solution, there are several exported functions available, which can be called remotely by the client application. We differentiate between country and device specific functions. These are the available functions for germany:

• Country specific
  • Data export (DSFinV-k)
    Export of the fiscal data stored by the fiscal service as CSV files
• Device specific
  • TAR export
    Exports all available TAR files from the fiscal unit
  • TAR export by period
    Exports all avaliable TAR files from date, to date
  • TAR export by transaction
    Exports all avalable TAR files from transaction no. to transaction no.
  • TSE checkout
    Checkout of a TSE fiscal unit, for store closings
  • TSE self test
    Technical self check of the fiscal unit
  • TSE unlock
    Unlocks a locked fiscal unit

For further information, please check out our development guide here:

Technical docu

Available trigger functions

In the german fiscal solution, there are several trigger functions available, which can be called remotely by the client application. These are the available trigger for germany:

• Start transaction
  This function opens the new Transaction.

Minimal receipt information

In Germany, a minimal amount of information is required for a sales-receipt. The following properties are required:

• Transaction-Type
  That type defines the type of the receipt.
• TransactionID
  The unique ID of the transaction.
• TransactionNumber
  Consecutive transaction number.
• Currencies
  List of currencies used for the sale receipt.
• Items
  List of items sold. Including currency iso & vat id.
• CashItems
  List of payments for the sale receipt. Including type like "Cash", "Card" and more.

(More details in the technical documentation)
Technical docu

Delimitation

UpdateTransaction 

Our fiscal service solution is mainly written for retail purposes like selling goods in a store (like fashion retail). If you want to use this solution in gastronomy or hotel industry, additional changes are needed. 

In Germany it is mandatory to call StartTransaction on the fiscal device, when you create a new transaction in the  cash register software. When you finish the sale of goods, the transaction is sent to the fiscal device (TSE), which automatically finishes the transaction. 

In gastronomy or the hotel industry, the transaction is finished when the customer has payed for the service and leaves the location. So it is necessary to update the transaction with the command UpdateTransaction, whenever new services are requested by the customer. This is needed when, for example new food or drinks are ordered. This feature is not yet available in the fiscal service and will be added later. 

Transaction splitting 

Transaction splitting is regularily used in the gastronomy sector, therefor it is necessary for a fiscal solution to provide transaction splitting, when multiple customers want to pay for a transaction separately. This feature ist not yet available in the fiscal service and will be added later.

Location Group 

The location group feature for fiscalization is used in gastronomy, when several restaurant tables are grouped together. This enables transactions to be assigned to a certain location group. This feature ist not yet available in the fiscal service and will be added later. 

Hungary [HU]

Installation guide

Since January 1, 2014, a change in the law has come into force that only allows cash register systems that support receipt printers with an installed fiscal unit.

It should be noted that communication between the tax office and the fiscal printer takes place via an interface (telecommunications network - GSM) and not via the public Internet. As a result, no further network settings need to be taken.

Used Hardware

Fiscal-Printer: Epson TM-T810F'
Note: The print line is limited to max. 40 characters.

POS Settings

The regional and language settings must be set to the country. Please note that these settings must be set for ALL users of the PC, especially for systems where the character set settings differ from the Western European character set.

Regional and language Options (Windows 10)

Driver Settings

The system expects the driver required for the fiscal printer to be installed and set up. The Fiscal Service Setup already contains all the necessary components including the fiscal printer driver.

The driver installation package expects the printer to be connected to COM4. Any necessary changes to the COM port can be ensured by configuration. The cash drawer is not controlled via the fiscal printer.

Integration Requirements

In Hungary, financial transactions must be accompanied by a "reason". The following reasons are given:

Pay In:

Pay Out:

API documentation

You can find a detailed developemnt documentation of our fiscal API under the following link. Please note, that the documentation ist still preliminary and is subject zu changes.

Technical docu

Hard- and Software requirements

There are several requirements for our fiscal service, that should be considered. While the SDK NuGet package works in every Visual Studio 2017 (and higher), the fiscal service itself has some requirements for hard- and software.

Hardware

* the required storage depends on the used fiscal solution and the amount of transactions generated by the client application.

Software

Microsoft Windows 10 (or higher) with installed Microsoft .NET 6 Hosting Bundle
Debian Linux support is given but needs to be officially approved by acto-soft

Glossary