Receipts at festivals and outdoor markets

What the act says

Under section 3(3) of act 658/2013 the act does not apply to “outdoor market and marketplace trade, except for the retail sale and serving of alcoholic beverages”.

The carve-out therefore has two parts. Market and marketplace trade conducted outdoors is as a rule outside the receipt obligation. The retail sale and serving of alcoholic beverages is expressly taken out of that carve-out, meaning the obligation does apply to it.

What that means at a festival

Same site, same customers, different obligation depending on what is sold.

• Outdoor food, drink and merchandise stands: no receipt obligation under this act.
• A licensed bar area or beer sold outdoors: the obligation applies, because alcohol is excluded from the carve-out.
• Anything sold indoors: the carve-out covers outdoor spaces only, so indoors the obligation applies normally.

A festival has three supervisors

Under section 5 the Tax Administration and the police supervise compliance, and in a venue held by the holder of an alcohol serving licence the Regional State Administrative Agency supervises as well. The bar area is therefore the one part of a festival with three supervisors.

Section 5 also gives the supervisor the right to make test purchases where there is justified reason to suspect the act has been or is being broken.

The practical conclusion

The carve-out is not a reason to leave sales unrecorded. The turnover is in the books either way, and after the event you need the sales figures to settle with the organiser, the artist or a partner.

In practice the simplest answer is to run every point of sale on one system and issue a receipt everywhere. Then nobody has to judge stand by stand which rule applies, and a bar position cannot accidentally end up on the wrong side of the line.

Frequently asked