As Poslovni Dnevnik/Ana Blaskovic writes, in a small Mediterranean country that lives primarily from tourism and personal consumption, the news of record fiscalisation will not only put a spring in the step of the finance minister, Zdravko Maric. The value of fiscalised receipts issued in the Croatian tourism sector last week increased by 39 percent compared to the same period last year, and as much as 13 percent compared to the excellent pre-pandemic 2019 when tourism broke records.
In the period from August 30 to September 5, 5.3 billion kuna of receipts were issued, equal to a massive one and a half billion more than last year, with 26 percent more receipts issued.
While a significant jump was expected on an annual basis as last year’s end of August was remembered for the exodus of tourists (and the contents of their wallets), results that surpassed the time before the pandemic give a lot of optimism for faster-than-expected Croatian GDP recovery dynamics.
Most issued receipts in the total amount of 30.2 million kuna (23 percent more), were issued in the most generous category of fiscalisation, retail and wholesale (which includes the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles). Their value increased by 19 percent, reaching 3.1 billion kuna.
The hospitality and Croatian tourism sector, specifically providing accommodation and food preparation and service, issued 28 percent more receipts last week, or 8.7 percent more than last year. At the same time, their value jumped up to a very impressive 1.1 billion kuna, equal to 146 percent.
Data from the Tax Administration illustrates the fact that when compared to the year before the pandemic (when the economy grew by 2.9 percent), there were two percent less receipts issued, but there was also 13 percent more value. In trade, for example, the number of receipts rose 2 percent and their value by 11 percent.
Last week, however, caterers and those engaged in the Croatian tourism sector issued 15 percent fewer receipts than in the year before the global coronavirus pandemic fundamentally turned their lives and businesses upside down. It should be noted that the value of goods and services recorded in these receipts was at the same time higher by 21 percent.
The dynamics of fiscalisation also outlines the downward trend of the summer tourist season. On a weekly basis, the value of fiscalised receipts issued is lower by five percent, and their number by one percent.
So far, at least as far as trade is concerned, the number of issued receipts has remained unchanged, but the amount on them has fallen by three percent, according to the Tax Administration. With the peak of the tourist season now behind us, the number of receipts issued in catering and hospitality and the Croatian tourism sector decreased by four percent and their value decreased in one week by 16 percent.
Given the fact that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Croatia on February the 22nd last year marked a turning point for the tax authorities in many ways, from filling the budget to an explosion of expenditures, it is interesting to compare this period on an annual basis.
As such, in the second year of the pandemic (from February the 22nd to September the 5th this year) the number of fiscalised receipts and their number was higher by 26 percent than in the first year of the pandemic, which reflects the relaxation of a number of epidemiological measures, but also the absence of the lockdown we witnessed back in spring 2020.
This year, 1.3 billion receipts were fiscalised, in the total amount of 117.7 billion kuna, so the value of fiscalised receipts in the second year of the pandemic increased by 24.7 billion kuna in total.
A comparison with the same period back in pre-pandemic 2019 suggests that the number of fiscalised receipts is still eight percent lower than it was before the pandemic, although their amount has risen three percent.
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