What is a cash sale – and what isn't? – Help centre

Cash sale (kontantsalg) is the central concept in the Norwegian cash register rules. Here is what counts as a cash sale, what does not, and how Cmerce keeps them apart on the reports.

The duty to use a cash register system applies to kontantsalg (cash sales). The word sounds as if it is only about notes and coins, but it is not. A cash sale means the customer settles at the moment the goods or service are delivered – whether with cash or by card. Which sales are cash sales decides what goes where on the X- and Z-reports.

These are cash sales

An ordinary sale at the till where the customer pays with cash.
A sale at the till where the customer pays by card on the payment terminal.
A sale at the till where the customer pays with Vipps. Cmerce treats this the same way as a card sale: settlement happens on delivery. Vipps is shown as its own payment method on the reports.
A sale paid with a gift card. The goods the customer takes away are the cash sale – with the gift card as the means of payment.
A sale paid with several payment methods (split payment).

These are not cash sales

Situation	Why	How Cmerce handles it
Webshop sale	Internet sales are excluded by the Act	The order is not part of the cash register system. The customer gets an order confirmation and a sales document from the webshop.
Click and collect (paid online, picked up in store)	The sale happened online and is already paid	The handover is recorded in the till's journal, but no sales receipt is printed and the sale is not counted as a cash sale.
Credit sale on invoice	The customer pays later, not on delivery	The customer gets a delivery receipt, and the sale is reported separately. See Credit sales and payments under the law.
Selling a gift card	A gift card is a prepayment, not a sale of goods or services	Shown as «Gavekort solgt» (Gift cards sold) – a prepayment – on the reports. The cash sale is counted when the gift card is spent.
Training sale	Not a real sale	Shown as training on the reports, outside turnover.

When a web order is returned at the till

You can accept the return of a web order at the till. The money then goes back to the payment method the customer used online – never as cash from the drawer. The customer gets a returkvittering (return receipt) because the return happens at the register. But since the original sale was not a cash sale, the return is not a return of a cash sale either. It is therefore not deducted from cash sales on the Z-report, but shown in its own block, «Retur av nettordre» (Return of web order). That way the card line on the Z-report still matches the payment terminal's own day report. See Web orders at the till.

How Cmerce does it

You do not have to sort the sales yourself. Cmerce knows what type each sale is and allocates it automatically:

Cash sales go into total cash sales, sales per product group, sales per payment method, the VAT breakdown, the number of sales receipts and the grand total.
Credit sales are kept out of all cash sale figures and specified separately.
Gift cards sold are shown as prepayments. The money you received is still shown under the correct payment method, so the till matches the drawer and the terminal.
Returns of web orders are shown in their own block.
Training is shown separately and is not counted as turnover.

What you must do yourself

Register every cash sale in the till – including small amounts and sales to customers you know.
Use the right function: invoice for credit sales, web order return for web orders, and an ordinary return for till sales.
Do not use training mode for real customers.

In short

Cash sale = the customer settles on delivery, with cash or card. It is about when payment happens, not about the means of payment.
Webshop sales, click and collect, credit sales, gift card sales and training are not cash sales.
Cmerce allocates the sales correctly on the X- and Z-reports automatically.
If you are unsure about a specific sale, talk to your accountant or auditor.