paragon fiskalny, rachunek

[drei_lengua]

Czesc everyone,

I just got back from my second trip to Polska and it was awesome. I do have a question. What is the difference between "paragon fiskalny" and "rachunek"? I used both for fun when asking for the bill because I started noticing the word phrase "paragon fiskalny" more often on the bill than "rachunek" no matter what I bought.

Thanks,
Drei

 

[Jagoda]

According to me, a "rachunek" is a rather general bill that you get at a normal store (grocery, clothes, etc.), while a "paragon fiskalny" (like an invoice) is a more detailed and formal bill that you get when you purchase something from a more important company.

 

[Jagoda]

On second thought, since you say "paragon fiskalny" appeared more often no matter what you bought, I'd say that European supermarkets and stores (those from France, Germany, Holland, etc.) do tend to give out more detailed, fancy bills, hence "paragon fiskalny".

 

[Thomas1]

To me rachunek is a generic term that encompases many various kinds of bills, paragon fiskalny* is one of them which is printed by kasa fiskalna - a till that you see in a store. It containes prices of all items you bought and the total at the very bottom, it should also say the name of the store and it's owner as well as NIP. There is also something called faktura VAT - to me this is an invoice; it containes all that you can see in paragon fiskalny plus many other things that only complicate the matters for the poor tax payers.

*In common parlance you can often hear paragon orsimply rachunek.

 

[drei_lengua]

Dziękuję everyone! Although I was having fun saying "paragon fiskalny" in Poland my wife was laughing saying that it is too formal. The wait staff was impressed though. To me "rachunek" is so common that I wanted to use something different.

Drei