Motivations, Deployment, and Assessment of Taiwan's E-Invoicing System: An Overview

Abstract

Taiwan's invoice system is unique in the world in the sense that every invoice must follow the same printed format specified by the government. In addition, an accompanying lottery-like mechanism is implemented to give prizes to some invoice holders periodically as an incentive for citizens to request invoices upon transaction. This allows government to audit business sales, and has proven quite effective in curbing tax-related exploitations and boost tax income. To increase processing efficiency as well as to reduce paper consumption, the Taiwanese government began its e-invoicing project in the early 2000's. The first generation e-invoicing system targeted B2B and online B2C transactions, which accounted for only a very small portion of all invoices issued. The second generation, initiated in 2010, aimed to promote e-invoices to all physical retail chains. In this paper we survey Taiwan's e-invoicing system and assess its effects and obstacles.