Features

Paperless transactions promote Taiwan e-commerce

• Publication Date：05/06/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Aaron Hsu

Since April 2, more than 4,700 convenience stores operated by Uni-President Enterprises Corp., Taiwan’s largest chain store operator, have stopped giving out traditional printed receipts, known as uniform invoices.

Instead, the shops now present the consumer with a smaller receipt printed on thermal sensitive paper. At the customer’s request, they will provide a traditional invoice.

Although many people are not yet familiar with this change, it is actually a big part of the government’s efforts to promote paperless transactions, according to Su Chun-jung, director-general of the Financial Data Center under the Ministry of Finance.

“Taiwan’s businesses distributed more than 800 billion receipts in 2011,” Su said. “That amounts to 80,000 trees, or 3,200 metric tons of carbon emissions.”

Su pointed out that under the current system retailers produce receipts in duplicate, and wholesalers and export and import traders in triplicate.

“While the thermal sensitive paper may not look very environmentally friendly to customers, what they may not realize is that on the business side, no more paper is used because an e-invoice is automatically sent to the MOF data center,” he explained.

The elimination of paper receipts is also serving as a catalyst for electronic commerce. According to Taipei-based Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan’s e-commerce market value surged from NT$91.4 billion (US$3.09 billion) in 2005 to NT$311.4 billion in 2009.

Officials from the institute credit this growth to an improving Internet infrastructure and a safer, more efficient online trading environment created in part by the e-invoices and by digital certificates for individual citizens and enterprises from the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Economic Affairs, respectively.

“These certificates represent a commercial entity’s identification on the Internet and help enterprises complete online transactions faster,” Su said. “Together with the e-invoice, they help significantly trim the time and number of workers needed to record sales, issue receipts and file taxes.”

Thanks in part to these combined measures, online stores have made substantial progress over the past year, with more than a dozen e-businesses offering fast delivery that makes them very competitive.

PChome Online Inc., for example, provides 24-hour delivery Taiwanwide for more than 780,000 kinds of merchandise; design accessories and cultural creative products website Pinkoi guarantees delivery of any one of its over 16,000 items to most districts of Taipei City in less than four hours after an order is confirmed.

Realizing the advantages of e-invoices, many physical retail stores have adopted the system, according to Su. More businesses are also issuing them to customers as well.

In 2009, 27 popular supermarkets and retail stores started to replace their paper invoices with electronic ones; in 2010, they were joined by Carrefour Taiwan, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co. Ltd. and consumer electronics seller Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co. Ltd.

With more companies preparing to follow suit, Su said, Taiwan’s business sector has already filed more than 700 million e-invoices. By the end of this year, more than 6 million e-invoices will be issued to shoppers every day, he added. Consumers can now receive e-invoices if they use store membership cards, and soon it will be even easier to get them.

The MOF has been working on the plan for more than 10 years, beginning with a regulation allowing the exchange of e-invoices among cyber businesses in 2000.

In 2005 the ministry made it possible for virtual stores to provide individual buyers with e-invoices.

“We now have an e-invoice integration platform on the Internet, where all transaction information is saved and can be retrieved,” Su said. “This is a great convenience for individual consumers.

“For corporations, the platform provides a free program called Client Turnkey that can transmit a huge number of e-invoices from the point of sale to the MOF’s financial data center within seconds.

“With this software and familiarity with the platform firms can handle their taxation affairs more easily.”

Despite its many benefits, the e-invoice system has aroused some unexpected reactions from the general public. Many consumers have expressed concern that with no printed receipts, they will lose the opportunity to win prize money in the MOF’s uniform invoice lottery.

The lottery has been held since 1951 to promote requests for receipts, in a move to prevent tax evasion by businesses. The drawing now takes place every two months, with prizes going to people holding uniform invoices with receipt numbers matching those drawn.

If the last three digits of the serial number correspond to those in one of the numbers drawn, the receipt holder wins the smallest prize of NT$200 (US$6.85); if all eight digits match, the prize can be as much as NT$10 million.

“People’s concerns about the lottery are actually unfounded,” Su said. “Receipts are just digitalized, and the MOF data center checks for lottery winners. Consumers can check their purchase information at a Uni-President convenience store 48 hours after the transaction is completed.

“Computers at the data center will notify winners automatically; in addition, prize money can go directly to the winners’ bank accounts if they provide their digital certificates and have an account on the MOF integration platform.

“So there are actually more advantages than disadvantages.”

On July 1, the MOF will launch a new measure designed to make e-invoices even more popular.

“Customers will be able to apply for a barcode from the MOF integration platform,” Su said. “By printing it out and attaching it to something they carry with them every day, they’ll be able to get e-invoices from more than 100 stores at the MOF data center.” Among them are the 16 branches of RT-Mart International Ltd., a heavyweight wholesaler in Taiwan, he added.

Users of this barcode will be able to receive confirmations of their purchases via email, text message or an RSS feed.

“In a nutshell, using e-invoices is a good thing as they help save trees, benefit customers, strengthen industry competitiveness and expedite tax filing procedures,” Su said. (THN)

Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw