Electronic invoices will soon be available for the first time at brick-and-mortar stores on a trial basis, as part of a government plan to gradually replace paper receipts with e-invoicing by 2012, the Ministry of Finance said.
Customers who shop with smart cards or store membership cards at 27 designated 7-Eleven and Hi-Life convenience stores, or at Pxmart supermarkets, yesterday began to have their purchase information and invoice numbers automatically transferred to a database operated by the ministry’s Financial Data Center, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said.
Other devices with built-in chips or radio-frequency identification, such as watches and cellphones, will also be used for e-invoicing in later stages of the project, Lee added.
About 11.5 billion invoices are printed every year, according to statistics. If 8 billion paper receipts could be replaced by electronic invoices a year, 80,000 trees could be saved, Lee said.
In an attempt to conserve resources, the ministry has decided to push for comprehensive e-invoicing to make shopping more convenient and eco-friendly.
The reform is estimated to reduce the invoice process cost by NT$7.4 billion (US$248 million) between this year and 2013. The reduction is forecast to reach as much as NT$120 billion once the whole country is using paperless invoices, Lee added.
Two further stages of the e-invoicing trial will take place at more shops and retailers in March and June, the ministry said.
Currently, online shops, TV shopping channels and -business-to-business firms have all already taken advantage of electronic billing since the ministry set up an e-invoice platform in 2006.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we