Various divisions from the National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, since June 2016, have continuously been issuing official letters to Taipei City business entities still using Computer Uniform Invoices informing them of the impending termination for using computer invoices by 1 January 2018, pursuant to the “Enforcement Directions of the Electronic Uniform Invoices”. Business entities will need to assess whether their existing Computer Uniform Invoice systems meet these new amendments, and ensure that their computer invoice system properly connects with the MOF’s E-Invoice Platform.

Further to the announcement, the MOF had draft the proposed changes to the VAT Act and submitted it to the Executive Yuan. The amended draft VAT lawchanges were passed by the Executive Yuan on September 22. The draft proposal of the amended VAT articles will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for its review and approvals. Pending the outcome from the Legislative Yuan’s reviews, further changes / clarifications may arise.Below is a summarization of the application of the new “Enforcement Directions of the Electronic Uniform Invoices”, as well as the relevant amended rules for the preservation of files and supporting documents.

The main changes to the draft VAT Act to capture foreign e-commerce enterprises into the Taiwan VAT realm are summarized below:

In recent years, the MOF has continuously launched comprehensive projects to implement the electronic invoices system in Taiwan, and have achieved significant progress. Due to the termination of the use of Computer Uniform Invoices for business entities from 1 January 2018, we have already observed some of the business entities implementing the electronic uniform invoice system in advance, in an effort to better coordinate with their transaction parties. As such, the use of electronic uniform invoices in the future is inevitable.

For business entities still issuing computer uniform invoices, their first priority should be to assess and ensure that their existing Computer Uniform Invoice system meets the requirements prescribed with this amendment, and is able to connect with the MOF’s E-Invoice Platform.

For business entities still using hand written invoices or cash register uniform invoices, these business will be MOF’s next target groups in pushing through the use of electronic uniform invoices system with a view to have a full e-invoice environment.

Whether your entity is currently utilizing computer uniform invoices or written invoices or cash register uniform invoices, it is imperative the entity plan and prepare in advance to facilitate the soon-to-be mandatory implementation of the electronic invoice system and related procedures.

Authors
Vivia Huang
Partner, Tax department
Grace Chen
Associate Director, Tax department
Carol Hsieh
Manager, Tax department