The government plans to raise the annual budget for uniform invoice lottery prizes by more than 50 percent next year, with the grand cash prize probably to increase from NT$2 million (US$64,800) to NT$10 million, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said yesterday.
Lee made the remarks during a question-and-answer session, when he briefed the Finance Committee on the general government annual budget proposal for next year, which later passed its first reading and has been referred to the legislature for a second review.
Next year, the ministry intends to allocate NT$7.9 billion for uniform invoice prizes, which would be 3 percent of the total business tax revenue budget for next year, as the Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act (加值型及非加值型營業稅法) stipulates.
That represents a jump of NT$2.64 billion, or 50.14 percent, compared with NT$5.26 billion budgeted for this year, Lee said, adding that the number of sets of winning numbers and the total prize value would be increased next year.
Lee said the increased prize money would serve as an incentive to encourage consumers to make sure they obtain receipts for every purchase they make, which will also help reduce tax evasion and boost tax revenues.
SIZE OF PRIZES
“There are many ways to increase the size of prizes. The grand prize may increase to NT$10 million, NT$20 million or even NT$30 million. We are currently studying all the possibilities and hopefully will make a decision soon,” Lee told the legislature.
Last year, up to 13.57 million uniform invoice lottery tickets were redeemed for a total of NT$4.66 billion in cash prizes. Of the 13.57 million tickets, only 139 tickets were grand prizes, the ministry’s data showed.
In August, the Taxation Agency said that more than 200 millionaires had been created by winning the grand prize of the uniform invoice lottery since two more grand prizes were added in 2008.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also budgeted NT$43 billion to establish an updated electronic invoice integration platform to meet growing demand for such invoices from businesses. Lee said that the new platform is expected to go into service as soon as next year.
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