Digitizing the uniform invoice lottery’s prize redemptions has saved the government NT$140 million (US$4.6 million) in service charges so far this year, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said yesterday.
A growing number of redemptions have made using an app the government launched in January, which allows users to store and check their receipts, as well as have any prize money transferred directly into their bank accounts.
In a report to the Executive Yuan, Su said that during the prize period for September to October receipts, the government promoted the app by providing an additional NT$400,000 in NT$500 prizes, which were available only to digital receipt users.
Photo: CNA
The ministry has pursued a “diversified” policy to increase the convenience of the prize redemption process, he said.
Brick and mortar redemption locations, previously limited to approximately 1,300 post offices, were expanded this year to include more than 13,000 bank and convenience store locations, he said.
The number of digital receipts issued so far this year increased 34 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the same period last year, to 1.23 billion, Su said.
The tax-free threshold for invoice lottery winnings is to be raised on Dec. 1 from NT$2,000 to NT$5,000, which would benefit about 17,000 winners annually, the ministry said.
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