A consumer has been found to have deliberately bought large numbers of cheap items from online stores to increase the number of receipts received and thereby increase the probability of winning the uniform invoice lottery, resulting in the retraction of an award, authorities said on Tuesday.
The person obtained more than 10,000 digital invoices from May last year to last month and won a total of NT$30,000, the National Taxation Bureau of the Northern Area said in a statement, adding that more than 90 percent of the purchases were small.
The bureau said that it inspected the purchased items and determined that they did not fit regular consumption patterns and therefore breached lottery regulations.
Photo: Taipei Times
An official document was subsequently issued withdrawing the award money, the bureau added.
The individual concerned has since returned the winnings after being informed they had contravened the regulations, it said.
Although the chance of winning the uniform invoice lottery increases with the number of invoices collected, such invoices must be collected through regular consumption, it said, adding that awards won by acquiring large numbers of small purchases without a “valid reason” would not be disbursed.
As all invoices are recorded, the Ministry of Finance is able to report any irregularities, it added.
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