NT$10 receipts win NT$10 million prizes

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) Two receipts for NT$10 (US$0.31) covering the purchase of milk tea and payment of an Uber processing fee were among 17 receipts that won the NT$10 million special prize in Taiwan's July-August uniform invoice lottery, the Ministry of Finance said Monday.

Lou Mei-chung (樓美鐘), the director-general of the ministry's Taxation Administration, said at a press briefing that after excluding receipts that did not qualify, 17 receipts matched the winning number 89996565 for the NT$10 million special prize.

Among them, seven involved purchases of under NT$50, including the lowest-value winning receipts -- a NT$10 processing fee charged by Uber and a NT$10 milk tea purchased at a FamilyMart convenience store on Jinhe Road in Tainan's Yanshui District.

Other winners included a NT$27 printing receipt issued by a 7-Eleven store on Hankou Street in Taipei, a NT$29 food purchase at a 7-Eleven on Datong Road in Taoyuan's Zhongli District, and a NT$33 food purchase at a 7-Eleven on Dingming Road in Kaohsiung's Fengshan District.

A NT$37 sports drink purchased at a Simple Mart on Chengtai Road in New Taipei's Wugu District and a NT$45 black tea bought at a Kebuke outlet on Dingzhou Road in Taipei's Zhongzheng District also won the top prize.

The highest-value winning purchase was a NT$24,000 wallet bought at the Loewe counter in Breeze Nanshan in Taipei.

Lou said 11 receipts matched the winning number 91098182 for the NT$2 million grand prize.

She reminded winners that prizes can be claimed between Oct. 6 and Jan. 5 next year.

The ministry said 107 electronic invoice users won one of the four major prizes -- the NT$10 million special prize, NT$2 million grand prize, the NT$200,000 first prize or the cloud invoice-exclusive NT$1 million prize -- with combined winnings totaling NT$220.2 million.

Lou said people who stored electronic invoices in the cloud and did not print out a proof of the e-invoice can use the ministry's uniform invoice prize redemption app to set up an account for automatic payment of all prizes.

The uniform invoice lottery is held every two months to encourage consumers to request receipts and help curb tax evasion.