National Taxation Bureau of the Northern Area (NTBNA) stated that, in order to promote e-business and achieve energy saving and carbon reduction, the Bureau continues to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to encourage business entities to issue electronic invoices, and encourage purchasers to use the carriers to obtain cloud invoices. Business entities issuing electronic invoices shall upload the relevant information of uniform invoices to the E-Invoice Platform of the MOF (hereinafter referred to as the Platform) for review within the time limit to protect the purchasers’ rights of obtaining, inquiring, and claiming awards of invoices.
       The Bureau further stated that business entities shall issue electronic invoices to the purchasers at the time stipulated in “The Table of the Time Limits for Issuing Documentary Evidence of Sales”. Meanwhile, under the Paragraphs 4 and 5, Article 7 of Regulations Governing the Use of Uniform Invoices, business entities issuing electronic uniform invoices with a non-business entity (B2C) or a business entity (B2B) as a purchaser shall upload, within 48 hours or 7 days after issuing respectively, the information of uniform invoices and the identification codes of carriers which are approved by the competent tax authority to the Platform, enabling purchasers to inquire or receive the information. The aforementioned situation shall also apply in cases of invoices nullified, sales returns and discounts, donations, printing the certification copy of electronic invoices, and other changes of the invoice information. The Bureau indicated that it has received much feedback regarding purchasers’ delays in receiving electronic invoices. Upon analysis, the major causes for businesses’ delay in uploading said information can be attributed to employees’ unfamiliarity with electronic invoice operations, a lack of setup for auto-uploading of invoices, and internet connectivity issues. 
      The Bureau appeals to business entities issuing electronic invoices to establish standard operating procedures, strengthen employee education and training, and designating a member of the staff to be responsible for the upload of electronic invoices. Additionally, if the information of electronic invoices is uploaded by head offices or value-adding centers, there should be someone in charge of reviewing the uploading results of each business entity, assisting the checkout process improvement, and troubleshooting. The Bureau also recommends setting up an automatic scheduling system to not only avoid upload delays and shorten transmission times, but also increase the purchasers’ trust and satisfaction of receiving electronic invoices. If you have any questions about electronic invoice system setup, laws, or regulations, please call the Platform’s 24-hour customer service hotline: 0800-521-988, or contact the local bureaus, offices, and service stations for more information.