Taiwan Uniform Invoice Lottery 2026: Schedule, Prize Tiers & Cloud Invoice Auto-Claim
The uniform invoice is a uniquely Taiwanese piece of tax-system design — through the “invoice lottery,” a nationwide affair, consumers are encouraged to ask merchants for receipts, indirectly helping the government with tax audits. The lottery draws every two months, with a top prize of NT$10,000,000. But many people aren’t familiar with the claim channels, the advantages of cloud-invoice auto-deposit, or the “3 months starting the 6th of the following month” rule for the claim period. This guide sorts it all out.
Why does Taiwan have an invoice lottery? Where it came from
The uniform invoice lottery system began in 1951, designed by the Ministry of Finance of the day. The point wasn’t a lottery — it was tax enforcement. The mechanics:
- A merchant who skips issuing an invoice is effectively under-reporting business tax
- Consumers must request the invoice to claim a prize, which gets them to ask for invoices as a habit
- Merchants are then forced to issue invoices → the government captures the full revenue → the tax base expands
The design has run for 70+ years and is one of Taiwan’s most successful tax-enforcement tools. Even today, “do you give a receipt?” is still the most common question consumers ask at small shops.
In recent years, with cloud invoices becoming widespread, the system has expanded from paper to digital carriers (mobile barcodes, EasyCard, credit card binding, and so on), making lottery matching more convenient and adding the bonus that auto-deposited prizes are exempt from stamp duty.
Draw schedule: 6 draws per year, on the 25th of every odd month
Uniform invoices are issued in two-month periods, 6 periods a year, and the draw is fixed on the 25th of every odd-numbered month:
| Period (invoice months) | Draw date |
|---|---|
| January–February invoices | March 25 |
| March–April invoices | May 25 |
| May–June invoices | July 25 |
| July–August invoices | September 25 |
| September–October invoices | November 25 |
| November–December invoices | January 25 of the following year |
The Ministry of Finance announces the winning numbers in the afternoon of the draw day, and matching can begin immediately.
9 prize tiers, top prize NT$10,000,000
The uniform invoice prize structure has 9 tiers, with the last 8 digits as the basic matching unit:
| Tier | Winning condition | Prize | Single-ticket odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special Grand Prize | All 8 digits match (1 set) | NT$10,000,000 | 1 in 100,000,000 |
| Grand Prize | All 8 digits match (3 sets) | NT$2,000,000 | 3 in 100,000,000 |
| Top Prize | Last 8 digits match (3 sets included) | NT$200,000 | 3 in 10,000,000 |
| Second Prize | Last 7 digits match | NT$40,000 | 3 in 1,000,000 |
| Third Prize | Last 6 digits match | NT$10,000 | 3 in 100,000 |
| Fourth Prize | Last 5 digits match | NT$4,000 | 3 in 10,000 |
| Fifth Prize | Last 4 digits match | NT$1,000 | 3 in 1,000 |
| Sixth Prize | Last 3 digits match | NT$200 | 3 in 100 |
| Additional Sixth Prize | Last 3 digits match (another 3 sets) | NT$200 | 3 in 100 |
⚠️ Special Grand Prize and Grand Prize matching rules: the draw publishes a standalone 8-digit number. The last 8 digits of your invoice must match completely to win — it isn’t a digit-by-digit partial comparison.
Overall, the win probability for any single invoice is roughly 9.4% (mostly driven by the Sixth Prize and Additional Sixth Prize), meaning about 1 in 10 invoices wins NT$200.
Claim channels: where you go depends on the amount
⚠️ Important update (many older articles haven’t been updated): post offices stopped processing invoice prize claims on 2018-12-28. The current claim channels are consolidated to convenience stores, banks, and credit cooperatives.
| Tier | Amount | Claim channel (paper invoices) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sixth Prize / Additional Sixth | NT$200 | 7-Eleven / FamilyMart / Hi-Life / OK Mart / PX Mart / Simple Mart (daily 09:00–23:00 or until closing) | Cash / merchandise / stored value all accepted |
| Fifth Prize | NT$1,000 | Same as above (convenience stores, PX Mart, Simple Mart) + banks | No cap on merchandise redemption |
| Fourth Prize | NT$4,000 | Credit cooperatives, farmers’ association credit departments, fishermen’s association credit departments, First Bank, Chang Hwa Bank, Agricultural Bank of Taiwan, Kinmen Credit Cooperative, Lienchiang County Farmers’ Association Credit Department | Not redeemable at convenience stores |
| Third Prize and above | NT$10,000+ | Same as Fourth Prize channels (credit cooperatives / banks) | For larger amounts, banks are recommended |
| Special Grand / Grand | NT$2M / NT$10M | First Bank, Chang Hwa Bank (phone reservation in advance recommended) | Must present national ID in person |
Worth noting: the National Taxation Bureau is not the claim channel (many older articles misstate this). The National Taxation Bureau handles invoice reissues and dispute adjudication — not cash redemption.
Claim window: starts the 6th of the following month, runs 3 months
This is the most commonly misunderstood part. The claim window isn’t “6 months from the draw date” — the actual rule is:
- Start date: the 6th of the month after the draw month
- End date: 3 months after the start date (inclusive of that day)
Example (2026-01-25 draw, November–December invoice period):
- Start date: 2026-02-06
- End date: 2026-05-05 (within 3 months)
- If the end date falls on a public holiday, it gets pushed to the next working day
Past the end date, the prize is forfeited and cannot be reissued. Every period, a meaningful number of tickets expire because their holders forgot to claim — close to NT$10 million a year in total prize money simply expires.
Paper invoice claim vs cloud invoice: auto-deposit is the hidden advantage
Paper invoice claim workflow
- Get the invoice; confirm it’s intact, not torn, not altered
- After the draw, compare against the winning numbers
- Winner brings the invoice and national ID to a claim channel
- For Fourth Prize (NT$4,000) and up, the claim deducts 0.4% stamp duty (NT$16 on NT$4,000) + 20% income tax (NT$800 on NT$4,000)
- Actual amount received: NT$4,000 − NT$16 − NT$800 = NT$3,184
Cloud invoice claim workflow (recommended)
- Set up a mobile barcode (register on the Ministry of Finance e-invoice integrated service platform)
- When shopping, tell the merchant you have a digital carrier — the invoice gets attached to your account electronically
- After the draw, auto-matching runs, and winners get notified by email / app
- If you’ve bound a bank account: the prize auto-deposits
- Stamp duty is waived (cloud invoices have no paper form, so the NT$16 stamp duty doesn’t apply) + 20% income tax still applies
- NT$4,000 cloud invoice actual deposit: NT$4,000 − NT$800 = NT$3,200
The hidden advantages of cloud invoicing
Beyond skipping stamp duty, the cloud invoice claim window is 5 periods (about 10 months), versus the paper window of “3 months from the 6th of the following month.” Winnings never expire because you forgot to collect. For frequent low-value purchases, 5 periods of accumulated winnings deposit in a single batch — no repeat trips to a claim location.
Steps to set up a mobile barcode (recommended for everyone):
- Apply for a mobile barcode at the Ministry of Finance E-Invoice Integrated Service Platform (einvoice.nat.gov.tw)
- Use “Account Binding Settings” to link a bank account (any Taiwanese bank account works)
- When shopping, ask the merchant to scan the mobile barcode
- Winnings get auto-deposited to the linked account
FAQ: common questions about the invoice lottery
Q1: What does “Not Eligible for Lottery” on an invoice mean?
Some merchants print a non-eligible marking when issuing “Exempt Uniform Invoice” or “Cash Register Receipt” documents. These invoices don’t enter the lottery — common at street stalls, self-service laundries, and parking lots for low-value transactions. Only proper “cash register uniform invoices” (the blue-purple or white ones with the words “Uniform Invoice” printed) are lottery-eligible.
Q2: Can I claim a prize on a smudged or torn invoice?
As long as the prize digits are clearly legible and the main body of the invoice is intact, the prize is still claimable. If any of the last 8 digits is too blurry to read, request a copy from the National Taxation Bureau to confirm, then proceed. As a good habit, photograph every invoice as soon as you get it as a backup.
Q3: How do invoice lotteries work for credit card payments?
A uniform invoice is still issued for credit card purchases. If it’s a paper invoice (restaurants, big-box stores), the credit card bill and the invoice are separate, and the invoice still needs to be matched yourself. If you use a credit card digital carrier (some issuers offer this service), the invoice goes directly to electronic form — no paper — and gets auto-matched just like a cloud invoice. Check the issuing bank’s app to see if the feature is available.
Q4: Do overseas online purchases (Amazon, Taobao) come with uniform invoices?
No. The uniform invoice is a Taiwan-specific system and doesn’t extend to overseas e-commerce. However, overseas e-commerce providers operating in Taiwan via a tax agent (Apple, Google, Netflix subscriptions, etc.) do issue electronic invoices, and those can be tied to your digital carrier and entered into the lottery.
Q5: What if a merchant refuses to give me an invoice?
Under the Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act, a merchant who refuses to issue an invoice can be reported to the National Taxation Bureau under the Ministry of Finance. Successful reports earn a bounty (5–20% of the underpaid tax). Reporting channels: call 0800-000-321 (National Taxation Bureau hotline) or report online via the Ministry of Finance tax portal.
Conclusion: paper for instant claims, cloud for hands-off
The best uniform invoice lottery strategy:
- Set up a mobile barcode: use the digital carrier on every purchase you can — save the stamp duty, skip the trip to claim, and never expire
- Paper invoices: match against the numbers right after the draw; for NT$4,000+ amounts go to a bank or credit cooperative
- Avoid expiration: paper window is “3 months from the 6th of the following month”; cloud is 5 periods, roughly 10 months
- Keep all invoices for at least a month: useful for tax records and return/exchange documentation
Get the claim channels and timing right, and the annual total you collect from the invoice lottery may end up bigger than you expected. See TWTools’ Taiwan Lottery tool, with integrated invoice winning number lookup →
Further reading: Power Lottery, Super Lotto, and Daily Cash 539 — complete play guide — also government-run draws, useful for comparing odds; 2026 Individual Income Tax complete guide — lottery winnings are taxed separately, but it’s worth understanding the overall tax structure.