Comment by z2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by z2 | Hacker News Reader

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They probably asked (conceptually) for a "fapiao", which is a very formal invoice in China but required for reimbursement [0] and is a government-acknowledged piece of paper declaring that a sales transaction really happened. Asking for one there would require the restaurant to log revenue live with the tax bureau. I discovered this by mistakenly asking for one in China, thinking it was just a receipt. I was led to the office of the restaurant, where they printed it onto half an A4 paper with carbon copies, e-verification serial number, and QR code. There are even more fascinating patterns that emerge from the incentives here--business don't like declaring revenue, so these sometimes have scratch-to-win lottery tickets built in, so to encourage everyone to request one (thus preventing tax evasion) [1].

The less formal option is a "shouju" but doesn't work for official business reimbursement.

0: https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2019/08/29/what-is-a-fapia...

1: https://www.globalfromasia.com/fapiao/

This reminded me of an interesting scheme I encountered in North Macedonia last year. The government now allows citizens to claim a 15% refund on VAT up to a cap of about 500 USD per year[1].

The only way to get this refund is to ensure that you are issued a 'fiscal receipt'[2] for your purchases. These have a little QR code which you can scan into an app on your phone.

Of course, the whole point of the system is to ensure that retailers actually declare revenue and therefore pay tax on it. I wonder if similar systems exist in more countries?

[1] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/02/c_138190143.htm

[2] https://www.geneko.rs/en/products/fiscal-products-and-soluti...

In Croatia, where the VAT is 25%, the solution was: every customer has to be given a receipt without asking for one and the customer has to take the receipt and carry it out of the store.

Stores who don't comply get massive fines.

I visited Taiwan and noticed a similar setup. [1]

To be honest, I really liked the idea as I feel like it could help the average person with personal budgeting.

[1] https://guidetotaipei.com/article/taiwan-receipt-lottery-統一發...

The second link makes for interesting reading and is an in-depth example of the law of unintended consequences. I was particularly surprised to learn that fapiao (essentially tax receipts) are a way people and companies seek to manage their taxation, that this has led to companies imposing quotas on their staff for collecting fapiao (from any transactions at all), and that this drives demand in a gray market in discounted fapiao.

There are Western businesses that really do want an invoice, not a receipt. But since most governments don't go to the length China does to make an invoice functionally better than a receipt I don't see the point in this.

What is the difference between an invoice and a receipt? I thought a receipt is just an invoice with the payment method and amount resulting in a zero balance.

What was described to me was that accounting at that specific business wanted a longer form A4 paper description of the incurred costs for reimbursement instead of merely a receipt. How this differed in any important way is beyond me.

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