I couldn’t find this on a search, and I’m not even sure where it belongs 
Quite a few places we’ve gone, including IKEA, other shops and a restaurant, have asked us whether we have a ‘company number’. What is this, and who has one? It sounds like it should be business-related, and if so, is there some benefit for those who have one? I’m confused, but that’s not new :s
Every registered company in Taiwan has a company number. This needs to be printed on each receipt if that expense should be billed to the company, including purchases, travel expenses, food bills etc. It’s important for tax purposes / accounting.
If it’s a private purchase you don’t need (to give) it of course.
This 8 digit number is the company’s tax number and you need to have it on a receipt if you want to use the item as a company expense. Many companies will ask employees to give them receipts of large ticket items with the tax number printed so that they can claim as an expense and pay less income tax.
…And some companies even use that to lower the tax of their employees.
…and some companies have also been known to fiddle the books. 
Who’d have thought it? 
fiddling the books is a national pastime here - when doing export, the opportunities are ripe - most of the fiddling is legit.
The number is referred to as “Government Uniform Invoice” number, or GUI, 統編號碼 (tong bian hao ma) in Chinese. You’ll often hear sales people ask you “需要統編嗎?”, asking whether you need the receipt issued with the number keyed into the cash-register when printing the receipt. What’s been said above regarding tax etc. is true, but deductions are only possible for domestic purchases/expenses, so don’t worry about having a hotel put your company’s GUI number on a bill or so when on a business trip overseas … seems obvious, but it’s been asked before. Xpet.
I’ve been asked by a couple of companies to use their ‘tong bian’ number when I make a purchases - anything from new computers to beer at the 7-Eleven, as a favour for them so they can pay less tax.
I’m just wondering, what’s the legality of that? Wouldn’t the tax department be annoyed at getting shortchanged? The response I’ve heard is that ‘all companies do it, so even if it is illegal, who cares?’.
[quote=“stevegan”]
I’ve been asked by a couple of companies to use their ‘tong bian’ number when I make a purchases - anything from new computers to beer at the 7-Eleven, as a favour for them so they can pay less tax.
I’m just wondering, what’s the legality of that? Wouldn’t the tax department be annoyed at getting shortchanged? The response I’ve heard is that ‘all companies do it, so even if it is illegal, who cares?’.[/quote]
Does that actually work? AFAIK the company needs to submit those receipts, so you would need to pass them to those; if there is an audit it would be noted if those receipts are missing.