My China rotation is seeing the end of the tunnel as I'm set for an early August departure, so this month's posts are going to try to cover a lot of ground. First, I'm going to start off with FA PIAO. Fa Piao are state issued receipts that can be used for tax deduction, reimbursements, etc. As in, if I bought something for a project and want to get reimbursed, I need to have a Fa Piao and not just a cash register reciept. This whole system was set up to make things official and for companies to pay taxes on what they sell. However, sometimes small stores won't give you a fapiao so I can get a restaurant fapiao and use that instead. (A little weird, but they accept it!) Some of my foreign friends collect as many fapiao they can so they can get a tax deduction on their salary.
The funny thing about these government receipts is that, to encourage customers to ask for them, the fapiao comes with a "lottery scratch-off" portion. You can win (I've heard) up to 500 RMB ($73). I haven't won anything yet, but if you do get something, then you can collect it from the actual store/restaurant right there.
Some places, like taxis, will give fapiao/receipt in one. Other places, you must ask for the fapiao separately. I've also heard of people buying fake fapiao, so if that's the case, what's the point?!
No comments:
Post a Comment