History of the Printing Plant, Ministry of Finance
The Printing Plant, Ministry of Finance, was established in March 1949. It was initially called "Printing Plant, Secretariat of the Taiwan Provincial Government" and was renamed "Printing Plant, Taiwan Provincial Government" in January 1957 because of business expansion. It was then operated under the supervision and guidance of the Secretariat. The plant was transferred and governed by the Ministry of Finance per the resolution of the provincial government's 1036th committee meeting in January 1970 due to "The Simplification Policy of Taiwan Province”; thus, on July 1, 1999, the name was changed to the name we know today.

History of Uniform Invoices
On December 12, 1950, the Chief of the Ministry of Finance, Taiwan Provincial Government, Ren Xianqun, developed, based on the principle of fair taxation, the "Regulations Governing the Use of Taiwan Province Uniform Invoices for Profit-seeking Enterprises" and "Taiwan Province Uniform Invoice Award Interim Measures," which were first implemented on New Year's Day in 1951. The hope of winning the lottery prompted the general public to request receipts from profit-seeking enterprises, which, as a result, helped prevent tax evasion and increased the tax revenue of the national treasury.
The production of the uniform invoices was coordinated by the Taiwan Provincial Material Adjustment Committee and representatives of the National Audit Office and the Department of Finance. As the waiting time period for public issuance of the uniform invoices was so constrained, it would not be able to meet the deadline if the proceeding had followed the regulation of government procurement procedure. The representative of the Department of Finance and Taiwan Provincial Material Adjustment Committee demanded compliance with the original printing schedule to avoid any implementation delay of the government decree and therefore decided to appoint the Printing Plant, Secretariat of the Taiwan Provincial Government (now Printing Plant, Ministry of Finance) to perform the printing of the uniform invoices.
Besides the issuance date, type of uniform invoice, serial number, transaction date, product name, quantity, unit price, total amount, sales amount, tax category, tax amount, total cost, and store address, each invoice is also required to state the store's "Business Administration Number," address, and telephone number. The Business Administration Number is a business entity's legal person identification and registration number registered at the Taiwan Profit-seeking Enterprises Institution. The unique feature of printing the uniform number on the invoice came to be the origin of the name "uniform invoice" for the receipts, which are categorized into different types by tax laws and regulations. They are duplicate, triplicate, special, cash register, computer uniform invoices (no longer applicable since January 1, 2021), and electronic uniform invoices.
Furthermore, the uniform invoice has also contributed to the unique culture of patriotic slogans; during 1950 to 1960, when the central government retreated to Taiwan, slogans reflecting strong patriotism such as “Reclaim Mainland and Destroy the Communists Party” and “Respecting the Soldiers and Cheering Up the Troop, as Anti-communist and Anti-Russian is Everyone’s Responsibility” were often seen printed on uniform invoices. After 1961, messages about promoting social harmony as well as encouraging the use of uniform invoices have additionally been printed.
Throughout the 1970s, Taipei City once put English descriptions on its hand-issued invoice, reflecting the city's economic prosperity and the high integration with international customs at the time. Around the same time, uniform invoices began to be issued by regions and marked with different regional codes. 
In 1975, prize drawing through mailing was added to the ways to win of the uniform invoice awards as a double incentive to encourage people to request invoices when purchasing. Since the prize drawing through mailing had accomplished its phased goal, mailing the postcards required substantial social costs, and participants were mostly the same groups of people, this prize draw was canceled in January 1998.
With the further development of industry and commerce, the use of uniform invoices has dramatically increased. In order to speed up the issuance of the uniform invoices and to respond to increasing demand for the use of computers in purchases and sales recording, computer uniform invoices were permitted on a trial basis for business entities to issue for certain usages from 1980.
Furthermore, to simplify the purchase procedures of uniform invoices by business entities, “Notes for business entities to print duplicate cash register uniform invoices” was formulated at the end of 1990. Those business entities meeting the requirements could apply through the Ministry of Finance to use the self-print duplicate cash register uniform invoices based on the regulated format. Gradually, the coverage originally used for the graphic propaganda was applied widely in commercial advertisements. However, the duplicate cash register uniform invoices printed by our plant were still designed according to the needs of the government’s promotion, such as the ones with the slogan, “Hand in hand to protect Taiwan and join the United Nations,” printed in 2007 for the Entering United Nations Policy.
Additionally, starting from 1991 for the purpose of collaborating with the implementation of the government’s tax laws and regulations to prevent fraud from illegally altering the uniform invoice winning number to claim the prizes and to protect the rights and interests of the general public, anti-counterfeiting designs were applied to the numbers which were printed with permeable ink appearing in black in front and clearly shown in red at the back with the slant tamper-resisting security threads for the general uniform invoices and a guilloche pattern for duplicate cash register uniform invoices. These designs have effectively averted the forgery of the uniform invoices.
On December 31, 2013, the “Regulations governing the use of uniform Invoices” was amended to implement the use of electronic uniform invoices; then amended again on July 16, 2018, to define the meaning of cloud invoices as stated in Article 7-1 to avoid confusion with the printed certified copies of electronic uniform invoices.