Under the current background of strong tax regulation, further in-depth study of tax-related risk prevention and defense of tax-related criminal cases is an urgent need to improve the professional level of criminal defense, provide clients with specialized legal services, jointly promote the modernization of the national tax governance capacity, and safeguard the precision of the fight in key areas of national governance. On April 26, 2024, the second phase of the “Criminal Case Thinking and Defense” was held with the theme of “the connection between execution and punishment, criminal defense and compliance under the framework of the new tax-related judicial interpretations”. The event aimed to discuss the prevention of tax-related risks and the professional development of criminal defense, as well as the impact of the new judicial interpretation on the defense of tax-related cases.
The event invited Mr. Nie Sufang, senior partner of King&Capital Law Firm and co-managing partner of Criminal Department 3, Mr. Gao Huiyun, partner of King&Capital Law Firm, and Mr. Wang Jiaming as the guest speakers. They conducted in-depth analysis and discussion on the defense of tax-related cases under the background of the new tax-related judicial interpretation, the role of tax lawyers in tax-related criminal cases, and the new way out for corporate tax-related cases.
The moderator, Mr. Key, firstly emphasized the importance for criminal defense lawyers to study in-depth tax-related risk prevention and tax-related criminal defense under the current background of strong tax regulation, and introduced the three sharing guests, Mr. Nie Sufang, Mr. Gao Huiyun, and Mr. Wang Jiaming.
Lawyer Nie Sufang focused on the main points of defense of common tax-related crimes, defense strategies and the impact brought by the new tax-related judicial interpretations. In particular, she pointed out that the introduction of the new judicial interpretation has brought new opportunities and challenges for the defense of tax-related crimes, which requires us to study and research continuously. Combined with the provisions of the new interpretation and relevant cases, Ms. Nie analyzed in-depth the key points of the defense of tax-related crimes, such as tax evasion, false VAT invoices and other common hotspots, and highlighted the issues that need to be paid attention to in the new judicial interpretation and its impact on the defense, which provided new defense perspectives for the criminal defense lawyers. In addition, Mr. Nie combined the interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the new judicial interpretation of tax-related crimes, and focused on how to grasp the boundaries between tax evasion and the crime of issuing VAT invoices illegally in the context of the new interpretation. According to Mr. Nie, based on the interpretation of Teng Wei, member of the Trial Committee of the Supreme People's Court and President of the Fourth Criminal Division of the Supreme People's Court on the delineation between the crime of false VAT invoices and the crime of tax evasion, and combining with the relevant provisions of the new interpretation, the fundamental delineation between “evasion” and “cheating” should be carried out. For enterprises with tax obligations in normal operation, false invoicing and deduction within the scope of tax obligations for non-payment or underpayment of tax belongs to tax evasion, and should not be recognized as the crime of false VAT invoices, which is also the biggest change brought by the new judicial interpretation, and is worthy of our continued in-depth study and application in future cases.
As a researcher of Nankai University's Capital Market Research Center, Ms. Gao Huiyun has profound attainments in the fields of wealth management, family trust and tax-related business. Ms. Gao discussed the role of tax lawyers in tax-related criminal cases, especially the communication skills with tax authorities in tax administrative pre-procedures. She emphasized the importance of tax lawyers in assisting enterprises in preparing information, presenting arguments, and organizing hearings during the audit process. Ms. Gao also shared her experience on how to assist criminal defense lawyers in determining guilt and innocence in criminal defense and her role in advancing criminal compliance after the fact.
Attorney Wang Jiaming, Ph.D. in Criminal Procedure Law from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as the drafter of the “Evaluation Criteria for the Effectiveness of Corporate Compliance Management System,” shared her experience with compliance issues in tax-related cases for corporations. Ms. Wang discussed the process of domestic enterprise-related compliance reform, as well as the current status and future orientation of tax-related compliance cases. She pointed out that the compliance reform of case-related enterprises provides new opportunities for enterprises to be reborn, especially the compliance non-prosecution system at the prosecutorial and court stages. Ms. Wang also introduced the importance of the third-party supervision and assessment mechanism in the compliance reform of case-related enterprises, and demonstrated how the goal of non-prosecution can be achieved through compliance rectification through case analysis.
This event not only provided the participants with practical skills and strategies regarding the defense of tax-related criminal cases, pointed out different directions of thinking in handling tax-related cases, and provided new business opportunities and ideas for lawyers, but also provided practical guidance for enterprises to prevent tax risks.
The series of activities of “criminal defense” is a column specially set up by the Criminal Department of King&Capital Law Firm to strengthen internal communication, enhance the practical ability of lawyers in criminal defense, and strengthen the influence of the firm's criminal defense brand. The column aims to promote the King&Capital head office and branch offices, the firm and outside the counterparts, experts and scholars, the exchange and cooperation between the departments within the firm. The “Criminal Defense Talk” activity will be held once a month, and the next activity will continue to invite professionals to share and discuss.
