Recently, in a second-instance case involving the fraudulent issuance of special VAT invoices handled by Attorney Zang Desheng, a senior partner at Beijing King&Capital Law Firm, his professional defense resulted in a change of the charge and a reduction of the prison sentence by five years and six months.

The appellant is the actual controller of a private enterprise. The first-instance judgment found that two companies under the appellant’s actual control had paid invoicing fees to receive more than 500 fraudulent special VAT invoices issued by other companies in the absence of genuine transactions, and had certified and claimed tax credits totaling more than 7 million yuan. In 2023, the court of first instance had convicted the appellant of the crime of issuing fraudulent special VAT invoices and sentenced him to thirteen years’ imprisonment, while also convicting and sentencing several other co-defendants in the case. After the case was remanded for retrial following an appeal, the court of first instance again sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment for the crime of issuing fraudulent special VAT invoices, prompting the appellant to file another appeal.

During the current second-instance proceedings, Attorney Zang Desheng was retained to serve as the appellant’s defense counsel. After a thorough review of the case, he concluded that the actions in question were not intended to defraud tax authorities of tax credits, and no tax losses resulted from the tax credit deductions. Based on relevant judicial interpretations and precedents, he argued that the case did not constitute the crime of issuing fraudulent special VAT invoices. During the second-instance trial, Attorney Zang Desheng, drawing upon the law, legal principles, and the facts of the case, presented a defense argument contending that the appellant’s conduct did not constitute the crime of issuing fraudulent special VAT invoices nor the crime of illegally purchasing special VAT invoices, and that it should be characterized as tax evasion, resulting in an acquittal or the termination of the proceedings.

After comprehensive deliberation, and taking into account the fact that several defendants in this case were in custody, the appellate court amended the appellant’s charge to the crime of illegally purchasing special VAT invoices and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison. This represented reductions of eight years and six months and five years and six months, respectively, compared to the two sentences imposed in the first instance, thereby safeguarding the defendant’s legitimate rights and interests to a significant extent.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)