Laws of the People's Republic of China

    To suppress the crimes of falsification, counterfeiting, and
illegal sale of value-added tax invoices and other invoices for
the purpose of tax evasion or fraud, and to ensure state tax
collection, it is hereby decided that:

    1. Anyone who has falsified value-added tax invoices shall
be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years or criminal
detention and be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to
200,000 yuan. If the amount involved in the falsification of the
invoices is relatively large or accompanies other serious
offences, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for
three to ten years and be furthermore subject to a fine from 50,000
to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved in the falsification of the
invoices is exceptionally large or accompanies other especially
serious offences, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment
from ten years to life and his property shall be confiscated.

    If the amount involved in the tax evasion is exceptionally
huge, other offences committed are extraordinarily serious, and
the state has therefore suffered especially great losses, the
offender shall be subject to life imprisonment or death and
his property shall be confiscated.

    The chief of a criminal group engaged in falsifying value-
added tax invoices shall be heavily punished according to the
respective provisions in the two preceding paragraphs.

    "Falsification of a value-added tax invoice" refers to any
action involving falsely filling out a value-added tax invoice
for oneself or for any other person, allowing any other person
to falsely fill out a value-added tax invoice, or introducing
any other person to the action of falsely filling out a value-
added tax invoice.

    2. Anyone who has counterfeited or sold counterfeited value-
added tax invoices shall be sentenced to imprisonment for up to
three years or criminal detention and be furthermore subject to
a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved is
relatively large or accompanies other serious offences, the
offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three to ten years
and be furthermore subject to a fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan.
If the amount involved is exceptionally large or accompanies other
especially serious offences, the offender shall be subject to
imprisonment from ten years to life and his property shall be
confiscated.

    If the amount involved in the counterfeiting or sale of
value-added tax invoices is exceptionally huge or accompanies
other extraordinarily serious offences, resulting in a serious
disruption of the economic order, the offender shall be subject
to life imprisonment or death and his property shall be
confiscated.

    The chief of a criminal group engaged in the counterfeiting
or sale of value-added tax invoices shall be heavily punished
according to respective provisions in the two preceding paragraphs.

    3. Anyone who has illegally sold value-added tax invoices
shall be subject to imprisonment for up to three years or
criminal detention and be furthermore subject to a fine from
20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If the amount involved is relatively
large, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for
three to ten years and be furthermore subject to a fine from
50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved is exceptionally
large, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment from 10
years to life and his property shall be confiscated.

    4. Anyone who has illegally purchased authentic or
counterfeit value-added tax invoices shall be sentenced to
imprisonment for up to five years or criminal detention, and/or
be subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan.

    Anyone who, in addition to purchasing authentic or
counterfeit value-added tax invoices, also falsely fills out or
sells such invoices, shall be punished in accordance with the
respective provisions in Article 1, Article 2 or Article 3 of
this Decision.

    5. Anyone who has falsely filled out other kinds of invoices
for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported
items or tax deductions shall be punished in accordance with the
provisions in Article 1 of this Decision.

    "Falsely filling out other kinds of invoices for the purpose
of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on exported items or tax
deductions" refers to any action involving falsely filling out other
kinds of invoices for oneself or for any other person, allowing any
other person to falsely fill out other kinds of invoices, or
introducing any other person to the action of falsely filling out
other kinds of invoices with the intention of obtaining fraudelent
tax refunds on exported items or tax deductions.

    6. Anyone who, for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax
refunds on exported items or tax deductions, counterfeits or
makes without authorization other kinds of invoices, or sells
invoices such counterfeited or made without authorization shall be
sentenced to imprisonment for up to three years or criminal detention
and be furthermore subject to a fine from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan. If
the amount involved is exceptionally large, the offender shall be
sentenced to imprisonment for three to seven years and be furthermore
subject to a fine from 50,000 to 500,000 yuan. If the amount involved
is exceptionally huge, the offender shall be subject to imprisonment
for more than seven years and his property shall be confiscated.

    Anyone who counterfeits or makes without authorization invoices of
a type other than that covered in the preceding paragraph, or who
sells invoices such counterfeited or made without authorization shall
be punished by applying mutatis mutandis the provisions in Article 124
of the Criminal Law.

    Anyone who illegally sells any other kind of invoice that can
be used for the purpose of obtaining fraudulent tax refunds on
exported items or tax deductions shall be punished according to
the provisions in Paragraph 1 of this article.

    Anyone who illegally sells any other kind of invoice other
than that covered in the preceding paragraph shall be punished by
applying mutatis mutandis the provisions in Article 124 of the
Criminal Law.

    7. Anyone who steals a value-added tax invoice or any other kind
of invoice shall be punished according to the relevant provisions
of the Criminal Law regarding larceny.

    Anyone who obtains a value-added tax invoice or any other kind of
invoice through deceptive means shall be punished according to the
relevant provisions of the Criminal Law regarding fraud.

    8. Any staff member of the tax administration or other state
administration who falls into any one of the following categories
shall be heavily punished in accordance with the relevant provisions
in this Decision:

    (1) Colluding with criminals in commission of crimes covered in
this Decision;

    (2) Granting a tax refund or deduction with full knowledge
that the invoice in question was falsely filled out; or

    (3) Providing any other assistance to the criminal with full
knowledge that the criminal is engaged in criminal activity covered
in this Decision.

    9. Any staff member of the tax administration who, in violation
of laws and administrative regulations, is negligent of his duties
in selling invoices, or in granting tax refunds on exported items or
tax deduction, and thereby seriously harms the interests of the state
shall be subject to imprisonment for up to five years or criminal
detention, or, if the state incurrs extraordinarily great losses, be
subject to imprisonment for more than five years.

    10. Any unit which commits crimes covered in Article 1, Article 2,
Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, or Paragraph 2 of
Article 7 shall be punished by fining. The person in charge and other
persons directly responsible for the criminal activity shall be
investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the
respective provisions of these articles.

    11. Anyone who commits a light offense as stipulated in
Article 2, Article 3, Paragraph 1 of Article 4, or Article 5
which does not constitute a crime shall be brought under
administrative detention by the public security organ for up to
15 days and be subject to an administrative fine of up to 5000
yuan.

    12. Tax payments recovered from criminals who have obtained
illegal tax deductions or rebates in violation of this Decision
shall be turned over to the State Treasury; other gains illegally
obtained or properties used in the commission of crimes shall all
be confiscated.

    The invoices and counterfeit invoice used by criminals in
violation of this Decision shall all be confiscated.

    13. This Decision shall come into effect as of the date of
promulgation.