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 fraudulent 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 incurs 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 enter into force as of the date of Promulgation.

Promulgated by The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on 1995-10-30