In recent years, there have often been overseas purchasing agents who have been implicated in the crimes of smuggling gangs. These criminal gangs take advantage of the convenient customs clearance conditions to hire "water passengers" to frequently travel between ports, and through the way of ants moving, they "break into pieces" the goods purchased by the shippers or the items that are prohibited or restricted from entering or leaving the country, and smuggle them into the country by means of wearing and carrying, and then "turn the goods into parts" after entering the country, and hand them over to the domestic shippers for distribution or personal use. If goods are smuggled through a criminal smuggling gang, not only the members of the smuggling criminal gang and the "water guest" constitute the crime of smuggling, but the owner of the goods entrusted with the smuggling may also be recognized as an accomplice to the crime of smuggling.
Recently, the Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People's Court concluded the trial of four cases of entrusting smuggling criminal gangs to transport overseas luxury goods into the country, and the owners of the goods involved were all convicted and punished for the crime of smuggling ordinary goods.
1. Review of the case
A few years ago, in order to supplement his family, Liu started an overseas purchasing business. Transporting goods into the country through formal channels requires the payment of corresponding tariffs, which will lead to the loss of the low-price advantage of overseas purchasing agents, and the profits they can obtain will also be compressed. Liu, who was worried about this matter, accidentally learned that a logistics company could transfer goods from Hong Kong to the mainland at a low price, and only charged a "labor fee" ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan for each goods. Although he knew that tariff evasion was illegal, in the face of the high profits brought by smuggling, Liu still chose to cooperate with the logistics company to transport the goods into the country through "water passengers". As of being caught, Liu had evaded a total of more than 190,000 yuan in taxes.
In the other two cases, the defendants Xu, Song, and Liu were in a similar situation, and in order to earn high purchasing profits, they also transported the goods they purchased on overseas shopping platforms to the smuggling gang's pick-up address in Hong Kong or Macao, and then smuggled them into the country by "water customers" hired by the smuggling gang. As of being caught, Xu had evaded more than 310,000 yuan in taxes, and Song had evaded more than 290,000 yuan in taxes.
Zhang is different from the above three people, and his smuggled goods are not for sale, but for "pattern making". Zhang is the owner of a clothing field, who often buys all kinds of brand-name clothing abroad and returns to China to "make patterns", and then produces the same clothing of big brands for sale. Due to the large amount of shopping, in order to reduce costs and buy the target goods at a low price, they also choose to smuggle the purchased goods into the country through smuggling criminal gangs. As of being caught, Zhang had evaded a total of more than 470,000 yuan in taxes.
After the smuggling gang involved in the case was smashed, the owners of the goods, Liu, Xu, Song, and Zhang, were immediately investigated and prosecuted.
2. Trial of Justice
Recently, the Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People's Court has tried four cases. Because the four defendants all deliberately violated state laws and regulations, evaded customs supervision, and conspired with others to smuggle ordinary goods into the country, and evaded a relatively large amount of tax payable, their acts constituted the crime of smuggling ordinary goods and should be punished in accordance with law. However, after the four defendants were brought into the case, they all truthfully confessed the main facts of the crime, voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, and took the initiative to pay back taxes, and had a good attitude of admitting guilt and repentance, and should be given lighter or lenient punishments in accordance with law. In the end, the Fourth Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu to five months' detention, a seven-month suspended sentence, and a fine of RMB 200,000; Xu was sentenced to one year imprisonment, suspended for one year, and fined RMB 350,000; Song was sentenced to one year and two months imprisonment, suspended for one year and six months, and fined RMB 300,000; Zhang was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for two years, and fined RMB 500,000.
3. What the judge says
The act of purchasing or purchasing goods abroad for personal use and giving them away is not illegal in itself, and whether it is illegal depends on whether the goods have been declared or paid taxes. In the above-mentioned case, the defendant smuggled goods into the country through a smuggling criminal gang, and had the intention to jointly commit the crime of smuggling with the criminal gang, so he was punished as an accomplice to the crime of smuggling. According to the first paragraph of Article 153 of the Criminal Law, whoever smuggles goods or articles to evade a relatively large amount of tax payable or who has been given a second administrative punishment for smuggling within one year and then smuggles it again shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or short-term detention and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount of tax payable for evasion. According to Article 16 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Smuggling, a person who smuggles ordinary goods or articles and evades the tax payable between 100,000 and 500,000 yuan shall be deemed to have "evaded a relatively large amount of tax payable" and shall bear corresponding criminal responsibility.
If the amount of tax payable is less than 100,000 yuan, it does not mean that it is not illegal. According to the relevant laws and regulations, the customs will inspect and release personal belongings entering and leaving the country in accordance with the principle of "self-use and reasonable quantity". Generally speaking, resident passengers (except for short-term multiple-trip passengers) who obtain articles for their own use abroad with a total value of no more than RMB 5,000 and a reasonable quantity will be released by the Customs for duty-free, and they need to take the initiative to declare and pay taxes beyond the scope of the tax exemption quota. If you fail to take the initiative to declare and pay taxes, you need to bear the corresponding administrative responsibilities and be subject to corresponding administrative penalties. If you have been punished for smuggling a second time within one year and then smuggle again, you will face criminal liability.
[Source: Beijing No. 4 Intermediate People's Court]
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