"The Spring Festival is approaching. When you go to Hainan for vacation, you must remember that duty-free 'purchasing' on outlying islands is a smuggling act. You should pay attention to protecting your and your family's information to prevent it from being swindled by lawless elements; do not trust other people's financial temptations and use them to Sell your own offshore island information to others for use.”
Recently, at the site of a legal popularization activity jointly organized by the Yangzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau and the Yangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate in Hanshang Community, Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, residents repeatedly said this reminder was "too timely and too necessary!"
It is understood that Hainan’s offshore island tax-free policy is a special preferential policy supported by the central government in the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port. The annual tax-free shopping limit for tourists is 100,000 yuan, with no limit on the number of times. For the portion exceeding the duty-free limit, import tax will be levied according to regulations. However, some criminals have discovered another "business opportunity" from it.
After graduating from graduate school, Qu Qiang (pseudonym) worked in a company. After traveling abroad several times, he discovered that his friends often asked him to help with purchasing from abroad.
Because there are differences in pricing at home and abroad, and the tourist countries have tax refund policies for departing passengers, it is more cost-effective to purchase some things on behalf of others. Therefore, since 2018, Qu Qiang has become a full-time "purchasing agent", constantly traveling to South Korea, Japan and other neighboring countries.
Two years later, the global COVID-19 epidemic broke out and the risks of entering and leaving the country increased. Like many professional "purchasing agents", Qu Qiang turned his goal to the Hainan Free Trade Port.
After April 2021, due to the increasing number of customers and his own tax-free quota was not enough, Qu Qiang purchased information on outlying islands and tax-free quotas from friends who had been to Hainan, and unknowingly embarked on the path of "set purchasing".
After all, the friend's quota is limited. Just when he was in a panic, Qu Qiang saw the words "scalper" and "OEM" in the WeChat group for professional purchasing agents. After some research, he found out the "doorway" - just pay an agency fee ranging from 450 yuan to 700 yuan, and the "scalpers" will continuously send information about tourists from Hainan's outlying islands.
After Qu Qiang determines the specific "OEM", he only needs to add the Hainan offshore island duty-free goods to the shopping cart in the "cdf Hainan Duty Free" and "Hailv Duty Free City" apps, and he or the actual offshore island person will Fill in the outlying island information in the account and pay for the goods. When the goods are delivered to your home, Qu Qiang will resell them and make a profit.
In June 2022, the Yangzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau discovered through big data analysis that there was an abnormality in Qu Qiang's duty-free shopping quota, and immediately launched an investigation. It was verified that from September 2021 to June 2022, Qu Qiang used other people's information and quotas to smuggle goods from Hainan islands, evading a total of 378,171.44 yuan in taxes payable.
After a public prosecution by the Yangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, on July 24, 2023, the Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Qu Qiang to one year in prison for smuggling general goods, suspended for one year and six months, and fined RMB 400,000. During the trial, Qu Qiang paid back all the evaded taxes.
However, investigators found that people seeking "business opportunities" from Hainan's tax-free policy are not alone.
Since July 2020, smuggling from Hainan to the inland has been on the rise through the "purchasing agency" method, and an industry chain has gradually formed in which tourists from outlying islands provide tax-free quotas, "scalpers" resell passenger information, and "purchasing agents" use passenger information for smuggling.
Data from Haikou Customs shows that in 2022 alone, the customs investigated 561 "set purchase" smuggling cases, with a case value of about 300 million yuan, more than 44 million yuan in tax involved, and 67 gangs were eliminated.
Not only in coastal cities, the smuggling crime of "set-up purchasing" is also a frequent occurrence in non-coastal cities.
Taking the Yangzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau as an example, since the establishment of the Hainan Free Trade Port, it has uncovered 5 cases of this type of smuggling, of which two cases were prosecuted and convicted by the Yangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, and three cases were imposed administrative penalties by the bureau.
In order to evade customs supervision and obtain more profits, Qin, a professional purchasing agent, did not hesitate to violate the legal red line. He used other people's quotas to purchase duty-free goods on Hainan Islands and sold them through "arbitrage purchasing" many times, evading a total of RMB 263,971.31 in tax payable. Yuan.
In order to effectively curb the crime of "purchasing on behalf of others", in July 2020, the General Administration of Customs issued the "Announcement on the Issuance of Supervision Measures for Duty-Free Shopping for Passengers from Hainan Outlying Islands", clarifying that activities such as purchasing on behalf of others for the purpose of profit shall be handled by the customs in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. And from the date when the customs makes the processing decision, you will not be able to enjoy the duty-free shopping policy on offshore islands for 3 years, and it can be included in the relevant credit records.
In July 2021, the Hainan Provincial People's Government formulated the "Interim Measures for the Traceability Management of Duty-Free Commodities in Hainan Free Trade Port", which stipulates that from August 1, 2021, duty-free commodities on Hainan's outlying islands will be subject to traceability code management to ensure that the source of the commodities can be checked, The whereabouts can be traced and the responsibilities can be held accountable.
On August 25, 2022, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Handling Smuggling Cases Using the Duty-Free Shopping Policy for Passengers from Hainan's Outlying Islands", clearly stating that the "set purchase" smuggling behavior affects "frontline liberalization" The steady advancement of the "second-line control" trade free and facilitation system has directly harmed the healthy development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
In March 2023, the Hainan Provincial Administration for Market Regulation issued the "2023 "Iron Fist" Action Plan for Investigating and Handling Cases in the People's Livelihood Field" and deployed the "Iron Fist" operation. Illegal situations such as "set purchasing" of duty-free goods on Hainan's outlying islands have been significantly improved.
According to Zhao Shuyu, a prosecutor in the Third Procuratorial Department of the Yangzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, the complete eradication of the crime of duty-free "set purchase" smuggling in offshore islands requires a multi-party and multi-pronged approach. Specifically, we can focus on three aspects:
The first is to strengthen joint prevention and control. Customs, market supervision, public security, courts, procuratorates and other departments should strengthen collaboration and establish an information sharing platform.
The second is to severely punish crimes. Judicial organs should severely crack down on crime. While recovering illegal gains in accordance with the law, they should fully apply fines and confiscation of property and strengthen enforcement to prevent criminals from committing crimes again.
The third is to deepen the publicity of the rule of law. Relevant departments should give full play to the power of grassroots organizations such as community grid members and village committees, take to the streets, communities, and door-to-door publicity policies to raise the general public's awareness of the smuggling crime of "set purchasing" and prevent them from being tempted by lawless elements. Enter the pit."
Mei Jing Ji Siyuan Chen Nuo China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Li Chao Source: China Youth Daily