Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

(npc.gov.cn)      Updated : 2015-12-01

Article 198 Any of the following persons who commit insurance fraud in any of the following ways shall, if the amount involved is relatively large, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also be fined not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan; if the amount involved is huge, or if there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan; if the amount involved is especially huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and shall also be fined not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan or be sentenced to confiscation of property:

(1) an applicant defrauds insurance money by deliberately falsifying the subject matter of the insurance;

(2) an applicant, an insured or a beneficiary defrauds insurance money by cooking up the cause of an insured accident or overstates the extent of loss;

(3) an applicant, an insured or a beneficiary defrauds insurance money by inventing stories of an insured accident that does not occur;

(4) an applicant or an insured defrauds insurance money by deliberately causing the occurrence of an insured accident that leads to property damage; or

(5) an applicant or a beneficiary defrauds insurance money by deliberately causing the death, disability or illness of the insured.

Whoever commits the act listed in sub-paragraph (4) or (5) of the preceding paragraph, which also constitutes another crime, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions on combined punishment for several crimes.

Where a unit commits the crime mentioned in the first paragraph, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the amount involved is huge, or if there are other serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the amount involved is especially huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years.

Any expert witness, witness or property assessor of an insured accident who deliberately provides false supporting documents, thus creating the conditions for another to practise defraudation, shall be deemed an accomplice in insurance fraud and punished as such.

Article 199 Whoever commits the crime mentioned in Article 192, 194 or 195 of this Section shall, if the amount involved is especially huge, and especially heavy losses are caused to the interests of the State and the people, be sentenced to life imprisonment or death and also to confiscation of property.

Article 200 Where a unit commits the crime mentioned in Article 192, 194 or 195 of this Section, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the amount involved is huge, or if there are other serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the amount involved is especially huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.

Section 6 Crimes of Jeopardizing Administration of Tax Collection

Article 201 Any taxpayer who fails to pay or underpays the amount of taxes payable by means of forging, altering, concealing or destroying without authorization account books or vouchers for the accounts, or overstating expenses or omitting or understating incomes in account books, or refusing to file his tax returns after the tax authorities have notified him to do so or filing false tax returns shall, if the amount of tax evaded accounts for over 10 percent but under 30 percent of the total of taxes payable and over 10,000 yuan but under 100,000 yuan, or if he commits tax evasion again after having been twice subjected to administrative sanctions by the tax authorities for tax evasion, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount of tax evaded; if the amount of tax evaded accounts for over 30 percent of the total of taxes payable or is over 100,000 yuan, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount of tax evaded.

Where a withholding agent who, by using the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph, fails to pay or underpays the taxes which he has withheld or collected shall, if the amount accounts for over 10 percent of the total of taxes payable or is over 10,000 yuan, be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph.

Whoever repeatedly commits the acts mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs and goes unpunished shall be punished on the basis of the cumulative total.

Article 202 Whoever refuses to pay taxes by means of violence or threat shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount he refuses to pay; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount he refuses to pay.

Article 203 Any taxpayer who does not pay the taxes due and adopts the means of transferring or concealing his property so that the tax authorities cannot pursue the amount of taxes in arrears shall, if the amount involved is over 10,000 yuan but under 100,000 yuan, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount of taxes in arrears; if the amount involved is over 100,000 yuan, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount of taxes in arrears.

Article 204 Whoever, by filing false export declaration or by any other deceptive means, obtains from the State a tax refund for exports shall, if the amount involved is relatively large, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount defrauded; if the amount involved is huge, or if there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount defrauded; if the amount involved is especially huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and shall also be fined not less than one time but not more than five times the amount defrauded or be sentenced to confiscation of property.

Any taxpayer who, after having paid the taxes, adopts the deceptive means mentioned in the preceding paragraph to obtain a tax refund shall be convicted and punished according to the provisions in Article 201 of this Law, and for the defrauded part that exceeds what he has paid, he shall be punished according to the provisions in the preceding paragraph.

Article 205 Whoever falsely makes out special invoices for value-added tax or any other invoices to defraud a tax refund for exports or to offset tax money shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan; if the amount of money involved is relatively large or if there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years and shall also be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan; if the amount of money involved is huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and shall also be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan or be sentenced to confiscation of property.

Whoever commits the act mentioned in the preceding paragraph to defraud tax money of the State shall, if the amount involved is especially huge, and the circumstances are especially serious, thus causing especially heavy losses to the interests of the State, shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death and also to confiscation of property.

Where a unit commits the crime mentioned in this Article, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the amount involved is relatively large or if there are other serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if the amount involved is huge, or if there are other especially serious circumstances, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.

Falsely making out special invoices for value-added tax or any other invoices to defraud a tax refund for exports or to offset tax money refers to any act of falsely making out the said invoices for another, for oneself, or asking another to do so for oneself, or recommending another to do so.