The pain of red invoice trading

(Baonghean) - With a small amount of capital and a fake ID card, Nguyen Huu Tai (Hamlet 14, Thanh Giang Commune, Thanh Chuong) impersonated someone else to set up a "ghost" company and took advantage of legal loopholes to trade in red invoices, causing a loss to the state of nearly 5 billion VND...

From a "ghost" company...

Around mid-May 2010, a young man who called himself "Can Anh Tuan" (from Ho Town, Thuan Thanh District, Bac Ninh Province) came to Mr. Chinh's house in Block 13, Hung Nguyen Town to rent an office for Anh Tuan Trading Service Company Limited as its headquarters. The company's main business is trading in construction materials and construction contracting, but in nearly a year of renting the office, the company had almost no transactions. Even "Can Anh Tuan", despite being the director, only occasionally showed up at the office. The company's irregularities were only discovered in July 2011, when the Hung Nguyen Tax Department discovered that the company had not responded after the unit had sent notices requesting the company to come and declare taxes. The incident was then reported to the Hung Nguyen District Police. Immediately after that, through investigation and verification, the investigation agency discovered that 9 enterprises that Anh Tuan Company declared input tax for over a year did not have invoices and that they were all false declarations. The total amount declared was up to 4,969,057,000 VND.

From this incident, expanding the investigation in Ho Town in Bac Ninh Province, Hung Nguyen District Police also discovered that the name Can Anh Tuan was actually a fake name. The mastermind had changed his photo in the ID card, then photocopied and notarized it and sent it to the Department of Planning and Investment to apply for business registration. After many professional measures, the police agency verified that the person named Can Anh Tuan was actually Nguyen Huu Tai (1982), from Hamlet 14, Thanh Giang Commune, Thanh Chuong District, residing at Hamlet 4, Xuan Vien, Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh. At the same time, an emergency arrest warrant was issued. Along with Tai, an accomplice and accountant of the company named Tran Thi Hien (1986), residing at house number 8, lane 2, Cao Lo Street, Le Mao Ward, also had an arrest warrant. Through these two leads, the first evidence of a red invoice trading ring was discovered.

Red invoices sold "illegally" by Anh Tuan enterprise

According to Nguyen Huu Tai's testimony: Around the beginning of 2010, Tai met an old friend named Tran Minh Duong (from Bac Lieu) - Director of Tan Loc Thanh Trading and Service Company Limited (Tan Lam block, Hung Dung ward). Through conversation, Duong showed Tai a "trick" to do business by trading red invoices. To do this, Duong helped Tai make a fake ID card, then registered to establish a business at the Department of Planning and Investment. With the registered office in Hung Nguyen district, Tai was able to buy 5 books of red invoices. In order to legalize the business, they initially went to large companies to buy a small amount of goods and then declared additional input tax according to the invoice serial number. The first "target" they took advantage of was Thanh Lam Nguyen Company (in Thai Hoa town). After that, 8 other companies, namely Central Construction Materials JSC, Dung Tam LLC, Hang Huyen Su Trading and Service JSC... accidentally became their "business partners". After declaring enough input tax, they started selling red invoices.

To be sure, the agreements and sales are usually not conducted at the company headquarters but often take place at coffee shops. At first, Can Anh Tuan (aka Tai) directly conducted the transaction. Later, when Hien learned Tai's signature, Tai handed over the entire transaction. They also had a secret agreement: if the customer bought the invoice introduced by Tai, Tai would receive 6% of the pre-tax amount. If it was Hien's customer, he would collect 5% of the pre-tax amount. Using this trick, they sold invoices to 120 companies. Because the invoices were not enough, Tai and Hien also went to Duong's company to borrow a printer to print 10 more invoices. At the investigation agency, Hien confessed the entire incident and further explained the times they bought and sold invoices such as: In January 2011, I met Ms. Nga (Hoang Hai Company Limited) and sold her 3 invoices for 1 billion 33 million VND; November 2010, sold 8 bills to Hoang Linh Construction and Trading Company Limited with a total value of about 130 million VND, Hoang Nguyen Company Limited: 2 bills with a total value of 440 million VND... The total amount of money used to write the bills is worth about 2 billion 685 million VND...

Lax management

According to Lieutenant Colonel Phan Duy Quy - Captain of the Police Team investigating crimes related to order - Economic management, positions, drugs - Hung Nguyen District Police: The situation of trading red invoices has been a burning issue that has been warned about for many years. However, trading under the disguise of a business is a new trick and tends to flourish nationwide. It is not excluded that there are groups that specialize in organizing or hiring people to set up virtual businesses, other groups are responsible for finding locations and contacts to consume invoices, providing them to businesses in need. As in this case, through the investigation of invoices of 120 businesses that "transacted" with Tai and Hien, there were many invoices from other provinces such as Thach Ha, Can Loc, Ha Tinh Town (Ha Tinh), Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Tan Ky, Quy Hop, Thanh Chuong (Nghe An), Tinh Gia (Thanh Hoa), Tay Ho District (Hanoi).

There are many reasons why businesses need red invoices. In Nghe An, through inspections of a number of businesses that purchased red invoices from Anh Tuan Company, many units used the reason of purchasing red invoices to pay for the purchase of sand and gravel for construction because this item usually does not have invoices. With 7 red invoices purchased from Anh Tuan Company, a representative of Ngu Hai Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company (Nghi Phong Commune, Nghi Loc District) stated the reason: During the process of building a rural road in Nghi Phong Commune (Nghi Loc District), the company had a transaction with a driver to transport sand and gravel and the driver (whose address is unknown) gave the red invoice to the company. Similarly, Anh Quan Consulting and Construction Company Limited (No. 18, Binh Trong Street, Vinh City) also used the reason of purchasing construction sand to explain the act of purchasing red invoices. In addition to the above reasons, it is not impossible that many businesses illegally purchase red invoices to create fake records and legalize smuggled and floating goods.

How to stop the buying and selling of red invoices is a difficult question. According to Lieutenant Colonel Phan Duy Quy: There are still too many loopholes in the State's regulations for bad guys to take advantage of. Even in the Tax sector, although there are many suspicious cases, according to regulations, newly established companies must wait 1 to 2 years before their revenue and expenditure are inspected. In addition, the licensing agency for businesses is still sketchy and has not yet been able to verify whether the ID card is fake or real, leading to many cases of granting licenses to the wrong subjects. To rectify the above situation, it is necessary to have the participation of all levels and sectors and to have separate sanctions not only for the sellers but also for the units that buy red invoices illegally. Regarding this case, although the related subjects have been prosecuted, the case has not been closed and will continue to be investigated to expand the area and expand the related subjects.

Phuong - Ha