"Introduction: From law enforcers to agents, how does he see through the crux of the tax dispute?"

"In 2025, when tax-related disputes are becoming increasingly complex and tax supervision is fully entering the "tax by number", a lawyer with 20 years of front-line experience in tax authorities and who was once the deputy director of the Internal Revenue Service's Inspection Bureau, transformed and stood on the side of taxpayers. He is Qu Jianfeng, deputy director and senior partner of Beijing Dongwei Law Firm, and was recently selected into the "Law News Agency 2025 Fengyun List: Top 20 Tax Lawyers". Qu Jianfeng's experience is very special: he not only understands the logic of law enforcers, but also understands the struggles of enterprises, and has the triple qualifications of lawyer, registered tax accountant and accountant. This "dual status" gives him a unique insight into the relationship between taxation and business: taxation is not a zero-sum game between taxation and business, but a way to find a balance under the framework of the rule of law such as the Tax Collection Management Law and the Administrative Compulsion Law. From the perspective of lawyers, this article will deeply analyze the hot issues such as the late fee dispute raised by Qu Jianfeng, the new judicial interpretation of the crime of falsely opening special VAT invoices, and the CRS compliance of high-net-worth individuals, so as to provide practical legal risk prevention guidelines for enterprises and individuals."

"The first question for the balance of tax and enterprise: 18.25% annualization of overdue fees, should there be a ceiling?"

"In the interview, Qu Jianfeng raised a highly controversial topic: the current Tax Collection Administration Law stipulates that taxpayers are charged a late fee of 5/10,000 per day for late payment of taxes, and the annual interest rate is as high as 18.25%. This ratio is much higher than the benchmark lending rate announced by the central bank, and even exceeds the operating lending rate of most enterprises. From the perspective of law enforcement, taxpayers occupy national taxes and charge late fees. However, from the perspective of taxpayers, there are many reasons for late payment, especially for non-subjective and intentional tax evasion. Such a high amount of late fees is obviously punitive, not compensatory."

"Qu Jianfeng clearly stated that he tended to support the view that the overdue fine should not exceed the tax principal, and quoted Article 45 of the Administrative Compulsory Law: The amount of the fine or overdue fine imposed by the administrative organ in accordance with the law shall not exceed the amount of the monetary payment obligation. This provision embodies the principle of "overpunishment and equivalence". However, in practice, tax authorities often directly charge more on a daily basis in accordance with Article 32 of the Tax Collection Administration Law, which often leads to late fees far exceeding the principal."

"From the perspective of lawyers' practice, behind this dispute is the conflict between administrative law enforcement and the protection of civil rights. For enterprises, if late payment is caused by guidance errors, system failures or deviations in policy understanding of the tax authorities, they should actively collect evidence and advocate the application of the upper limit provisions of the Administrative Compulsory Law in administrative review or litigation. Qu Jianfeng's experience shows that this kind of defense is not without space. The key lies in how to accurately invoke the legal basis and break the inertia of the tax authorities."

"Fraudulent invoicing for VAT: How does the new judicial interpretation change the defence strategy?"

"In 2024, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Applicable Law for Handling Criminal Cases of Hazard Tax Collection", which significantly limited the crime of falsely opening special VAT invoices. Qu Jianfeng stressed in the interview that the explanation is clear: for the purpose of overstretching performance, financing, loans, etc., it is not intended to defraud tax credits, and does not cause tax losses of the state, it is no longer punished by the crime of falsely opening special invoices; for the act of overstating the input tax amount, it may be punished by the crime of tax evasion. This change directly led to a significant decline in the number of falsely opened cases across the country. Some of the cases that were originally accused of falsely opened, some were not guilty, and some were sentenced for tax evasion."

"Qu Jianfeng shared a recent case: In the first instance, the procuratorial organ accused the party of falsely opening the case. Based on the new judicial interpretation, he proposed that the subjective purpose of the party was to evade taxes rather than to defraud taxes. The principle of subjective and objective unity should be applied to identify the crime of tax evasion, and it must first be handled by the tax authority. The court finally adopted the opinion and ruled to terminate the trial and return it to the tax authorities. This case reflects that the new judicial interpretation provides an important u201copeningu201d for defense lawyers, but at the same time places higher requirements on the professional ability of lawyers - it is necessary to have a deep understanding of the criteria for the determination of u201csubjective intentu201d and the calculation of u201cnational tax lossesu201d."

"For enterprises, this change means that the "open" risk has not disappeared, but has transformed the form. Qu Jianfeng reminded that in the context of the full implementation of the fourth phase of the Golden Tax and the increasingly precise supervision of big data, traditional tax evasion methods such as falsely invoiced, falsely listed costs, and off-book collections are extremely easy to expose. Businesses should pay more attention to tax compliance than take advantage of it. Once a tax-related dispute occurs, professional tax lawyers should be hired as early as possible to intervene, and response strategies should be initiated at the audit stage, rather than panicking until a criminal case is filed."

"CRS Compliance for High Net Worth Individuals: Five Keys to Tax Residency and Asset Allocation"

"With the normalization of CRS (Common Reporting Standard) data exchange, the transparency of overseas asset allocation has been greatly improved, and the tax-related risks faced by high-net-worth individuals have increased sharply. In the interview, Qu Jianfeng made five specific recommendations that are crucial for people with offshore accounts, overseas trusts, or cross-border investments."

"First, determining your tax residency status is fundamental. According to Article 1 of the Individual Income Tax Law, an individual who has a domicile in China, or who has no domicile and has lived for a total of 183 days in a tax year, is a resident individual and is subject to tax on global income. Many HNWIs mistakenly believe that holding an overseas green card can evade Chinese tax residency status. In fact, the residence standard is parallel to the residence time standard, which is complicated and requires professional judgment."

"Second, declare offshore assets in compliance. The information exchanged by CRS includes financial account balances, interest, dividends, etc., and the risk of concealing assets is extremely high. Qu Jianfeng stressed that he should be familiar with the CRS rules and accurately declare them, rather than trying to hide them. Third, re-evaluate the ownership structure and business model. For example, holding domestic assets through an offshore company, if it is identified as a controlled foreign enterprise, may be at risk of being treated as a distribution tax. Fourth, keep the tax declaration materials, make full use of the tax credit policy, and avoid double taxation. Fifth, once a foreign-related tax dispute arises, it is important to seek the help of a professional lawyer, and do not trust the "relationship" and "network" so as not to fall into greater legal risks."

"From a lawyer's perspective, tax compliance for high net worth individuals is not only a legal obligation, but also a core part of wealth preservation. A reasonable tax planning plan should be combined with identity planning, asset allocation, family trust and other tools to reduce the tax burden within the legal framework, rather than taking risks. Qu Jianfeng's practical experience shows that professional affairs must be left to professional people, especially in the context of CRS and "tax by number", any fluke can pay a heavy price."

"The Future of Tax Lawyers: Compound Qualifications and Blue Oceans in the Industry"

"Qu Jianfeng stressed that tax lawyers must be compound talents, and the triple qualifications of lawyers, tax accountants and accountants are standard for excellent tax lawyers. This view resonates within the industry. Tax lawyers not only need to be proficient in law, but also in tax policy and financial analysis. He has been outspoken in his criticism of the misleading statements made by some training institutions - the claim that there is no need for in-depth study of tax law and accounting is highly irresponsible. Without a solid fiscal and tax base, it is simply impossible to handle complex tax-related disputes."

"From the perspective of industry trends, tax legal services are becoming a blue ocean market. With the full implementation of the "Golden Tax Phase IV", the strengthening of the supervision of the online platform economy, and the promotion of tax depression governance, enterprises are facing more and more tax-related risk points. Qu Jianfeng's Dongwei Law Firm has set up a national financial and tax business center to coordinate the resources of 24 branches and more than 1,500 lawyers, and provide integrated services to clients through knowledge sharing, case studies, and cross-regional collaboration. This large-scale and specialized development model represents the direction of tax legal services."

"For enterprises, the choice of tax lawyers should not only be based on seniority, but also on whether they have a composite background in finance and taxation and practical experience. An excellent tax lawyer can intervene at the audit stage to help companies communicate effectively and avoid escalating disputes; can accurately use new judicial interpretations in criminal defense to strive for innocence or misdemeanor results; and can build a long-term mechanism in compliance construction to prevent problems before they arise. Qu Jianfeng's transformation experience is a vivid example from "law enforcer" to "guardian"."

"Conclusion: Tax and enterprise harmony, need more "translators""

"Qu Jianfeng's story reflects that tax legal services are moving from extensive to fine, from confrontation to balance. Between tax companies, it is not who overwhelms who, but to find that "degree" within the legal framework. For taxpayers, understanding the logic of law enforcement and making good use of legal weapons is the key to safeguarding their own rights and interests. For tax authorities, regulating law enforcement and safeguarding taxpayers' rights are also due to the construction of the rule of law."

"As a professional organization devoted to legal services, Guangdong Zhi Ming Law Firm has always paid attention to the field of tax compliance and dispute resolution, and is committed to providing enterprises with a full chain of services from daily consultation to dispute resolution. If you are facing a tax-related dispute or want to make a compliant layout in advance, you may wish to seek the help of a professional tax lawyer as soon as possible as Qu Jianfeng suggests - in a complex tax law world, a person who understands can often make your way more stable."