美国偷税罪
Section 7201 (ATTEMPT TO EVADE OR DEFEAT TAX) makes it a felony willfully to attempt to evade or defeat any tax or the payment of any tax. The exact statutory language is as follows: Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
(联邦税收法典)第7201节(“企图偷逃税罪”)规定了故意企图偷逃税收或(逃避)缴纳任何税收为一项重罪。法律原文是这样的:任何人故意以任何方式偷逃本法典所确定的税收或逃避缴纳,除处以法律规定的其他处罚外,(另)定为重罪,定罪后(个人)处以10万美元以下的罚金(公司50万美元),或处以5年以下有期徒刑,或者并科,并承担起诉费用。
The Criminal Fines Enforcement Act of 1984, codified at 18 U.S.C. 3623, substantially increased the maximum fines for most federal criminal offenses. These maximum fines apply to crimes committed after November 1, 1987. For felonies, such as section 7201, the maximum fine for an inspanidual is $250,000, and the maximum fine for corporations is $500,000. For misdemeanors, the maximum fine for both inspaniduals and corporations is $100, 000.
已经被联邦税收法典吸纳作为第3623节的1984年刑事罚金执行法案大大提高了多数联邦刑事犯罪的罚金上限。罚金上限适用于1987年11月1日以后的犯罪。对于重罪,如第7201节(即“企图偷逃税罪”译者注),罚金上限对个人提高到25万美元,对公司提高到50万美元。对于轻罪,不论公司还是个人罚金上限均为10万美元。
Section 7201 defines two distinct crimes: the attempt to defeat or evade a tax (for example, by underreporting income on a return), and the attempt to defeat or evade the payment of any tax (for example, by concealing assets after an assessment and during the collection process). The former is far more frequently prosecuted than the latter.
第7201节规定了两个单独的罪行:企图偷逃税(如在申报表上少列收入)和企图逃避缴纳任何税收(如在税收评估后或在强制征收程序中隐匿资产)。前者比后者要起诉的频率要高得多。
In the landmark tax evasion case, Spies v. United States (S.Ct.1943), the Supreme Court distinguished the felony of tax evasion from the tax misdemeanors by focusing on the word “attempt”. The Court concluded that “in employing the terminology of attempt to embrace the gravest of offenses against the revenues Congress intended some willful commission in addition to the willful omissions that make up the list of misdemeanors.”
里程碑式的1943年Spies诉美国偷税案中,最高法院通过定义“企图(试图)”一词区别了偷税重罪和偷税轻罪。法庭认为,“在采用企图这一术语以界定侵犯税收罪这种最严重的犯罪行为时,国会立法意图是指那些故意的作为,以区别于仅构成一些轻罪的故意漏税”。
Thus, a willful failure to file a return, a misdemeanor under section 7203, is not sufficient for section 7201 evasion unless accompanied by some affirmative conduct evidencing an attempt to evade. However, a taxpayer who files false W-4 withholding certificates claiming exempt status (thereby causing his employer to withhold no federal taxes), and who fails to file a return, can be convicted of felony evasion; the affirmative and willful act of filling the false withholding certificates satisfies the Spies requirement. The Supreme Court has held that the filling of a false tax return is itself a sufficient affirmative act to support conviction under section 7201.
因此,故意不申报是第7203节规定的一项轻罪,并不足以构成7201节规定的偷税罪,除非(该行为)伴随了足以证明偷税企图的一些积极作为。然而,一个纳税人声称免税地位而取得虚假的W-4扣缴书(这样导致该人的雇主不扣缴其联邦税收)而且该人不申报纳税,将被定为一项偷税重罪;这种申报虚假扣缴证书的积极的和故意的作为满足了Spies案件所列出的要求。法庭认为,进行虚假纳税申报本身是一项足够的积极行为,足以使得(行为人获得)7201节的定罪。
The Spies Court provided a list of “badges of fraud” that would support an inference of the required willful attempt to evade tax. The list includes keeping a double set of books; destruction of books or records; concealment of assets or covering up sources of income; and “any conduct, the likely effect of which would be to mislead or to conceal.”
最高法院在spies案件中列出了 “欺诈的标志”的一份清单,这份清单列出了可以逻辑推断出构成偷税罪的特定故意的企图行为。这份清单包括:设置两套帐簿,销毁会计帐簿及凭证,隐匿资产和掩盖收入来源,以及很可能后果是误导及隐瞒的任何行为。
译者评:对于偷税罪的立法,中国法律规定较为具体细致,如专门列举了“采取伪造、变造、隐匿、擅自销毁帐簿、计帐凭证等方式”,而美国法律规定则较为凝炼概括,由司法部门在实践中进一步给出适用的具体规定。这是因为美国属英美法系国家, 法院在具体案件中如何理解和适用法律问题较大陆法系国家有一定的灵活性,且上级法院的同类问题的判决对下级有约束力(即“判例法”)。判例法能够在司法中即时纠正立法不足之弊,弥补了立法机关考虑不周的缺陷,且避免了成文法律发现问题后必须频繁修改的弊端。鉴于法院也有一定的“立法”功能,因此英美法系国家在保证法院的独立性和法官的个人素质方面都达到较高的水平。(译者:嵇峰)