Chapter 316 The long-lost court hearing
After Keppel left, David’s cell phone on the table rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Donald calling. He immediately picked up the call and said, “Deputy Donald. Director. "
"David, the influence of the Dumasson incident is too great. The major media giants have put a lot of pressure on us. Our General Administration has also discussed and decided. Let the media enter and let them see our fair and open judgment!”
In the past, the IRS did not allow the media to enter the court hearing. That was because many cases were difficult to convict according to judicial procedures, in order to avoid causing confusion. Due to the controversy from the outside world, a closed trial was chosen.
But this time, the hidden tax alone is enough to crucify Amazon Group, so a direct public trial will be more beneficial to the IRS, both in terms of image and public opinion.
"Understood, I'll make arrangements right now!"
After hanging up the phone, David immediately handed Keppel in and said: "Let the media know that this trial will be broadcast live in public ! ”
Los Angeles IRS door.
A staff member who was responsible for speaking came out and said to the media here: "Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me. In order to ensure the fairness and openness of this trial, we will adopt an open method for this trial. I will select a few media who will enter the court hearing later..."
"What, this time the IRS is actually allowing a public live broadcast."
"This is great, we can hear with our own ears which local tax violations are committed by Amazon, and we can also see the embarrassment of the senior managers of Amazon Group!"
" The Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service dares to conduct a public live broadcast. It must have sufficient evidence. Duma is in danger this time.”
After hearing this from the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service! After making this announcement, the media at the scene and the people on social platforms were all excited.
I want to ask them if they want to see real-time footage of the trial scene?
Of course this is what I wanted to do.
And what are they most looking forward to seeing?
Of course, it was the demeanor and appearance shown by Jeff and other senior executives of the Maison Group after the charges were confirmed.
Let them see if the high-ranking big shots in the past behave like shit after being convicted or even going to jail.
While the media and the public were still talking about it, a group of senior executives at Duma Amazon also received the news. Among them, Jeff's face was terrifyingly dark at this time.
He came here in person and asked to see David, but David still disappeared. He also told the media that he could enter the venue to get this signal live. What does this mean? ?
This means that the Los Angeles IRS is not even 100% sure of convicting them, but it is at least 80% or 90% sure. Now they are in big trouble!
He has experienced countless storms in his life, but He believes that this situation may be the biggest crisis in his life!
After a few minutes of silence, Jeff finally took out his cell phone, then walked to the corner and silently made several calls...
The time came to 12.20.
Today's court hearing started at 12.30, and there are still 10 minutes until the end, so a large number of invited people have already entered the courtroom on the seventh floor.
At this time, the media here who were invited to come in for the live broadcast have also set up cameras and are ready to broadcast everything at the scene in real time.
When the time came to 12.25, David, who had just come out of the judge's office, also came to the scene.
He looked around the gallery and found that there were quite a few big figures from the political and business circles coming today, including California’s Governor Borgwana, the Lieutenant Governor, the Secretary of State, and members of both houses of Congress. .
Looking at the end, he found the Dumb Amazon Group and others sitting in the lower right corner, and these people did not shy away from meeting his eyes. Among them, Jeff's eyes were particularly gloomy and careful. If you look at it, you can even find a hint of resentment.
But David didn't pay much attention. He went straight to the auditorium belonging to the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service and sat down.
When the time came to 12.30 sharp, Nicola, wearing a judge's robe, walked out of the right aisle, and everyone at the scene stood up in accordance with the procedure.
“Bang, the case against Duma Amazon for alleged tax violations is now open!”
As Judge Nicola dropped the gavel, the scene and the crowd who were paying attention immediately entered. A state of concentration.
“Now let’s invite the Los Angeles IRS, the prosecutor, to speak!”
David stood up from his seat, walked to the stage with a document, and said: “As we all know, Amazon has not paid a penny in taxes over the years, but I think many people don’t know how they did it. I need to explain here. First of all, they relied on a policy. , named 'Value-Added Tax Reduction', as the name suggests..."
"So that's it..."
"With Director David's popular science, I finally understood Amazon's tax avoidance operation..."
After his explanation, the scene And some people who are watching the live broadcast who don’t know much about taxes finally figured it out.
They said that why Amazon has been able to avoid paying taxes for so many years is because of such a policy.
“Okay, now comes the point. Value-added tax reduction is indeed a tax policy of our IRS. If companies use this to avoid taxes according to the procedures, then although our IRS will collect a lot less tax, But I won’t mind, but if there are companies that clearly do not meet the standards for value-added tax reduction, but they continue to use this policy in violation of regulations, and they have been using it for several years, then our IRS cannot continue to suffer from this, right? "< br>
When David finished speaking, there was quite an uproar both at the scene and online.
‘Some companies clearly do not meet the standards for value-added tax reduction, but they have been using this policy in violation of regulations.’ Who else could this refer to except the Amazon Group that is currently being sued?
What no one noticed in the dock was that Lakluwa and other members of the Dumb Mason Legal Department looked a little unnatural.
As the legal department of the group, they certainly know very well how the group avoids taxes, and this value-added tax reduction accounts for 40% of the group's tax reduction.
But then again.
After the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service announced that it would investigate them, they have been working overtime and around the clock to deal with this problem. Could it be that they have still been caught?
Ignoring what these people were saying, David directly raised the document in his hand and said: "Your Honor, I have an investigation report here that can prove that from 2017 to now, the mute horse The Xion Group has been using this policy illegally, and relying on this policy, they have at least evaded nearly 10 billion US dollars in tax share!”
“Evaded nearly 10 billion US dollars in tax...”
After hearing such a figure, the people in the auditorium and watching the live broadcast couldn't help but take a breath.
The document was quickly presented to Nicola. After opening it and looking at it carefully for ten minutes, she turned to look at Lackroy and others in the dock and asked: "The representative of the defendant According to this report from the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service, Cincinnati, Ohio, Montpelier, Vermont, and...these places say that the value-added tax deductions they enjoy do not meet the standards of local governments. How do you explain this? ?”“Your Honor, I want to see this document”
“Yes.”
The document was quickly taken away by the court staff and handed into the hands of Lakluwa, and Lakluwa and the entire members of the Legal Department immediately looked at it carefully stand up.
But as the contents inside gradually came into view, each of their expressions became extremely ugly.
Although they have been dealing with this aspect for some time.
However, there is a very important regulation in the value-added tax reduction, that is, the equipment and facilities of the factory must meet the requirements of the local government indicators.
A large number of equipment and facilities here can only be delivered by booking with some companies in advance.
But in such a short time, how could they make a reservation or even have it delivered?
What’s terrible now is that David doesn’t know where to get the detailed data of factories in these areas. If they want to quibble, they only need to send someone to the local factory to calculate and confirm. , so even if they want to quibble, they have no way to quibble.
At this time, Lakluwa was completely disillusioned. He turned to look at the auditorium where the group's senior executives were sitting, and shook his head slightly.
Although Jeff and others have not read this document report, seeing Lakluwa behave like this, they understand it no matter how stupid they are.
This document report must be difficult to refute, and the first charge of their group will most likely be confirmed!
"How about the defense representatives, do you have any objections to this document report?"
Hearing Nicola's question on the stage, Laqueroy and others looked at each other. , and finally Wilber spoke up: "Your Honor, regarding the value-added tax reduction policy, we are mainly communicating with state governments. I don't think the IRS knows enough about the details. We should put it on hold for the time being and let us work with the states." Come and negotiate..."
This is a method that Wilbur came up with after much searching.
The reason is also very simple, because each state has its own taxation method, and the main details of this policy are indeed discussed with the state governments of those states. If it can be defined as under the jurisdiction of the state government, then they have It's possible to turn a big issue into a small one, instead of being used by the IRS as an excuse to charge them now.
All states in the United States have independent jurisdiction, and the same applies to taxation. This argument is not unreasonable, so Nicola did not directly refute it, but looked at David.
“Your Honor, I admit that what the defendant’s representative said makes some sense, but there is no need to put it aside, because I have already invited the tax auditors from these states, so I might as well let them appear in court to explain it.”
When he heard that David had even invited tax auditors from various states, Wilbur Lacluva was completely desperate.
If people can invite these people over, they must be sure to get these people on their side, so they want to hang the value-added tax reduction on the state government, and then turn it into a big issue and a trivial one. I'm afraid the purpose will be ruined.
"Okay, then ask them to come out."
Soon, from the left passage, an IRS inspector came out with four people.
After the four people arrived at the scene, the leader was the first to say: "Your Honor, I am the tax auditor of the Ohio state government, and my name is Morata."
"Your Honor, I am the tax comptroller for the state government of Vermont. My name is Lukwu."
"Your Honor..."
After the four people introduced their identities, Nicola said: "Four auditors, we have a document here, which is about Amazon's violation of value-added tax reduction in your state. What do you think? ?”
The court staff took the document into Morata’s hands, and the four tax auditors also looked at it carefully.
After reading it, Morata was the first to speak: "Your Honor, according to this report, Amazon's value-added tax reduction in our state has indeed not reached the target."
< br>"The same thing, Your Honor, is falling short in our state of Vermont."
"..."
After reading this document and report, the four people all agreed.
"Well, according to the discussion of the representative of the Amazon Group, the details of the value-added tax reduction are the details reached by all parties with your state governments, and this matter should be negotiated with your states. How do you do this? See?”
Listening to Nicola’s question, Morata immediately replied: “Your Honor, regarding the value-added tax reduction policy, the Amazon Group has indeed reached an agreement with our state. Agreement on details, but this is a tax policy issued by the IRS. The IRS has jurisdiction, and the IRS has much more professional tax jurisdiction than our state tax departments. I think it should be left to the IRS."< br>
"Your Honor, Auditor Morata and I have the same view. First of all, this is the policy of the IRS and the IRS has jurisdiction. Secondly, this is the result of the IRS investigation, so we should not Intervened.”
“……”
The auditors of the four states spoke one after another, and their content was consistent, that is, to leave this matter to the Internal Revenue Service, and the Internal Revenue Service absolutely has jurisdiction.
"That is to say, you are willing to hand over the jurisdiction to the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service, are you sure?"
Nicola confirmed again.
“We confirm!”
The four of them answered in unison.
"Okay!"
Nicola turned to look at Lakluwa and others, and asked: "Representatives of the Dumb Amazon, now the states have admitted that you are suspected of the value-added tax reduction policy. Violation of regulations, but also willing to hand over jurisdiction to the IRS, what else do you want to say?”
After hearing that David called in the state auditors, Wilbur Clark and others asked. Knowing that there was no chance, so what could be said at this time, everyone bowed their heads and fell silent.
(End of this chapter)