First, a trading company was established to apply for value-added tax invoices from the taxation department, and the illegally acquired rare earths were "identified bleached", and then the rare earths were sold to large enterprises with export quotas. After the transaction was completed, the company was cancelled quickly. This forms the extremely popular rare earth black trading profit chain.

　　 Rare earth, known as "industrial gold", is worth hundreds to hundreds of thousands yuan per ton. my country's annual output of rare earths is about 100,000 tons, of which 30,000 tons are southern ionic rare earths with high added value. This species is widely distributed in Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, Yunnan and other places in my country. In recent years, as the price of rare earths has risen sharply, illegal mining, black market transactions, and tax evasion have become very serious in some areas, driven by profits.

　　 A few days ago, 8 ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the State Administration of Taxation organized a joint inspection team to Guangdong and other places to strictly investigate the black interest chain of rare earth trading.

　　Illegal operation of rare earths by trading company "Vest"

　　 The reporter followed the inspection team to investigate in Heyuan City, Meizhou City, Jieyang City and other places in Guangdong Province and found that the illegal operation of rare earth mineral products by trading companies was serious.

　　Performance 1: Rare earth trading companies cannot provide sources of purchase. The inspection team randomly checked 11 rare earth trading companies. The total purchase volume of rare earth mineral products from these trading companies was 1,560 tons, and the sales were about 3,57 tons. The amount involved was about 650 million yuan, but more than 2,000 tons could not provide sources. These minerals are mainly sold to Chinalco (Jiangsu) Company, Jiangyin Jiahua, Xinfeng County Baotou Xinli (a subsidiary of Baotou Rare Earth) and other smelting and separation enterprises and other trading enterprises after the rare earth special value-added tax invoices have been issued.

　　 The inspection team focused on inspections of 7 trading companies, of which 5 have cancelled their tax and industrial and commercial registrations, and people left their buildings empty. These trading companies have similarities: First, the office space is small, all hidden in remote residential buildings, and some frequently change office locations; second, the business hours are short, generally applying for cancellation after one year of formal registration; third, the company The purchase and sales invoices are incomplete, and there are problems of lack of input or unknown input.

A rare earth trading company with serious problems in Pingyuan County, Meizhou City, leased to the second floor of a remote villager’s self-built house. There was no sign at the door. There were only two desks and a computer in an office of over 10 square meters. A sign "Meizhou Advanced Private Enterprise" was hung on the wall.

Heping County Hengtai Mining Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in rare earth trading. From April 2012 to July this year, it disappeared after conducting 5 transactions in more than a year. After investigation, the sales of the 5 transactions reached a total of 66.54 million yuan, 11.18 million yuan in taxes, and unclear input invoices.

　　 "After investigation, companies with unknown input invoices are suspected of illegally purchasing rare earths from private individuals. For example, the sources of minerals from Meixian Yuedadi Mining Co., Ltd. are all self-employed," said a comrade of the inspection team. "Because some trading companies have been cancelled, legal persons are missing, and local protection tends to exist, it has brought certain difficulties to the investigation."

　　 Performance 2: Illegal exploitation in the name of trade. Four trading companies in Pingyuan County, Meizhou City claimed to have signed a contract mining agreement with Pingyuan Huaqi Rare Earth Co., Ltd., with a total sales volume of 1,357 tons. However, according to the provisions of the Mineral Resources Law, subcontracting of rare earth mining licenses is strictly prohibited.

　　The materials provided by Pingyuan County show that from June 1, 2012 to July 30, 2013, four trading companies, Jianyue, Yongda, Jiayu, and Shengyuan, conducted rare earth mining in the form of “contract workshops”. However, Pingyuan China Enterprise confirmed that as early as December 20, 2010, Pingyuan China Enterprise had issued a production suspension notice to the above-mentioned companies, and has not signed subcontracting agreements with other companies or individuals since then. The inspection team believed that the four companies in Pingyuan County had serious illegal exploitation in the name of trade.

　　 Performance three: illegally reselling mineral products in the name of "rare earth recycling". The inspection team found that Jiexi County Dongcheng Ceramic Raw Material Co., Ltd. was originally a ceramic manufacturer, but its rare earth raw material output reached 1,000 tons per year. The company claimed that the rare earth raw materials came from porcelain clay and ceramic glaze waste, but failed to provide a reasonable purchase certificate for the raw materials. Most of the invoices issued were crop compensation invoices, amounting to more than 4 million yuan. In addition, the inspection team found no facilities for processing and producing rare earths at the company's site, and no rare earths were detected in the production materials, indicating that the company has no rare earth production capabilities.

　　Huge demand for black market transactions　Difficulties in tax regulation

　　According to the data provided by the state taxation department, there are 1,594 rare earth enterprises in my country, involving mining, smelting separation and trading. Among them, there are more than 400 smelting separation enterprises and more than 1,100 trading enterprises.

"Among the more than 1,100 trading companies, we found that many of them are leather bag companies, engaged in the "whitewashing" of illegal rare earth mining." Wang Xiaotie, deputy secretary general of the China Rare Earth Association, said that the production capacity of my country's rare earth smelting and separation industry There are 400,000 tons, but there is only a mandatory production plan of less than 100,000 tons per year. The smelting and separation companies are seriously "not having enough food", which has led to huge demand for black market transactions. And these trading companies take advantage of legal loopholes to conduct large-scale black market transactions, evade taxes, or violate mandatory plans for production.

"As long as the rare earths for sale are issued with value-added tax invoices, their status will be legalized." An expert from the State Administration of Taxation said that although my country began to implement special rare earth value-added tax invoices last year, since rare earths are not exclusive commodities, There is no mandatory requirement. At present, as long as ordinary value-added tax invoices are issued, it is still regarded as a legal transaction. "It is very difficult to supervise from the taxation aspect alone." The expert suggested that rare earths should be listed as exclusive commodities to strengthen supervision. At the same time, local tax authorities should strengthen the review of the "input" part of rare earth companies, and companies that have no input should be prohibited from issuing invoices.

　　Local government indulgence is an important reason　National legislation needs to be accelerated

"Local government's indulgence is an important reason for the existence of illegal rare earth trade." A member of the inspection team gave an example of analysis. After the "VAT reform", the input invoices of enterprises can be used to deduct taxes, but because there is no input invoice or deduction Less, these trading companies basically pay "high" taxes based on sales. Heping County Hengtai Mining Co., Ltd. has a sales amount of 66 million yuan and paid 11.2 million yuan in taxes; Meixian District Yuedadi Mining Co., Ltd. has a sales amount of 35.66 million yuan and paid taxes of 4.56 million yuan. Heping County and Meixian County are economically underdeveloped counties and districts. The county's fiscal revenue is only about 200 million yuan per year, and large taxes can be obtained from the invoices issued by the trading enterprises.

“In addition, in Pingyuan County, only Pingyuan Chinese Enterprises hold a legal mining license, and the remaining 4 trading companies are arranged by the local government to engage in illegal mining under the name of Pingyuan Chinese Enterprises, giving Chinese enterprises normal mining order. It caused a big impact, but considering fiscal taxation, the local government has adopted a tacit or even conniving attitude towards the illegal behavior of trading enterprises.” The comrade of the inspection team said.

A person in charge of the Rare Earth Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said: “In the past, the investigation started from the production link, but now it is started from the circulation field and has to be traced to the source. Through the strict investigation of the black trading chain, the goal of deterring criminals is finally achieved. ."

“The black market trading of rare earths has the profit of drug trading, but there is no need to worry about the risk of losing your head.” The person in charge of the Rare Earth Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that for the illegal mining and indiscriminate mining of rare earths, the state has a Mineral Resources Law, but for the separation of smelting and trade circulation links, But there is no clear and effective law yet. "The state should speed up relevant legislation to supervise the entire process of rare earth mining, separation, smelting, and trade."