American Tax Officer-Chapter 624 - 314: The Long-Awaited Trial_2
Chapter 624 -314: The Long-Awaited Trial_2
David had just finished speaking when a noticeable stir arose both onsite and online.
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“Businesses that clearly do not meet the standards for a value-added tax reduction, yet still improperly use this policy,” who else could this refer to if not the accused, Amazon Group?
However, what no one noticed was that members of the Amazon Legal Department, including Lukeruwa, all seemed somewhat uneasy.
As members of the corporation’s legal department, they were very aware of how the group had been dodging taxes, and this value-added tax reduction accounted for 40 percent of the group’s tax reductions.
But to backtrack a bit,
after the Los Angeles IRS announced that they would conduct an investigation, they had been working overtime, day and night, to address this issue. Were they still caught red-handed?
Regardless of what these people were saying, David directly held up the documents in his hand and stated, “Your Honor, I have here an investigative report that proves that from 2017 until now, Amazon Group has been improperly using this policy, and through this policy, they have managed to evade nearly ten billion US dollars in taxes!”
“Evaded nearly ten billion US dollars of taxes…”
Hearing such a figure, both the gallery and those watching the live stream could not help but gasp.
The document was quickly brought before Nicola. After she opened and scrutinized it for ten minutes, she turned to face Lukeruwa and the others on the defense bench and demanded, “Defense representatives, according to this document from the Los Angeles IRS, Cincinnati in Ohio State, Montpelier in Vermont State, and other places alleged to have enjoyed this tax reduction did not meet local government standards. How do you explain this?”
“Your Honor, I would like to see this document.”
“Certainly.”
The court staff quickly handed the document to Lukeruwa, who along with the entire legal department members started reviewing it earnestly.
As they absorbed the contents, each person’s expression turned exceedingly grim.
Even though they had been dealing with this kind of issue for some time,
there was a very important clause in the tax reduction that required factory setups to meet local government standards.
A large number of these setups depended on pre-orders from certain companies before they could be delivered.
In such a short period, how could they possibly pre-order or even receive deliveries on time?
And now the problem was that David had somehow obtained detailed data on their regional factories. If they wanted to argue, they merely needed to send someone to do an on-site check at the factories to confirm, so there was no room for dispute.
At this moment, Lukeruwa felt utterly defeated and turned to the executives in the gallery, shaking his head slightly.
Even if Jeff and the others had not seen the document, seeing Lukeruwa’s expression told them everything they needed to know.
This document was undoubtedly difficult to refute, and it seemed their first charge was likely confirmed!
“How about it, defense representatives, do you have any objections to this document?”
Upon hearing Nicola’s inquiry from the stage, Lukeruwa and others exchanged glances, and finally, Welber spoke, “Your Honor, the value-added tax reduction is a policy primarily coordinated with the state governments, and I believe the IRS is not fully aware of the details. They should be set aside temporarily, allowing us to negotiate with the states…”
That was the best solution Welber could devise.
The rationale was simple: each state has its own tax system, and the main details of the policy were indeed negotiated with those state governments. If they could attribute it to state jurisdiction, they could potentially minimize the damage rather than having it used as a pretext by the IRS to accuse them.
As each state in America has its autonomous jurisdiction, including in tax affairs, this argument was not entirely unreasonable, so Nicola did not immediately refute but turned her gaze toward David.
“Your Honor, I acknowledge that the representative for the defendant makes a fair point, but there is no need to adjourn as I have already brought in the tax auditors from these states. Let’s have them testify.”
Upon hearing that David had even summoned the tax auditors from various states, Welber Lakruwa felt completely hopeless.
With these people summoned, they must be confident in having them on their side, indicating their intent to pin the blame of value-added tax reduction on the state governments, and trivialize the issue might be foiled.
“Very well, let’s have them come forward.”
Soon, from the left corridor, an IRS inspector came out with four individuals.
Upon arriving, the leader spoke first, “Your Honor, I am Morata, the tax auditor from the government of Ohio State.”
“Your Honor, I am Lukewu, the tax auditor from the government of Vermont State.”
“Your Honor…”
After the four introduced themselves, Nicola said, “Gentlemen auditors, we have a document here concerning Amazon’s non-compliance with the value-added tax reduction in your respective states. What do you think?”
Court staff handed the document to Morata, and the four tax auditors started examining it seriously.
After reviewing it, Morata spoke first, “Your Honor, according to this report, Amazon indeed did not meet the targets for value-added tax reduction in our state.”
“Likewise, Your Honor, the same non-compliance is true for our state of Vermont.”
“…”
After reviewing the report, all four auditors were aligned in their statements.
“Very well, according to the representative from the Amazon Group, the details of the value-added tax reduction were agreed upon with your state governments. However, this matter should be negotiated and interfaced with your respective states. What do you think?”
Listening to Nicola’s question, Morata promptly replied, “Your Honor, regarding the value-added tax reduction policy, it’s true that Amazon Group reached an agreement with our state. However, these are IRS-issued tax policies; the IRS has jurisdiction, and the IRS is much more specialized in tax regulation than our state tax departments. I believe it should be handled by the IRS.”
“Your Honor, my view is the same as Auditor Morata’s. First, it is an IRS policy and the IRS has jurisdiction. Second, these are the results of an IRS investigation, so we shouldn’t intervene.”
“…”
After the state auditors had spoken one by one, they all agreed that the IRS should handle the matter, and indeed, the IRS has absolute jurisdiction.
“So what you’re saying is, you are willing to completely hand over jurisdiction to the Los Angeles IRS to handle this matter, are you sure?”
Nicola confirmed once more.
“We are sure!”
The four auditors answered unanimously.
“Good!”
Nicola turned to look at Lakruwa and others, asking, “Representatives from Amazon, now that the states have acknowledged your noncompliance with the value-added tax reduction policy and are willing to transfer jurisdiction to the IRS, do you have anything else to say?”
Upon hearing that David had brought the state auditors, Lakruwa and the others knew it was futile, and at that moment, what else could be said? One by one, they bowed their heads in silence.
