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  "documentTitle": "TAL Education Group (TAL)",
  "authorId": "51_Muddy_Waters",
  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller",
  "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller",
  "presentationDate": "2018-06-13 00:00:00",
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  "notes": "The slide uses a quote from the CFO to contrast with the lack of evidence in financial statements, serving as a forensic accounting critique.",
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      "text": "The gains and tax accrual TAL claims in its SEC filings do not appear in its SAIC financials.",
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      "text": "4. TAL claims it accrued a $12.5 million tax liability in the PRC from the $50 million gain on purported disposal. We were unable to find evidence of this in SAIC financials.",
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      "text": "The gains and tax accrual TAL claims in its SEC filings do not appear in its SAIC financials. TAL did not disclose which entity booked the purported gain and tax, but it stated that it was one of its VIEs. We checked the financials of the VIE that we believe held the GZ 1-1 business, but found no such accounts. To be thorough, we check the financials of TAL's other disclosed Guangzhou VIEs, but again came up empty. Finally, we checked the financials of TAL's three major Beijing VIEs that might have held GZ 1-1, and again none of them evidence the claimed amounts.",
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      "text": "Income tax expense was USD 33.5 million in fiscal year 2016 compared to USD 9.4 million in fiscal year 2015. The increase was mainly due to accrued one-off income tax expense of USD 12.5 million related to gains from disposal of one-on-one business in Guangzhou and...we used the Guangzhou one-on-one business as investment in Changing Education to exchange their stake. So this is kind of a disposal in accounting. So we gained $50 million gain from there, and we need to apply 25% tax rate over there, which is a kind of special case.",
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      "text": "Income tax expense was USD 33.5 million in fiscal year 2016 compared to USD 9.4 million in fiscal year 2015. The increase was mainly due to accrued one-off income tax expense of USD 12.5 million related to gains from disposal of one-on-one business in Guangzhou and...we used the Guangzhou one-on-one business as investment in Changing Education to exchange their stake. So this is kind of a disposal in accounting. So we gained $50 million from there, and we need to apply 25% tax rate over there, which is a kind of special case. — 2016 Q4 earnings call, CFO, Rong Luo",
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      "text": "- 2016 Q4 earnings call, CFO, Rong Luo",
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      "text": "Reconciliation of Deferred Revenue between Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Statement",
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