Timely payment of taxes is one of the main duties of any citizen. But the more people fall under the influence of a certain rule, the more there are those who want to become an exception to it. The withdrawal of financial resources in offshore, the concealment of part of the income from tax services, the banal non-payment of taxes by the unemployed - for all this comes responsibility for tax offenses. How and under what conditions are they punished those who do not obey tax laws, and most importantly, what threatens them for evading and other tax crimes?
Direct taxes
Before talking about at what point tax liability occurs, one should have at least a general idea of what taxes are in principle.
To begin with, all mandatory payments to the state are divided into two groups: direct and indirect. In the first case, the one who owns the object of taxation pays them (say, the one who purchased the land for construction will independently pay all the necessary contributions). Direct taxes are divided into taxes on income (the company made a profit and must pay part of it to the state in the form of taxes) and on property (as payments for the land mentioned above). But this does not end the gradation of direct taxes: income taxes, in turn, are divided into deductions from the tax actually received and from the estimated tax. In the first case, payments come from the profit already received by the taxpayer (income tax paid by working individuals, corporate income tax, investment income tax and so on). As for possible income, here the assets that the taxpayer owns and the profit that he can get in the future are evaluated. Moreover, the tax authorities are not interested in whether this income will really be received in the future. This, for example, includes payments for mining: no one can say whether the company will be able to fully realize its potential and get the kind of profit that the state has predicted, but it must pay a tax on it.
Indirect taxes
The next category of mandatory contributions is indirect taxes, which no one can avoid. The fact is that a certain percentage of the cost of any goods and services will go to pay tax deductions by its manufacturer. De facto, the tax is paid by the consumer, and the manufacturer, who received funds from it from payments, only transfers them to the tax authorities.
There are four types of deductions: universal (they impose most of the goods on the market), individual (here we are talking about separate groups of goods, for example, real estate, jewelry), fiscal monopolies (referring to duties on certain documents that can issue only the state - birth and death certificates, licenses, etc.) and customs duties (they are an integral part of the value of imported or exported goods).
According to experts, tax discipline regarding this group of compulsory deductions is much higher than that of direct taxes: to evade indirect deductions is much more difficult.In addition, indirect taxes are one of the main sources of replenishment of the budget.
What is a tax offense?
Well, now we can move on to the issue of tax offenses and liability for their commission. First of all, you need to understand how the concept of "offense" is interpreted by the Tax Code.
It is logical to assume that the offense is an action (or inaction) that is contrary to applicable law. Signs of a tax violation are:
- Wines: the fact of intentional or unintentional violation of tax laws has been proven.
- Intention: the offender understood that he was going against the law, but did nothing to stop his actions (or inaction) and avoid harming the state.
- As an additional feature appears carelessness: the offender did not know that his actions were contrary to the law and that he was detrimental to the state. However, ignorance of the law does not exempt it from tax liability.
Types of Offenses
What needs to be done in order for tax liability to occur in the Russian Federation or in another state with a similar Tax Code?
Firstly, the deadline for registration with the tax office can be violated. This usually applies to branches of companies opening in places other than the office of the parent company. An application for tax registration must be submitted no later than a month after the opening of the branch, otherwise an offense is recorded. As for individual entrepreneurs, they are registered automatically after receiving documents allowing them to conduct business activities. They must start paying taxes immediately, regardless of whether they have the profit necessary for payment.
Option two - no tax return. Providing regulatory authorities with information about the earnings of those who work under contracts or work contracts, that is, they work officially, is the responsibility of the tax agent (employer). You need to declare all the funds that were received from other sources. The most common offense associated with declarations is their late submission: usually a fixed date is set by which all necessary documents must be submitted to the tax office. Another problem with the declaration: violation of the established methods for its submission. Some categories of taxpayers, by law, can only provide data on their income in electronic form (through appropriate resources), and therefore using their paper media to file a declaration will be considered a violation of the Tax Code.
The third offense, and perhaps the most common, is the failure to pay taxes in principle or their incomplete payment. Such crimes occur due to the filing of false declarations, concealment of part of the profit from taxation, as well as for a number of other reasons. Sometimes, some entrepreneurs completely evade taxes, declaring no profit, while in fact they still received income.
And the fourth type of violation under the Tax Code is the failure to provide data necessary for tax control. One of the varieties of this crime is the failure to submit a tax return.
How is punishment assigned?
The tax liability of an individual occurs upon reaching the age of sixteen. But tax sanctions, namely the so-called punishment for tax offenses, are imposed only after the corpus delicti was established by the decision of the tax authority that has entered into force. The penalty in this case is a fine, the amount of which depends on the type of crime committed.If there are extenuating circumstances (they will be discussed below), the amount of the fine will be reduced by no less than half, but in the case of aggravating circumstances (systematic offenses of this kind), the amount of the fine imposed will be twice the original. If the same person simultaneously committed a number of crimes, then the amount of fines will add up - the principle of absorption by a more serious punishment of a less serious one will not work in this case.
In addition, according to the results of the trial, even if guilt is proved, the taxpayer must pay not only the penalty and the amount of tax, because of which it all started, but also the fee and penalty.
Extenuating circumstances
What are the circumstances that mitigate tax liability and make it possible to significantly reduce the size of the fine? It is worth noting that at least one of these conditions is sufficient for the recovery amount to be reviewed. So, the punishment will be less if the crime was committed:
- due to a combination of personal or family circumstances;
- under duress or because of any form of criminal dependence (material for example);
- with the difficult financial situation of the offender.
In addition, the court may take into account the minor age of the person who is responsible for tax offenses, the presence of young children or pregnancy for women and other circumstances.
The penalty is levied within a year from the moment of the verdict of the tax authorities or court.
Taxes in numbers
Knowing how the concept of “tax liability” of the Tax Code is interpreted (aka the Tax Code), understanding what is considered an offense, we can proceed with the punishment for tax crimes.
Before this, it is worth paying attention to some specific figures regarding the payment of mandatory payments in favor of the state. An individual is obliged to give 13% of his profits to tax funds, usually this amount is automatically deducted from wages. Non-residents will have to pay the country 30% of their profits. Those who have won a prize whose value has exceeded four thousand Russian rubles are also taxed - they need to pay 35% of the value of the fee. Those who are fortunate enough to receive income from stocks give back only 9% of what they earn.
Limitation period
The statute of limitations for tax liability is only three years, that is, any non-payment of obligatory payments before it is not taken into account in any way during the proceedings for a specific offense (true, if a person was previously held liable for a similar crime, this will be considered an aggravating circumstance, after which the amount the penalty will increase several times). The amount of taxes that have not been paid affects the amount of compensation payments to the state. If in three years it exceeded 600 thousand rubles, tax evasion will already be considered a crime on an especially large scale and threatens with a real judicial term.
Large-scale crime
So, if the deadline for tax liability is still valid, and the amount of non-payments exceeded 600 thousand, the tax violator faces:
- A fine in the amount of 100 to 300 thousand rubles.
- Fine in the amount of income (for example, wages) for a period of one to two years.
- Forced labor for up to one year.
- Arrest for up to six months.
- Imprisonment of up to one year.
If, however, an amount exceeding three million rubles was not paid, then the term of imprisonment shall be increased to three years while maintaining the same amounts of fines.
Less serious crime
If the misconduct was not so widespread, then tax liability will come only in the form of a fine. Its volume can be from 5 to 40% of tax debt - it all depends on the circumstances.According to experts, it is rather difficult to investigate such crimes - it is very difficult to prove the fact of unregistered income, and, therefore, the need to pay taxes on it.
Tax debt
But sometimes situations arise when a decent taxpayer suddenly arises tax arrears. The term in which the tax authorities will notify him of this depends on the amount of debt: for those who have not paid more than 3 thousand - ten days, from 500 rubles to 3 thousand - 3 months, less than 500 rubles - 10 months. Claims for the payment of debts can be sent via electronic systems, as well as by registered letter or handed to the taxpayer in person. You need to pay the debt within one and a half months after the delivery of the notice. If the money has not been returned, the tax authorities contact the debtor by phone. The last way to pre-trial settlement of the conflict is to send an information letter to the employer of the taxpayer, so that he notifies his employee about the delay in payment.
Tax authorities can sue only when tax arrears exceed 3 thousand rubles. Within four months from the moment when the amount of the debt became more than 3 thousand rubles, the property of a negligent taxpayer will be confiscated to cover mandatory payments.
In this case, liability for violation of tax legislation occurs in the form of a fine. If the taxpayer does not have the means to pay it (as well as property that could be confiscated), then the necessary funds will be deducted from his salary or other established sources of income. When changing a job or a new source of profit, he is obliged to notify the tax authorities so that they can continue to collect the fine.
Organizations and taxation
The tax liability of organizations has its own characteristics. For example, for violation of the law by a tax agent (the one who pays the mandatory deductions by subtracting them from the taxpayer’s salary), the payer himself may be liable: if the company has not deducted the percentage of salary that should be paid for taxes, then it can be blamed to be the one to whom this salary was paid, even if he did not know about the illegal actions of his agent.
It is worth noting that tax agents, that is, organizations, have clear deadlines for paying taxes. If payments are overdue for at least a day, the organization will be required to pay a fine or a fine.
Another function of tax agents, as mentioned above, is the mediation between tax organizations and taxpayers in the event that the latter have arrears in the payment of contributions to the state budget.
How to avoid liability?
But far from everyone is ready to bear responsibility for violating tax laws. Today, there are dozens of schemes with which you can either completely avoid paying taxes with minimal consequences, or significantly reduce their amount.
For example, malicious defaulters, in order to avoid a prison term, can pay taxes partly for three years, which is usually referred to during legal proceedings. According to the Criminal Code, if taxes still paid by a person held accountable cover more than 10% (for large-scale crimes) and 20% (for large-scale violations) of his debt, then the maximum penalty will be a fine, no imprisonment.
Reducing the tax burden for organizations
Some schemes to avoid the full payment of tax can be characterized as tax offenses, and the responsibility for their commission, most likely, should be no less than for fraud.But there are also legal optimization of the tax burden.
For organizations, for example, the creation of an additional enterprise that will act as a tax agent is suitable - this process is called the distribution of tax liability. You can also replace material assistance with a premium - despite the fact that both of these types of financial support are taxed, in the second case their amount will be significantly less. No one has canceled the benefits provided either in certain areas of business (companies involved in the development of telecommunications enjoy state support) or in certain regions (soft loans to residents of the North) - such state bonuses can significantly reduce the tax burden. Foreign companies creating new enterprises in the country and, therefore, jobs, are granted tax holidays at all - a certain period of time during which no mandatory deductions can be paid and tax liability will not occur.
Reducing the tax burden for individuals
Individuals can invest in charity. In such cases, the tax law takes responsibility for ensuring that the tax burden is reduced (however, by no more than 25% - this is the maximum discount for current legislation). In order to get a “relief”, a tax return must be submitted to the tax authorities, documents confirming the act of charity, where the amount spent will be indicated - a special donation agreement. After that, a decision will be made to reduce the tax burden.
As for organizations, they will not be able to lower taxes in this way. At the same time, their own products transferred by them as part of charity will not be subject to value added tax (except for excisable products). It is worth noting that earlier enterprises that donated 5% of their income received quite a substantial tax discount.
Conclusion
Taxes play a huge role in creating the state budget, it is likely that they are the main source of funds for it. Timely payment of mandatory contributions is the civic duty of any person. But if this obligation is not fulfilled, the citizen expects tax liability. The severity of the crime committed by him will determine whether she will get off the fine or go to jail. Yes, there are many ways to either avoid paying taxes completely, or at least slightly reduce the tax burden, but for the most part they are illegal, and therefore their use entails serious punishment.
Although tax payments can sometimes be burdensome, they are necessary. Taxes are pensions, the development of infrastructure, the construction of new state institutions - there are many applications for the means. Tax evasion - although insignificant in the general mass, but a blow to the welfare of the country. A blow for which you have to bear responsibility.