According to the norms of Russian law, liability for tax evasion depends on the amount of the person’s debt to the state. Sanctions can be expressed in the form of fines, and for citizens - in the form of measures of criminal and administrative responsibility.
Legal regulation of tax evasion liability
The provisions regarding the imposition of sanctions for tax offenses are enshrined in the following legal acts:
- In the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (article 119 - percentage indication of the amount of payments, article 122 - incorrect calculation of the amount of tax).
- Code addressing administrative offenses (Article 15.5 - responsibility for late filing of a declaration).
- Criminal Code (article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - sanctions for intentional tax evasion).
Types of Sanctions for Avoiding Mandatory Payments
Responsibility for tax evasion may simultaneously arise under the norms of tax legislation and administrative (or criminal). For example, if an enterprise was convicted of tax evasion, they would be fined.
The official of the specified company, through the fault of which the specified offense was committed, may be prosecuted if during the audit it is established that these actions were intentional and fall into the category of crime.
Actors held liable
The following entities may be taxpayers who are held liable for tax evasion:
- individuals
- legal entities;
- citizens who are engaged in individual entrepreneurship.
The severity of the sanctions does not depend on who is considered the offender. It changes upwards only with an increase in the amount of debt.
In order to punish an enterprise or citizen, the fact of intentional tax evasion must be established officially and proved. The main document fixing the violation is the decision of the tax authority. On the basis of this paper, different types of punishment can be applied to the offender.
Differentiation of responsibility under the norms of the Administrative Code, Criminal Code and Tax Code by subjects
Only individuals (citizens and individual entrepreneurs) can be punished for tax evasion under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Tax offenses committed by enterprises are punishable only by the norms of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
According to the provisions of Article 198 and Article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the composition of the criminal offense is tax evasion. According to article 198 of the code, we are talking about citizens, in 199 - about enterprises.
For individuals, there is no need to identify the perpetrator. He is the citizen himself. If we are talking about tax crimes of the enterprise, it is necessary to conduct an investigation of tax evasion and find out which individuals initiated and committed this crime.
According to the norms of legislation, it is possible to bring to responsibility citizens who have reached the age of sixteen. This is due to the fact that, according to the norms of the Civil Code, entrepreneurship is possible from sixteen years old if a citizen is emancipated.
Sanctions for offenses under the Tax Code of the Russian Federation
According to the norms of tax legislation, fines are imposed on citizens and organizations. Thus, the offender is punished, and the state increases the amount of the budget.
In case of tax evasion on a large scale, liability may affect the norms of the Criminal Code. At the same time, penalties also remain.
The tax code records two types of crimes in this area:
- Failure to submit a tax return (Section 119). In this case, the penalty is five percent of the tax amount. The size of the fine cannot be less than one thousand rubles and more than thirty percent of money not transferred to the budget.
- Underestimation of the tax base or incorrect calculation of the amount to be transferred to the budget (Article 122). The amount of the monetary sanction is twenty percent of the amount of unpaid tax. When performing these actions, intentionally, the amount increases to forty percent.
Sanctions for offenses under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation; tax evasion of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
According to the norms of the Administrative Code, liability can be applied only for untimely execution of a declaration.
For the specified offense punished officials of the enterprise. According to the norms of Article 15.5 of the Code, they are fined in the amount of three hundred to five hundred rubles.
Sanctions for offenses under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
For evading a legal entity from paying taxes under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is not punished. According to the norms of criminal law, tax evasion is the failure to submit a corresponding declaration or entering false information into a document.
For these actions, individuals and officials bear different types of responsibility. Criminal liability occurs if tax evasion is fixed in the amount considered large in the Code. If the size is especially large, tax evasion will be punished more severely.
The types of punishments are as follows:
- For debts to the budget in large amounts, a fine for a citizen can reach three hundred thousand rubles. An individual may also be deprived of liberty for one year.
- For especially large debts, a financial sanction can reach half a million rubles, and a period of imprisonment of a citizen - three years.
- For a large amount of enterprise debt to the budget, the guilty official may be held liable for three hundred thousand rubles or imprisoned for two years. An additional measure of responsibility may be the deprivation of the right to occupy specific positions or work in a certain area.
- For non-payment of tax fees in the amount recognized as especially large, or committed by a group of previously conspired persons, these citizens will be sentenced to pay a fine in the amount of half a million rubles or imprisoned for three years.
The type and amount of punishment is determined by the court depending on the amount of damage that was inflicted on the state budget, as well as on aggravating or mitigating circumstances and the degree of guilt of the accused person.
Aiding Tax Crimes
As part of the fight against tax evasion, legislation is being improved on this area. In particular, under the Criminal Code, offenders and accomplices are brought to justice under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
These include citizens who deliberately committed actions aimed at the realization of criminal intent for non-payment of taxes. Punishment of these persons is considered in subparagraph “a” of the second part of Article 199 of the Criminal Code.
If the crime is a group crime, the punishment under article 33 of the Code for complicity will be added to the article in question. Types of aiding are the following:
- giving directions, advice;
- the provision of tools, means of crime;
- concealment of traces, offenses;
- elimination of obstacles;
- a promise to buy items that were obtained during the crime.
Statute of limitations
The Tax Code uses two types of statutes of limitations:
- article 113 - prosecution;
- Article 115 - collection of fines.
The statute of limitations for tax crimes is three years after the tax period in which the crime was committed has ended. A corresponding check is carried out at the same time.
The tax inspectorate may suspend the statute of limitations if it is established that the taxpayer deliberately takes time and opposes the audit. In this case, the employees of the inspection body draw up an act on the basis of which the term is suspended.
After a decision is made to hold a criminal responsible for a tax offense, the tax service counts the deadline for recovering the accrued fine. The basis for calculating the term is a written request to transfer the amount of debt and a fine indicating the date of execution.
Actions of the tax service in case of refusal of the offender to pay a fine
If the offender refused to pay the debt and the fine on a voluntary basis, the tax service has the right to carry out one of the following actions:
- within two months, make an independent decision on imposing a fine;
- within six months to file a claim with the court for the collection of money by force.
In both cases, the deadlines start from the end date of the period indicated in the written request.
Circumstances that affect the severity of sentences
For tax evasion by individuals, liability is assigned depending on a number of factors: a crime was deliberately committed or by negligence.
When committing these actions, intentionally the punishment will be more severe. The Tax Code establishes cases in which the offender may be exempted from liability:
- The person did not transfer the statutory amount to the budget due to an emergency that was widespread or due to a natural disaster.
- A citizen did not pay tax due to illness.
- The offender strictly followed the incorrect explanations given by the tax or other competent authorities, as a result of which tax evasion occurred.
If one of these facts took place, the authorities are not entitled to hold the offender accountable.
When establishing the citizen’s guilt and the absence of good reason for late payments, the issue of the severity of the applicable sanction is decided. In this case, aggravating and mitigating circumstances are taken into account.
In the presence of difficult circumstances arising from the offender, the amount of the fine can be reduced to two times. For people who have committed the act repeatedly, the size of the monetary sanction may double.
When imposing a sentence, tax and other authorized bodies establish the reasons for tax evasion, and also determine whether mitigating and aggravating circumstances have occurred that allow increasing or decreasing the degree of punishment. In addition, it is checked whether this person had previously committed similar crimes and whether the citizen had the intention to carry out illegal actions.