Tax offenses are not uncommon in modern society. What does Russian law say about the concept and composition of a tax offense? What sanctions should be applied to violators? Answers to these questions will be provided in the article.
The concept and features of a tax offense
According to article No. 106 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a tax offense is an act of a taxpayer that is illegal. According to the law, a citizen is liable for such acts, which is expressed in the form of sanctions.
The concept of a tax offense should not be confused with a tax crime. In the first case, we are talking about relatively “easy” acts, in the second - about rather serious violations of the law.
Responsibility can be brought to both individuals and legal entities. The law establishes the following requirements for liability:
- it occurs if the act does not contain evidence of a crime;
- All sanctions apply only in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation.
A tax offense may be intentional and reckless. All further sanctions will be imposed depending on what form the illegal act has.
About the object of tax violation
What is a part of a tax violation? The law speaks of an unlawful act and the existence of sanctions for this act. An act can be expressed in two forms: action and inaction. The concept of a tax offense consists, among other things, of their four most important elements: this is an object, subject, objective and subjective side.
The object of a tax offense are all sorts of benefits and values regulated by law. It is in relation to these benefits that malicious acts or omissions are often committed. The components of the object are the following elements:
- the procedure for accounting for tax payers;
- statutory procedure for the payment and calculation of fees and taxes;
- tax reporting procedure.
What in this case is the objective side? The law states any unlawful act for which liability is established in the Tax Code.
About the subject of tax offense
In addition to the object, the concept of a tax offense also includes the subject. The subject in this case can be called the offenders. Such persons may be tax agents, enterprises, taxpayers themselves. All these citizens should be subject to strict tax control, which is carried out by experts, translators, and other specialists. The subjective side of the tax offense is legal guilt in the form of intent or negligence.
What are the grounds for classifying an act as an offense specifically of a tax type? Lawyers speak of three such grounds:
- Actual. We are talking here about the specific act of a particular subject who violated legal requirements.
- Normative. Legal liability for an illegal act.
- Procedural. An act of an authorized instance imposing a specific penalty for an offense.
The conditions for holding a person accountable will be described below.
Tax liability
What conditions does the penalty for a tax offense entail? The concept, composition and characteristics of such conditions are prescribed by law. Here are some highlights:
- If a person is held liable for tax offenses, then he is still not exempted from the obligation to pay the due tax amount.
- No one can be prosecuted for the commission of the same tax offense.
- Attracting organizations for the violation in question does not exempt officials working in it from administrative, civil or even criminal liability.
- A citizen is not considered guilty until his guilt is proved by a court. Moreover, the citizen himself is not obliged to prove his innocence. Doubts about the guilt of a person are interpreted in no other way, except in favor of this person.
- Sanctions for tax offenses cannot be applied to an innocent citizen.
The concept, signs and types of tax offense should also be taken into account when choosing a sanction against the guilty person.
The concept of tax sanction
What is a tax sanction? Chapter 16 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes norms in accordance with which sanctions are established and applied in the form of monetary penalties. What is a sanction? Article 114 of the Tax Code refers to retaliation for an offense. Sanction can also have preventive value - in the form of preventing repeated violation of the rule of law.
How is the sanction process going? After a person has committed an unlawful act, the tax authority filed a lawsuit to recover tax sanctions from the person responsible. In fact, the plaintiff in this area is the tax authority itself. In this case, the lawsuit may be sent to one of the following authorities:
- to a court of general jurisdiction - in the collection of sanctions from an individual who is not an entrepreneur;
- to the arbitration court - in the recovery of tax sanctions from a legal entity or individual who is an individual entrepreneur.
The types of sanctions applied are established only by the court - this is also stated in the law that enshrines the concept of a tax offense. The types of responsibility depend on the nature of the act - whether it is intentional or accidental, as well as on many other factors, which will be discussed later.
What circumstances preclude blame?
According to Article 111 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, there are a number of special circumstances that can completely exclude the fault of the tax offender. Here's what to call here:
- A person could not be aware of his actions or he was guided by a painful condition. In such cases, the punishment often changes to compulsory treatment.
- The offense was committed due to natural disaster, extraordinary or insurmountable circumstances.
- The taxpayer used written clarifications on tax legislation from the relevant financial authority.
It is also worth noting that the concept of liability for tax offenses cannot be applied in cases where there is completely no evidence of the guilt of the offender, the offense is committed by a person under the age of 16 years, and also if the statute of limitations for breaking the law has expired.
What circumstances mitigate guilt?
According to Article 112 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, there are also circumstances that, although they cannot completely exclude guilt, can significantly mitigate the applicable sanctions. Although everything will depend on the court itself, which will consider such circumstances. Here are some cases the law indicates:
- a person has committed an offense by virtue of official, material or other dependence;
- the law was violated by threat or coercion.
At least one such circumstance should reduce the amount of the sanction imposed by at least two times.
There are aggravating circumstances in the law - such as the deliberate commission of an offense, the desire to raise finances for the implementation of subsequent violations of the law, etc. An aggravating factor will also be the commission of a repeated offense within a year from a court order. In this case, the sanction can be increased by 100%.
The concepts of guilt and punishment
Before you talk about the types of liability for non-compliance with the law in this area, you should pay attention to the methodological component of the offense. What do the concept and legal signs of a tax violation include? Lawyers identify two rather important terms - guilt and punishment.
Guilty is understood as a person’s mental attitude to the act committed by him. The attitude is intentional, which greatly increases the degree of responsibility, or in the form of negligence, which can significantly mitigate the imposed sanctions. Punishability usually refers to the sanctions themselves, which will be discussed later.
Tax offenses: the concept of liability
Depending on the gravity of the offense, tax liability can be administrative and criminal. Three types of acts constitute a criminal offense:
- failure to fulfill obligations by tax agents;
- tax evasion;
- concealment of financial means, due to which taxes were to be paid.
Chapter 22 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which deals with crimes in the economic sphere, is devoted to the tax sphere.
If we talk about administrative punishment, then it is worth highlighting a violation of the deadlines for submitting documentation, errors in declarations, etc.
The first group of tax offenses
Articles 116-135 of the Russian Tax Code reinforce the concept, signs and types of tax offenses. Thus, article 116 refers to a violation of the current and statutory procedure for registration with tax authorities. The fine for such violations is 10 thousand rubles, and in case of repeated violation during the year - 40 thousand rubles. The same sanction applies to tax evasion.
Another inaction violating the law is enshrined in article 119 of the Tax Code. This is about not submitting a tax return. The sanction in this case can reach 1 thousand rubles. A fine of 200 rubles awaits persons who have violated the procedure for submitting a declaration.
For unreliable information in the tax calculation of legal entities, a considerable fine can be expected, the amount of which reaches 40 thousand rubles initially and 80 thousand rubles for a repeated act. For gross violation of accounting rules, the fine will amount to 10 thousand rubles.
The second group of tax offenses
What threatens a tax offender for non-payment of taxes, insurance premiums or fees? The law establishes a sanction in the amount of 20% of the unpaid amount. It is worth remembering that punishment does not exempt from the obligation to pay debts. A tax agent that does not fulfill its obligations to transfer finances will have to pay 20% of the amount to be transferred. For non-compliance with the rules on the possession of seized property, citizens will be required to pay a fine of 30 thousand rubles.
Legal entities are required to pay 100 thousand rubles for failure to provide information to the tax control authority. At the same time, only 500 rubles will be paid by persons who submitted incorrect information. 5 thousand rubles will be paid by persons who provided incorrect information about controlled financial transactions.