Administrative liability for tax violations
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This article reflects the main aspects of administrative liability for violations in the field of taxes. The concept of “tax offense” is considered, as well as the types and forms of liability established in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Attention is also paid to mitigating and aggravating circumstances, the amount of penalties established for a specific type of tax violation. Key words
: administrative responsibility, tax offense, taxpayer, tax authority, guilt. In order to understand the types of liability provided for by administrative legislation for tax violations, it is first necessary to define the very concept of such a violation. Since liability for such violations is established by the Tax Code, the concept of a tax offense must directly relate to the subjects of such a violation: they can be taxpayers, tax agents, etc. Thus, a tax offense is an unlawful guilty act of a taxpayer, tax agent and other persons, expressed both in the form of action and inaction, and for which responsibility is established in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
The specificity that distinguishes tax offenses from other types is that they are mainly committed through inaction: i.e. the person does not take any active steps to correct the situation: does not provide the necessary documents and information to the tax authorities in a timely manner, and allows incorrect accounting at the enterprise.
Chapter 15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses establishes administrative liability specifically for tax offenses. The legislator includes such violations as those related to finance, taxes and fees, the securities market and the insurance industry. The same chapter of the Code of Administrative Offenses [2] states that an administrative fine is applied as a sanction for the above violations. But the amount of fines depends on the composition of the offense, on its severity and is determined directly in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Chapter 16-18).[1]
The legislation indicates that only the guilty person bears responsibility, i.e. if his guilt is proven in court. Both criminal and administrative legislation of the Russian Federation distinguishes two forms of guilt - intent and negligence. Thus, a violation will be committed with intent if the person was aware of the unlawful nature of the administrative offense, i.e. the person knew that his actions were illegal, and also desired or consciously allowed the occurrence of negative consequences of his actions (inactions).
A violation will be considered careless in the case where the person did not realize the illegality of his actions (inactions), but could and should have foreseen them. If an offense is committed by an organization, the degree of its guilt is determined based on the degree to which its officials and representatives are guilty, who through their actions or inactions committed a tax offense.[3]
Who can act as a subject of administrative liability in the field of tax violations? In this case, both legal entities (organizations, individual entrepreneurs) and individuals - individual citizens who are taxpayers - will be subject to liability.
For individuals, the law establishes a minimum age limit for liability - as in cases of general administrative liability, a person can be held accountable for tax offenses only upon reaching the age of 16 years. The Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes the grounds for bringing to responsibility for tax violations, in the absence of which no person can be held accountable. The principle of inadmissibility of liability “twice for the same thing” also applies - i.e. a person can be prosecuted only once for committing the same tax violation.
The law also regulates mitigating and aggravating circumstances, which can influence the amount of punishment, or completely exclude the guilt of the subject. Such circumstances include: – failure to establish the fact of a tax offense; – lack of proof of a person’s guilt in committing an unlawful act; – the person who committed the violation has not reached the age of administrative responsibility; – if the statute of limitations for prosecution has expired, which as a general rule is 3 years; – the commission of the offense was a consequence of extraordinary circumstances; – the offender’s lack of control over his actions (in this case, he may be in a state of passion).
The above list is not exhaustive, since when imposing a punishment, the court has the right to highlight other circumstances that would help mitigate the guilt of the offender, taking into account his personality, social and property status, characteristics, etc.
It should be noted that the procedure for applying administrative liability can be both judicial and pre-trial, according to the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. A feature of administrative liability for tax violations is also its subject composition: only officials can be involved, although the legislator has made it possible for an individual to act as a third party. Most often, he is the head of the organization or the chief accountant, that is, an official. An official is a person who is vested with certain management powers and, as a result, carries out administrative functions. A person brought to administrative responsibility does not have to independently prove his innocence, in accordance with the principle of the presumption of innocence enshrined in the Constitution.
The law provides for the following cases as aggravating circumstances: – if, after a request to stop illegal activity, a person continues to carry out it, ignoring the requirements of authorized bodies or persons; – if the person committed a repeated offense of a similar nature within one year; – if minors were involved in the commission of the offense; – if the offense was committed as part of a group of persons in which there was a preliminary conspiracy; – if the offense was committed during the occurrence of a natural disaster, other emergency situation, and also if the person was intoxicated.
Responsibility for administrative offenses in the field of taxation established by Articles 15.3-15.9 and 15.11 of the Administrative Code. Let's look at their types in more detail.
Thus, violation of the deadline for registration with the tax authority, according to Art. 15.3 of the Administrative Code, for officials, with the exception of individual entrepreneurs, will entail administrative punishment in the form of a fine from 500 to 1000 rubles. If, during a similar act, the subject is also allowed to conduct business activities, then such a violation will be punishable by a fine of 2,000 to 3,000 rubles (also for officials, with the exception of individual entrepreneurs).
If a person violates the deadline for submitting the relevant documents to the competent authorities on opening or closing an account in a bank or other credit institution, then such an act will be qualified under Art. 15.4 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The amount of penalties here ranges from 1000 to 2000 rubles (also for officials - not individual entrepreneurs). But for violating the deadline for submitting a tax return (also in accordance with the above-mentioned article), the official faces a minimum fine of up to 500 rubles.
Failure to comply with the provisions of Part 1 of Art. is also a serious violation. 15.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation: if the person has not provided the documents necessary for tax control to the authorized tax, customs and other government bodies. Here, the subjects of responsibility can be citizens - individuals. For such entities, the amount of penalties does not exceed 300 rubles, but for a similar act, officials (except individual entrepreneurs) may be subject to a fine of 300 to 500 rubles.
But the most serious administrative offense, which can cause the greatest damage, is a gross violation of accounting and reporting. Responsibility for this act is established in Art. 15.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation: thus, officials may be subject to punishment in the form of a fine from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles.[4]
Summing up, we came to the conclusion about the complexity and multifaceted nature of such a phenomenon as administrative liability for violations in the field of taxes. The type of responsibility we have considered is a set and close interconnection of social relations that are regulated by administrative and tax legislation. The focus of these public relations is to regulate the proper fulfillment by tax entities of their responsibilities for the timely provision of documents necessary for the tax authorities, high-quality maintenance of accounting records and the provision of reliable information to the tax authorities.
Bibliography
1. Tax Code of the Russian Federation part 2 (Tax Code of the Russian Federation part 2) dated August 5, 2000 N 117-FZ. 2. Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offences” dated December 30, 2001 N 195-FZ (as amended on August 2, 2019) (as amended and supplemented, entered into force on August 13, 2019). 3. Bryzgalin A.V. Responsibility for tax violations. // Economy and law. 2015. No. 3. P. 75-100. 4. Kaykharov M.S. Mechanism for bringing the subject of tax legal relations to responsibility for tax offenses / M.S. Kaykharov // Science of the XXI century. 2021. No. 6.
Fine
The amount of the fine is determined on the basis of the norms contained in Articles 69 and 122 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. For organizations, liability for non-payment of taxes is primarily expressed in the accrual of penalties for each day of delay. Payment of accrued penalties does not relieve a legal entity from repaying the principal amount of its financial obligation to the tax office.
Responsibility for organizations arises taking into account the following characteristic features:
- if information is revealed indicating an understatement of the tax base, the organization faces a fine, the amount of which may be 20% of the total tax amount;
- If it is discovered that a legal entity deliberately underestimated the tax base or made an incorrect calculation in order to reduce the amount of tax collection, then liability comes in the form of a 40% fine.
A similar scheme for applying penalties is provided for persons registered as individual entrepreneurs.
Help from a lawyer for economic crimes
As a lawyer specializing in solving economic and tax matters, I am able to provide you with comprehensive protection. It is no secret that solving economic matters is always fraught with many difficulties, because they require special knowledge, thoughtfulness and the ability to analyze the current situation in order to assess future prospects.
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- I provide comprehensive advice on all issues related to economic matters;
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When is criminal prosecution possible against a taxpayer?
We are talking about criminal measures only when non-payment of taxes is associated with major material damage suffered by the state and the presence of perpetrators. A particularly strict approach to offenses by prior conspiracy, when the parties discuss the details of the offense in advance.
In some cases, no measures are taken against the violator when it is possible to prove that he is right (for example, in practice, a positive result gives a response to the tax office’s demand for clarification on VAT). If the Federal Tax Service makes such a decision, it must indicate the main reasons for its adoption. There are also a number of circumstances that exempt a person from certain measures (for example, if the person did not control the actions, or was in a serious illness, having made unintentional errors in the papers). There are a number of other circumstances that allow one to count on a more lenient punishment: personal circumstances, coercion, etc. Detailed information can be obtained from our tax consultant, who is well versed in this issue and has extensive practical experience.
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