"Vedomosti": Tax optimization may become a crime

Many tax optimization schemes can be equal to abuse of the right and become a crime, the "Vedomosti" reports . The corresponding draft amendments to the Tax Code was initiated by the Federation Council. According to the publication, the government is currently discussing amendments.

The tax base may be underestimated due to the use of benefits, deductions, reduced rates, creating conditions for the use of special mode. In the project and an explanatory note to it, methods of abuse of tax rights are listed, the publication clarifies. The text of the document says that it can be any "actions (inaction) aimed at evasion of taxes." If transactions and operations are made only for a type or cover others, then there should not be tax preferences.

In addition, the bill significantly expands the powers of the tax service. If the tax authorities suspect the company in abuse, then the statute of limitations and depth of tax audit on the project can grow from three to 10 years. According to experts, such a check can completely paralyze the activities of any company.

For the first time, the Investigative Committee for the first time proposed an abuse of tax law in the law, the publication notes. Currently, it is this department that has the right to initiate tax crimes.

On February 14, President Vladimir Putin said that there will be no return to the old procedure for initiating criminal cases of tax crimes . According to the president, the tax authorities should not evaluate whether the action is criminally punishable, this is a function that is unusual for them. This should be done by the investigating authorities, the president emphasized. He rejected the argument about the lack of appropriate specialists in the Investigative Committee. "This does not mean that it is necessary to postpone this function to someone else. You just need to strengthen the personnel composition of the relevant investigative units," Putin emphasized.

The President recalled that he previously suggested that the tax authorities "in any case give their assessment and that if cases are excited by the relevant investigative units, so that they are obliged to request the opinion of the tax authority."

At the same time, the president agreed with the proposal of the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin to consider an increase in the threshold for serious and especially serious tax crimes.

On November 25, Putin at a meeting with the head of the Federal Tax Service Mikhail Mishustin said that the TFR, initiating tax cases, should use the motivated judgment of the Federal Tax Service .

“The law can record the obligation of law enforcement agencies, including the Investigative Committee, to request the relevant documents from the tax authorities so that the documents from the tax service are always present,” the president said. He ordered Mishustin to submit consistent proposals on this issue.

On November 14, Putin made a harsh criticism of the head of the Ministry of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev and the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Officials spoke out against the bill introduced to the State Duma, which returns the right to investigative bodies to initiate tax crimes. Putin said that the violation of the prevailing rules for discussing complex topics may follow the example of the ex-Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, who went to the expert community.