The publications of most federal editions are devoted to a painful issue for Russian business over the opening of criminal cases for tax evasion crimes on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, November 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Former President Dmitry Medvedev initiated the liberalization of legislation in this sphere, banning the law enforcement agencies to open criminal cases for tax evasion crimes bypassing the taxation services. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin proposed in October to come back to the old practice, but he agreed to a compromise unexpectedly.
At a meeting with head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin the Russian president decided that the Russian Investigative Committee will have to receive a well-motivated view of the Federal Taxation Service when opening criminal cases for violations of the tax legislation, Kommersant daily reported.
Mr Mishustin gave some reasons why his service cannot be denied to open tax evasion cases. In his words, the failure to produce a tax declaration or false or distorted information that is contained in the tax declaration is the reason for accusation of tax evasion. “Therefore, a well-motivated resolution on a tax declaration is needed to open these cases,” the head of the service said. Vladimir Putin agreed with this approach and instructed to formulate the found compromise in legal terms.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily noted that Putin is always ready to use his authority to establish effective interdepartmental cooperation. In this situation he is more concerned over the fact that the comeback of the law enforcers in the sphere of investigation of tax dodging crimes may augment pressure on business. “The business bears special responsibility for economy, jobs, and we should provide proper conditions for them,” Putin stated.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily cited Mikhail Mishustin as reporting to the president that for the past ten months the country’s consolidated budget had received 9.4 trillion roubles (about $286.8 billion) that is 2.4% more as compared with the same period in 2012.
Novye Izvestia daily noted that according the effective rules the opening of a criminal case is a measure of last resort for the state response to a tax dodger, where all other methods are exhausted to pay the tax arrears. Even if this rule is cancelled, the companies will retain the right to pay the tax, fees and fines and avoid criminal responsibility this way. This right is not cancelled yet.
Moskovsky Komsomolets daily recalled that in October Putin submitted in the State Duma a bill, which permits to open cases not only on the strength of the materials of the taxation services, but on the results of the search by the police. It is no surprise that the presidential initiative stirred up an uproar among Russian business people. They were afraid that the comeback to the previous practice could have stepped up the pressure of the law enforcement agencies on business.
RBC daily reported that the Federal Taxation Service intends to spread the out-of-court procedure of settling the disputes on all tax disputes. The service is given 15 days to meet all the claims of the taxpayers.
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