And Sergey Kudinov, a lawyer specializing in tax disputes, will help answer these questions for the RuNews24.ru editorial board.
“One of the most frequent offenses in the tax sphere is the purchase of so-called “paper VAT” by taxpayers. In the accounting reflect a fictitious transaction for the purchase of goods or services using false invoices. But in reality the goods are not shipped or paid for, and the deduction of the so-called “input” VAT is formalized, thereby understating the amount of VAT to be paid to the budget. In the fictitious purchase of goods, works, services, the transaction is carried out only “on paper”, - says the lawyer.
According to the deputies' calculations, made on the basis of data from the Federal Tax Service of Russia, companies using such schemes, only in 2021 did not pay to the budget about 1 trillion rubles. And according to the Main Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in 2023 the damage from the use of such schemes has already exceeded 2 trillion rubles.
But for dishonest taxpayers who use such tax avoidance schemes, there are Articles 198 and 199 of the Criminal Code on tax evasion. There is also Article 327 of the Criminal Code, which provides for liability for forgery, production or circulation of forged official documents.
What is the purpose of the law?
According to the legislators, Article 173 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should fill the legal gap in that the current provisions of the Criminal Code do not allow the organizers of VAT frauds to be criminally prosecuted. At present, in fact, such activities of the organizers of such schemes are not prosecuted by criminal law.
“Attackers acquire the charter documents of organizations registered on the front persons. Or they register such organizations themselves using persons who may consciously be nominal directors or the inclusion in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities takes place without their knowledge. On behalf of such organizations they produce false invoices and tax returns confirming tax deductions of unscrupulous taxpayers. The organizers of the scheme receive illegal remuneration for their services. Thus, the reason for bringing to responsibility will be the damage caused to organizations (citizens) and the extraction of large and especially large income by the organizer of fraud. Most likely, we mean cases when the sale of “paper” VAT is put on a stream and a person who earns money on it is revealed,” - explains the interlocutor of the edition.
In accordance with Article 173 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for the organization of such activities and receiving income from it on a large scale, more than 3.5 million rubles, threatens:
- A fine in the amount of 100,000 to 300,000 rubles;
- or compulsory labor for up to four years;
- or imprisonment for up to four years with a fine of up to 80,000 rubles.
If the illegal income is qualified as especially large, more than 13.5 million rubles, and the organization of schemes was carried out by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group, the responsibility will be stricter:
- forced labor for up to five years;
- imprisonment for up to seven years with a fine of up to 800,000 rubles.
"The discussion and adoption of the law is taking place on the eve of serious changes in tax legislation, which will entail an increase in the number of VAT payers. And those who will pay VAT under the simplified taxation system or switch to the general taxation system, which includes the payment of VAT, may be tempted to use illegal schemes to reduce their tax burden, which means that the “shadow” market of services for the provision of “paper VAT” may increase. There is also a question whether Article 173 will be amended or supplemented with liability for other forged documents, such as UDD, acts of work performed, etc., since the law still deals only with invoices.
Of course, Article 173 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is designed to reduce the number of offenses of tax legislation and its main purpose is to increase tax revenues to the budget. There are concerns that this article may apply to a large number of persons and bona fide entrepreneurs may fall under it. But on the other hand, for bona fide taxpayers who find themselves in situations where, due to the use of illegal schemes by one of the VAT payers in the chain, the tax authorities deny VAT deductions, this hope for risk reduction may turn out to be super risky”, - concluded the expert.
