Tax evasion: initiation of pre-trial investigation, primary actions, main directions of the pre-trial investigation body’s work

Abstract

The article focuses on the problems of legal regulation and peculiarities of pre-trial investigation of tax evasion cases. It analyses scientific works whose authors have studied the peculiarities of theoretical and practical aspects of tax relations, in particular in the area of tax law violations related to tax evasion. The author's own definition of tax features has been formulated. It has been established that the main ways of tax evasion are: illegal activities – “shadow economy”; concealment of taxable objects; tax accounting in violation of current legislation; creation of fictitious companies; difficulties in interpreting tax legislation, which leads to unintentional mistakes on the part of taxpayers.

The elements of a criminal offence under Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been detailed. It has been emphasised that for an objective, qualitative, comprehensive, full study of the case file, the investigator may invite persons with special knowledge in the field of tax relations, including specialists of the State Audit Service of Ukraine and the Main Department of the State Tax Service.

On the basis of the above legislative and doctrinal statements, the following features of a tax have been proposed: mandatory payment; made by individuals and legal entities; received by the budget of the appropriate level; statutory terms and amount of tax; legal liability for violation of tax legislation.