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“Standards of evidence and prudence in the work of tax authorities and the activities of entrepreneurs (trends)” — article by Tatyana Tereshchenko and Vladimir Amelchuk for the publication “Arbitration Disputes”

In the article by Tatyana Tereshchenko, head of the analytical department of Prime Advice, and Vladimir Amelchuk, Head of the Tax practice of Prime Advice Consulting Group, for the information and analytical journal Arbitration Disputes, the official publication of the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District — The review of successful practices in eliminating tax evasion schemes, which was approved by letter of the Federal Tax Service dated 12/30/12 No. SD-4-18/17916@ together with the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, is analyzed, and parallels are drawn with the positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the degree of due diligence of entrepreneurs in the application of tax legislation.

The authors draw attention to the fact that the examples of court cases given in the review can hardly be considered reference from the point of view of collecting evidence. However, this indicates a general trend of changing the standard of proof in the practice of regulatory authorities. In this regard, it is equally important to take into account legislative innovations that are not mentioned in the review. For example, that criminal cases on tax structures can now be initiated only after the decision of the tax authority on additional taxes has entered into force in accordance with the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (that is, including after disclosure to the taxpayer of all collected materials).

Keywords: tax evasion, standard of proof, prudence, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the risky nature of entrepreneurial activity.

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