The problem of illegal criminal prosecution of entrepreneurs based on tax crimes

The present study considers the criminal prosecution of the businessmen for tax evasion. Analyzing the data of complaints of the Commissioner for the protection of entrepreneurs’ rights, the author concludes that illegal criminal prosecution of business representatives for violations of tax legislation is widespread. This practice has a negative impact on the business climate of the Russian Federation. One of the necessary conditions for stimulating the development of business activity is to minimize criminal and legal risks associated with the tax sphere. The author highlighted the main components of the problem of unlawful criminal prosecution, as well as possible ways to mitigate them. Among the aspects of the problem are: insufficient division of administrative and criminal responsibility for violation of tax legislation; application of the «universal» article 159 «Fraud» of the criminal code of the Russian Federation; qualification of tax crimes as continuing; insufficient criteria for recognizing the illegality of the business splitting procedure; corruption practices resulting from legal conflicts and uncertainties, as well as contradictory law enforcement practices. The current economic crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic makes the topic relevant.to successfully overcome this crisis, it is necessary to stimulate business activity, which is partially possible by solving the problem of unjustified criminal prosecution of entrepreneurs. According to the research the author comes to the conclusion about the need to solve the problem of unjustified criminal prosecution of businessmen for tax evasion by a clear demarcation of administrative and criminal responsibility for violation of tax legislation, the possible introduction of a separate corpus delicti of “tax fraud” in order to reduce cases of abuse of article 159 of the criminal code, as well as improvement of law enforcement practice, in particular relating to the qualification of tax crimes as a continuing and insufficiently informed recognition procedure business fragmentation illegal.