The State Duma approved in the first reading the mitigation of liability for tax crimes

The State Duma approved in the first reading amendments to the Criminal Code on the mitigation of liability for tax crimes, if all fines, penalties and arrears were paid in full, should from the Duma electronic database.

In particular, a criminal case on the fact of tax evasion cannot be initiated if all arrears, fines and penalties have been paid in full. For the same reason, the prosecution in an already initiated criminal case should be terminated. The document also proposes to reduce the statute of limitations for criminal liability.

At the same time, it is proposed to reduce the maximum term of punishment in the form of imprisonment under a number of articles. In particular, for tax evasion, fees and insurance premiums payable by an organization (part 2 of article 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and for failure to fulfill the duties of a tax agent (part 2 of article 199.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), it is proposed to reduce the punishment from six to five years.

It is clarified that the bill was developed “in order to reduce the negative consequences for the Russian economy in modern conditions”, it is aimed “to liberalize criminal liability for a number of crimes” that are associated with tax evasion.

According to the text of the explanatory note, the draft law was developed following the relevant decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin after a meeting with members of the Delovaya Rossiya expert center in February 2022. The instruction was issued back in April 2022. assignments dragged on due to disagreements between the Ministry of Justice on the one hand and the Ministry of Finance and the UK on the other hand, Kommersant wrote.