On the correct application of administrative liability measures for violations of tax legislation

In the event that tax law violations are detected during inspections, specifically the non-payment or incomplete payment of taxes by an entity, authorized bodies will decide on bringing its officials to administrative responsibility under Article 13.6 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses (hereinafter referred to as the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus).

In case of an offense committed through negligence, the specific part of the aforementioned article to be applied shall be determined based on the percentage ratio between the amounts of taxes, duties (levies) accrued for the period of the official performing relevant functions and the total amount of payments calculated by the entity for the specified period. Furthermore, only the period verified by the authorized bodies shall be taken into account in the calculation.

If such a percentage is more than one but not more than three, responsibility will be incurred under Part 3 of Article 13.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus; more than three but not more than five – under Part 4 of Article 13.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus; more than five – under Part 5 of Article 13.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus.

However, the aforementioned circumstances are not always correctly analyzed by officials of supervisory bodies during inspections and administrative proceedings.

For instance, the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office filed a protest against the resolution of an official of the Department for Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus for the Vitebsk Region, under Part 3 of Article 13.6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus, in a case of administrative offense concerning B., who is the head and chief accountant of LLC "S.".

It was established that when determining the aforementioned percentage ratio, the official of the supervisory body took into account only the tax payments calculated by B. for one year, rather than for the entire period of his performance of relevant duties within the inspection period, which led to an incorrect calculation and, consequently, an incorrect qualification of his actions.

The court of the Oktyabrsky District of Vitebsk satisfied the protest and sent the case against B. for a new review.

Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Legislation Enforcement and Legality of Legal Acts of the Prosecutor's Office

Areas
Andrey Nizyulko