Methodology for Determining Tax Liability: Relation of Administrative and Criminal Law

Abstract

A comprehensive study of the methodology for determining tax liability in the context of the correlation of administrative and criminal law. It has been proved that the harmonious procedure for determining tax liability that existed before the 10^s of the 21^st century, even with some criticism, provided a logical approach to the objective establishment of tax liability and in a certain way ensured the rights of individuals through proper judicial control, as at the stage of tax assessment , and at the stage of criminal proceedings. This procedure, instead of improvement, was unjustifiably destroyed as a result of the adoption of the Tax Code of Ukraine and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine 2012. Thus, the purpose of the study of the proposed article is to outline the methodological approaches to determining tax liability with a comprehensive view of the requirements of administrative and criminal law, taking into account the principle of consistency of the applied approaches. The research methodology is based on the methods of documentary analysis and synthesis, comparative analysis, objective truth, which allowed us to systematically trace the approaches to the objective establishment of tax liability in the logical ratio of administrative and criminal law. Scientific novelty lies in a systematic study of approaches to the objective establishment of tax liability in the logical ratio of administrative and criminal law. The approaches are based on the conclusions that the opening of criminal proceedings under art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine without prior reliable establishment and administrative evidence of the amount of unpaid taxes is doomed to the impossibility of bringing cases of these criminal offenses to a verdict, therefore the conduct of such criminal proceedings is not intended to really combat tax evasion, but is carried out only to put pressure on entrepreneurs and demonstrations of the need for relevant bodies. Conclusions. Criminal proceedings under art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine without prior reliable establishment and administrative evidence of the amount of unpaid taxes do not have a judicial prospect and are subject to closure. Investigating judges should not allow any procedural actions in criminal proceedings opened under art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, without a proven agreed tax obligation established on the basis of a tax notice-decision that has entered into force (that is, the completed appeal procedure has passed if such an appeal has little place).

Keywords: tax evasion; actual non-receipt of funds; budget; state trust fund; operational search measures; judicial control.