«A Comparative Analysis of Laws of Tax Crimes in Russia and Germany»

The analysis of world-wide experience in combating tax crimes may help to determine and formulate a complex of effective national legal measures to combat criminal acts in this field with account for Russia’s integration into international financial institutions.Scientific reasearch and critical review of textbooks, articles and legislation commentaries have been placed in the basis of the present paper, the aim of which is to study tax crimes, both in Russia and Germany. To attain this aim, it is necessary to:- study and compare legal and criminal tax affairs in Russia and Germany;- analyze types of tax crimes in Russia and Germany;- reveal and analyse the structure of characteristic features of tax crimes in these countries.Thus, the object of research is tax crimes in Russia and Germany, its subject is the analysis of questions formulated above. Systematic, structural and comparative methods are the methodological grounds for present study.In fulfilling of this research such methods of scientific analysis as historical, interpretation with regard to legislation, comparative, formally legal, logical, law, etc are used.We should conclude that the historical analysis of the development of criminal rules concerning the taxation systems in Germany and Russia shows that these systems have a common basis for their development -the Roman law.The Russian Criminal Code contains the articles concerning the criminal tax liability, while the German Criminal Code does not contain such articles. The text of the Russian Criminal Code contains five articles devoted to tax crimes. In Germany exist the Regulations of taxes and payments since 1977 concerning tax crimes, which consider specific cases of tax evasions, avoiding the payments of import customs duties or violations of customs regulations. We have also analyzed trends in tax crimes and have revealed certain similarities in Russia and in Germany. However, we should mention some differences. As the analysis shows, Germany has got the professional tax service and the stable tax legislation. Thus, tax crimes can be stopped at their precriminal stage, that is - at the stage of a tax offense.Thirdly, we have examined a number of ideas and viewpoints on the subject and object of tax crimes.Thus, the use of foreign experience in tax crimes allows us to formulate a set of efficient national criminal measures to combat this type of crime. It is shown that Germany has a separate section of the criminal law - tax criminal law ("Steuerstrafrecht"), the analysis of which can help us to create a national system counteract tax and duties evasion. This system should be based on the positive results of the experience of foreign countries and should also take into account the specific situation in Russia.