In the context of an increasingly developing economy, the issue of corporate tax evasion has become a focal point attracting the attention of the whole society. This not only causes heavy losses to the national budget but also affects fairness and transparency in business operations. This article will discuss the criminal prosecution of businesses that commit tax evasion.
1. Acts considered tax evasion under the Law on Tax Administration 2019
Article 143 Law on Tax Administration 2019, acts considered tax evasion include:
- Failing to submit tax registration documents; failure to file tax returns; submit tax returns after 90 days from the expiration date of the deadline for filing tax returns or the expiration date of the deadline for extension of filing tax returns under the Law on Tax Administration 2019;
- Failing to record in the accounting books revenues related to the determination of the amount of tax payable;
- Failing to issue invoices when selling goods and/or services as prescribed by law, or recording the value on the sales invoice lower than the actual payment value of the goods and/or services sold;
- Using illegal invoices and documents, illegal use of invoices to account for goods and input materials in activities arising from tax obligations, reducing the amount of tax payable or increasing the amount of tax deducted, the amount of tax refunded, the amount of tax not payable;
- Using documents and documents that do not reflect the true nature of the transaction or the actual transaction value to determine the wrong amount of tax payable, the amount of tax exempted, the amount of tax reduced, the amount of tax refund, the amount of tax not payable;
- Making false declarations with the fact of exported or imported goods without declaring additional tax declaration documents after the goods have been cleared customs;
- Deliberately failing to declare or falsely declare tax on imported or exported goods;
- Colluding with shippers to import goods for tax evasion;
- Using goods subject to non-taxable, tax-exempt, or tax-exempt consideration for improper purposes without declaring the change of use purposes to tax authorities;
- Taxpayers have business activities during the period of suspension period of business activities but do not notify the tax authorities.
Remarks: Taxpayers will not be sanctioned for tax evasion but will be sanctioned for violations of tax procedures as prescribed in clause 1, Article 141 Law on Tax Administration 2019 for the following cases:
- Failing to file tax registration, file tax returns, filing tax returns after 90 days but not incurring the amount of tax payable;
- Submitting a tax return 90 days after the tax payable arises, and the taxpayer has paid the full tax amount and late payment interest to the State budget before the time the tax authority announces the decision on tax inspection or before the time the tax authority makes a record of the late submission of tax returns.
2. Tax evasion under the provisions of the Criminal Code
Article 136 on the principle of sanctioning administrative violations of the Law on Tax Administration 2019, in case of violation of the law on tax administration to the extent that it must be prosecuted Criminal liability shall comply with the provisions of criminal law.
In addition, Article 200 of the Criminal Code 2015 amended by clause 1, Article 47 of the Law on Amending the Criminal Code 2017, tax evasion is stipulated: If there is an act of tax evasion with an amount from VND 100,000,000 to less than VND 300,000,000 or less than VND 100,000,000 but has been sanctioned for violations it is for tax evasion or having been convicted of this offense or one of the offenses prescribed by this Law when the conviction has not been expunged but also continued violations will be subject to criminal penalties.
The penalty for tax evasion is stipulated, specifically in Article 200 of the Criminal Code 2015, the framing of the penalty will depend on the calculation of the substance, extent, and damage to the offender’s violation. In general, for offenders who are individuals or commercial legal entities, the penalty will be a fine or imprisonment for a term of time.
Thus, according to the analyzed regulations above, enterprises when performing obligations related to tax declaration, deduction, and accounting accountancy books with competent tax authorities should pay attention to avoid performing acts considered as tax evasion by the provisions of law. The declaration and payment of arising taxes should comply with the order of procedures as well as the time prescribed by law for each specific tax.
