In the dissertation, a comprehensive analysis of the prevention of offenses in the field of taxes and fees was carried out, its administrative and legal foundations were outlined. The main methodological means of understanding the essence of the prevention of offenses in the field of taxes and duties was an interdisciplinary approach, which made it possible to look at the studied phenomenon from the point of view of administrative, criminal and financial (tax) law. Also, the methodological basis of the study was the comparative method, which made it possible to take a broader look at the researched issue, in particular from the point of view of positive foreign experience in tax administration and the establishment of legal responsibility for offenses in this area.
It is substantiated that taxes are the main way of forming the state budget. They perform the following functions: fiscal (filling the country's budget); the distributive, or social, function consists in the redistribution of society's income; regulatory function, manifested in the control of economic relations; the control function is implemented in the monitoring by state bodies of the timeliness and completeness of receipts to the state budget of payments that taxpayers are obliged to pay. An attempt to evade these obligations can serve as a basis for bringing legal entities or individuals to various types of legal responsibility. Liability of taxpayers for violation of tax legislation can be financial (tax), administrative and criminal. Tax liability of taxpayers is regulated by Section 2, Chapter 11 of the Code of Ukraine. Financial responsibility is applied in the form of punitive (financial) sanctions (fines) and/or fines. An administrative offense (misdemeanor) is an illegal, culpable (intentional or negligent) action or inaction that encroaches on public order, property, rights and freedoms of citizens, on the established management procedure and for which the law provides for administrative liability (paragraph one of Article 9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
It is noted that a tax offense is an illegal, culpable (in cases expressly provided for by the Code of Ukraine) act (action or inaction) of a taxpayer, controlling bodies and/or their officials (officials), other subjects. A tax offense is characterized by the social danger or harmfulness of the act, the illegality of the act, the culpable behavior of the person who is the subject of the act. In order for an offense to be qualified as a tax offence, it is necessary: the offense must include the fault of the taxpayer; the offense must contain a violation of tax legislation; responsibility for this violation should be established directly by the PC of Ukraine. A person who commits an illegal act intentionally or out of negligence is considered guilty of a tax offense.
Signs of tax offenses: 1) tax offense is committed either carelessly or intentionally. Guilt is a mandatory feature of a tax offense; 2) the tax offense must cause harmful consequences, which may be expressed in damage, violation of rights, etc., and a cause-and-effect relationship must be established between the act itself and the occurrence of consequences; 3) a tax offense must be punishable, i.e. its commission leads to negative consequences for the taxpayer in the form of tax sanctions. Each offense in the field of taxes and fees has its own composition, which is the basis for bringing to legal responsibility.
It is shown that the peculiarity of foreign tax legislation is that in a number of countries, criminal liability for tax offenses is established not by the norms of criminal laws (codes), but by normative legal acts included in the system of tax and administrative legislation. Analyzing the legislation of foreign countries on tax sanctions, two main approaches are distinguished. The first approach - "American" - is characterized, first of all, by the strengthening of sanctions. If the defendant is found guilty, the court may deprive him of his liberty for a term of up to one year or impose a fine. The second approach - "European" (so the second trend of foreign legislation in the matter of establishing tax sanctions can be conditionally called) - is distinguished by a more humane treatment of violators of tax norms. Methods of combating non-payment of taxes in foreign countries include means of a political nature, consisting in the use of taxes only for financial and not political purposes; means of an economic nature, aimed at avoiding the establishment of too heavy a tax burden in conditions of unfavorable economic conditions, etc. The leading place among the methods should be given to the means of moral influence, the main among which is the development of tax ideology aimed at increasing the level of tax morale of the payer (perception by him of the need for fiscal payments with less resistance).
