Study On The Legal Responsibility Of Tax Evasion Helpers

In recent years,the situation of administrative penalties for those who provide assistance to taxpayers and withholding agents in the evasion of taxes has attracted public attention.The focus of tax evasion penalties has always been on the taxpayer and the withholding agent,and penalties for those who assist in tax evasion are relatively rare.In tax evasion cases,there are cases where the taxpayer or the withholding and payment obligor alone evades tax and there are also cases where tax evasion is committed with the help of others,but the theoretical research on tax evasion helpers has been relatively weak,therefore,it is necessary to clarify the administrative and criminal legal responsibilities of tax evasion helpers in order to improve the theoretical research on tax administration.The purpose of the study on the legal liability of tax evasion helpers is not only to complement the theory,but more importantly to solve the practical problems existing in judicial practice.The helpers of tax evasion firstly violate the tax law and infringe the legal interests protected by the tax law,and should bear administrative responsibility.If the tax evasion helper enters into the criminal judicial procedure,then he will have to bear the criminal responsibility.In the field of tax collection and administration,Article93 of Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection provides for tax evasion assistance,which is the main basis for the punishment of tax evasion assistance in law enforcement practice.However,this provision cannot be found in Tax Collection Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China,which is suspected of being ultra vires legislation;at the same time,the criteria for what should be defined as tax evasion and assistance are unclear.In the field of criminal justice,helping a taxpayer or withholding agent to evade payment of tax constitutes aiding and abetting the crime of tax evasion.China’s criminal law provides that taxpayers and withholding agents who comply with the provisions of Article 201(4)of the Criminal Law do not constitute the crime of tax evasion,but there are different views as to whether tax evasion helpers can apply this provision to the crime.This article takes the administrative and criminal legal responsibilities of tax evasion helpers as the object of study.The problems that arise in judicial practice and the theoretical controversies that exist are sorted out and analysed.The text is divided into four main chapters.The first chapter analyses the theoretical basis of the legal liability of tax evasion helpers.The relevant concepts of tax evasion helpers and tax evasion helpers are explained,as well as the relationship between the administrative liability of tax evasion helpers and the criminal liability of tax evasion helpers.The second chapter selects a case in which Zhang helped Zheng to steal taxes and was administratively punished according to the law,analyzes and summarizes the problems in the determination of the administrative legal responsibility of tax evasion helpers embodied in the case and conducts a doctrinal analysis,and draws the following conclusions: Firstly,Article 93 of the Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection is suspected of being ultra vires legislation.Secondly,the definition of tax evasion and assistance has vague standards,unclear boundaries and controversial determination of causality.Thirdly,the tax evasion helpers bear the administrative legal responsibility based on subjective intent as a necessary element.The third chapter analyzes the criminal liability of the helper in tax evasion,briefly reviews the nature and conditions of application of the "first-time non-criminal" provision in tax evasion criminal law,and focuses on the key issue of whether the "first-time non-criminal" provision can be applied to the helper in tax evasion without criminal punishment.and concludes that the "first-time non-criminal" provision should be applied to the helper in tax evasion criminal law.The fourth chapter proposes,in response to the problems in administrative legal responsibility and criminal law raised in Chapters 2 and 3 of this paper,that the Tax Collection and Administration Law should include additional provisions stipulating the legal responsibility of tax evasion helpers,that the tax authorities need to consider subjective intent in determining tax evasion helpers,and that the administrative authorities should clarify the interpretation of the definition criteria for tax evasion helpers and clarify the application of the first-time non-crime provisions for tax evasion helpers.