Legal liability for illegal business. Illegal commercial activity: elements and types of crime under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Almost every adult has sold something at least once in his life, but no one would think of calling the sale of grandma’s furniture entrepreneurship. But what if a person begins to purposefully search for old furniture around the city, buy it and sell it to new owners? Such activities already have the character of a business, which means that you need to register and pay taxes so that you do not have to pay a fine for illegal business activities.

You should not rely on the fact that the tax authorities turn a blind eye to an illegal business if it brings in relatively small income. To hold a person accountable for illegal business activities, even proof of income is not required. It is enough to convict him that by his actions he pursued the goal of making a profit - for example, he advertised in a newspaper or purchased goods in bulk.

What is illegal business activity

There is an opinion that the tax authorities will be interested in an entrepreneur only if he earns a serious amount. In reality this is not the case. Even if a person sends out homemade jewelry from time to time, receiving payment by cash on delivery, he must be prepared for personal attention from the tax office. It is possible to be punished for illegal business activities even with a meager income. The severity of the punishment depends on the amount of income: upon reaching a certain amount, administrative liability for illegal business develops into criminal liability.

To understand what constitutes illegal business activity, you need to understand the concept of “business activity.” The Civil Code interprets it as an activity aimed at systematically generating profit. Theoretically, two transactions of the same type in a year are enough to discern such a direction in a person’s actions.

Among the signs of entrepreneurial activity it is worth highlighting:

testimony of clients - persons who paid for services or goods;
advertising of goods and services;
display of product samples;
wholesale purchases;
availability of receipts for receiving money;
established relationships with counterparties;
concluding lease agreements for commercial space;
accounting of business transactions.

If any of the above is characteristic of a person’s activities, it is useless to focus on the lack of profit. Illegal entrepreneurship is an activity that is aimed at making a profit, but does not necessarily bring it.

Those who rent out housing may not register an individual entrepreneur: in order not to be held responsible for illegal business, you need to draw up an agreement with the tenant, file a tax return on time and pay personal income tax. The same applies to persons who have entered into a one-time sale transaction for a decent amount: by filing a declaration, the seller will save himself from proceedings with the tax authorities.

If your activity relates to the service sector, but you don’t want to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC, you can provide services on the basis of contracts. This does not qualify as illegal business, but such cooperation has obvious disadvantages:

You cannot advertise your services;
tax authorities may consider such a business relationship to be an employment relationship, which will lead to problems for the customer of the services;
all other things being equal, the customer will prefer to cooperate with an individual entrepreneur or a company, since it will be more profitable for him.

Please note: since 2019, persons who independently provide services in the territory of Moscow, the Moscow and Kaluga regions and Tatarstan can legalize their activities as .

To engage in business fully, you need to register properly. This is very easy to do with the help of our free document preparation service: the procedure itself will take little time, and a certificate of state registration will be issued within three working days.

If you continue to conduct illegal business activities, the consequences can be very unpleasant - from fines to imprisonment.

Punishment for illegal business activities

Illegal business carries tax, administrative and criminal liability. Employees of the tax inspectorate, police, prosecutor's office, antimonopoly authorities, and consumer market supervisory authorities are authorized to expose illegal business activities. The reason for the inspection will be a signal from vigilant citizens: for example, a client of an illegal taxi driver will be dissatisfied with the service and will file a complaint.

Tax officials in court are seeking compensation from the owner of an illegal business for taxes that, due to the latter’s fault, the state did not receive. Punishment for an individual for illegal business activities will involve payment of personal income tax in the amount of proven income and late fees. In addition, tax evasion is punishable by:

10% of the amount of income derived from illegal business activities, but at least 20 thousand rubles, constitutes a fine for an entrepreneur who has not submitted an application to the Federal Tax Service to register his own business;
20% of the income, but at least 40 thousand rubles, will be paid by an entrepreneur who has been conducting an illegal business for more than 90 days;
Entrepreneurs are fined 5 thousand rubles for delaying business registration. This is a situation where an individual has submitted documents to register an individual entrepreneur or LLC, but the fact of receiving revenue earlier has been revealed. If registration is delayed for more than 90 days, the fine doubles - 10 thousand rubles.

The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for penalties. For illegal business, the fine in 2019 will be at least 500 rubles.

The fine for illegal business without registering an individual entrepreneur or LLC is from 500 to 2000 rubles;
Carrying out licensed activities by an individual without a license entails a fine of 2,000 to 2,500 rubles. Products and means of production may be confiscated.

A decision in a case of illegal business is made by a judge at the place of residence of the accused or the place of activity. The case is considered within two months from the date of drawing up the protocol on the violation, otherwise the case is not allowed to proceed.

Criminal liability for illegal business

If an illegal business causes damage to the state or citizens, the entrepreneur risks incurring criminal liability for illegal business. The articles of the Criminal Code cover the extraction of illegal income in a large amount (1.5 million rubles or more) or an especially large amount (6 million rubles or more). Prosecution in such cases is the task of the police and the prosecutor's office.

For illegal business activities, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides the following penalties:

for causing damage on a large scale - a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles or in the amount of the offender’s earnings for two years; Also, the punishment for an individual for illegal business activities can be 180-240 hours of compulsory labor or imprisonment for a period of 4-6 months.
for causing damage on an especially large scale - a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles or in the amount of the offender’s earnings for three years; imprisonment for a term of up to five years, coupled with a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles or in the amount of six months’ income.

The fine for illegal business activities may be supplemented by sanctions for related offenses: illegal use of someone else’s trademarks in business, deception of the buyer, trade in counterfeit goods.

Running a business involves paying taxes. But beginning businessmen are sometimes in no hurry to formalize their activities, considering them too insignificant.

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How is illegal business punished in 2019? Illegal business activity is always a violation of the law.

Moreover, to recognize the fact of a violation, the amount of income received and the duration of its receipt do not matter.

It is enough to prove that the purpose of the subject’s actions is aimed at regularly making a profit. What liability is provided for illegal entrepreneurs in 2019?

Basic moments

A citizen who sells goods or services and bears certain risks in an effort to make a profit is considered an entrepreneur, and his activities are recognized as entrepreneurial.

When starting your own business, you need to take into account legal regulations. In particular, it is required to register with the tax authorities, having received the status of an individual entrepreneur or legal entity.

Tax registration as a business entity entails certain obligations.

It is necessary to maintain reports on the activities carried out, timely pay taxes and fees. The amount of taxes depends on the chosen regime and the volume of systematic taxation.

According to the law, income that a citizen receives more than twice during the reporting year is recognized as systematic. Accordingly, an activity that brings systematic profit is recognized as entrepreneurial.

What it is

Illegal business activity is doing business without proper registration.

Some citizens believe that if you run a small business with a small income, then you don’t have to worry about the attention of the tax authorities.

This is not true; punishment can be imposed even for minor offenses. But when is it necessary to obtain official entrepreneur status?

You need to understand that the purpose of business legalization for the state is adequate taxation. For example, when renting out housing, it is not necessary to register an individual entrepreneur.

If the owner rents out the apartment under an agreement and pays regularly, then he is not violating the law. you can pay tax on each transaction.

Conducting profitable activities without paying taxes is considered illegal business.

That is, any law-abiding citizen, if he suspects non-compliance with the law, can report to the appropriate authorities with a request to verify the violation.

Where to report a violation

An individual who is a consumer of a product or service can identify the illegal activities of an entrepreneur.

When this has caused trouble or harm to health, investigations can be initiated on suspicion of illegal business practices.

Employees of the authorities to which the appeal is submitted are required to check:

presence of activity registration;
availability (if there should be one);
compliance with licensing rules and deadlines.

For your information! Failure to obtain the required license is punishable by law more severely than failure to register.

Where to report illegal business activities? Citizens have the right to submit an application to such bodies as:

law enforcement agencies;
tax office;
prosecutor's office;
antimonopoly service.

If necessary, other structures can be involved. For example, independent communities and public organizations, where you can complain if difficulties arise with official structures.

But such methods rarely have to be resorted to. In 2019, such situations occur less and less often.

If government agencies discover during an inspection the fact of illegal activity, then the violator is unlikely to be able to avoid punishment. But in order for the verification to be carried out, the application must be completed correctly.

How to write an application correctly (sample)

There is no standard form for filing an application for illegal business. The appeal is drawn up in free form.

You can, of course, use ready-made forms (when submitting on behalf of an organization), but in this case the situation is simplified only by the presence of a “header” with details.

Therefore, you need to be prepared that the authorities that accepted the application will check the compliance of the declared personal and contact information. It is not possible to apply anonymously.

The general structure of the application is as follows:

Depending on where the application is being submitted, specific considerations may need to be taken into account.

So, when contacting the tax authorities, you need to know that this department deals exclusively with taxes. Accordingly, one cannot expect a trial in the intricacies of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

You should contact the Federal Tax Service if you know for certain or with a high degree of probability that the entrepreneur is not registered, there is tax evasion, or there is no license.

For example, illegal activity has caused harm to health and life, or there is reason to believe that the activity poses a threat to others.

Citizens most often turn to the prosecutor's office when a previously filed police complaint has been rejected.

Video: illegal business activities

If you suspect an economic crime, you can contact the OEB. Specialists of the economic security service will independently send requests to other authorities.

Please note that the answer will not be provided immediately. It usually takes several days to verify the request and assign a number to it.

About thirty days pass from the moment the application is registered until the response is provided. In practice, the answer may be late.

If restoration of justice is fundamentally important to the applicant, then a repeated application may be required to remind himself.

What is the responsibility for violations?

Tax, administrative and criminal liability is provided for illegal business activities.

If the fact of violation is confirmed, the tax authorities will collect tax compensation from the violator:

the amount of unpaid taxes;
penalty for late tax payments.

Collection is carried out in court. Therefore, the punishment will be imposed not only according to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, but also according to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Administrative liability involves the imposition of a fine.

When illegal activities cause damage to the state or citizens, then criminal liability arises.

The prosecutors in such cases are the police and the prosecutor's office. Punishment ranges from a significant fine to forced labor or imprisonment.

How can you prove it in fact?

When filing a complaint about illegal business activity, it is advisable to have evidence of the violation.

These may include:

Evidence may vary. The main thing is that they confirm that the activity is carried out systematically and illegally.

Amount of fine

Many people have a question: “What is illegal business. How to qualify it, by what criteria? What is the responsibility for business without registration?”

Each of us at least once had to make deals or do some kind of work. They are often personal, private, isolated and of no interest to official bodies. But other deals and agreements are concluded constantly and bring regular income. It is such transactions that can arouse the curiosity of the tax authorities.

For example, if you bought a piece of land, and then, after some time, sold it and at the same time made a profit, then this is not an illegal business, because the deal was a one-off, is concluded between individuals and therefore does not fall under the category of entrepreneurial activity.

But if a person regularly purchases land (as well as equipment, cars, etc.) for the purpose of resale and profit, then such a person is an entrepreneur. Moreover, if he is not registered in the manner prescribed by law, and has not received a license (if required), then the entrepreneur is illegal.

Some “entrepreneurs” deliberately evade tax evasion, while other people do not even realize that their activities fall under the definition of entrepreneurship, which means that a person must. Entrepreneurial activity can be different: rental of premises, training, oil and gas, equipment repair, provision of various kinds of consultations, tailoring, development of souvenirs, design services, website creation, etc.

Often people who are engaged in entrepreneurial activities consider themselves so-called freelancers. Usually they are paid for the work done either “in black money”, without any contracts, or under contract agreements, i.e. taxes, as they are, are paid for by the company for which they wrote an advertising article, made a translation, or provided some other one-time service. Therefore, if a person’s activity is episodic and income is very modest, such work is your personal business.

Note: Selling personal belongings, performing minor work and errands from time to time does not carry with it either administrative or criminal liability. This also does not apply to a one-time rental of your apartment.

The difference between entrepreneurial activity and freelancing is that it is built on a permanent professional basis and its main goal is to make a profit. If you made a large profit from the sale of your own property, this is not considered entrepreneurship. In other cases, when there is independence, carrying out work on an ongoing basis in order to generate income, but there is no registration, you can get into trouble.

They want to increase fines for illegal business

It is proposed to increase fine for illegal business, setting its size from 3 to 5 thousand rubles.

SIGNS of illegal business activity

independence of economic activity and its implementation at your own risk;
systematic profit-making as the goal of activity;
use of property, sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services as sources of profit.

At the same time, the signs of entrepreneurial activity must be distinguished from the forms of illegal entrepreneurial activity enshrined in the disposition of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Independence of economic activity First of all, it assumes that an individual or legal entity - an entrepreneur - participates in civil transactions directly, on his own behalf, by his own will and in his own interest.

Therefore, economic activity that lacks independence cannot be considered entrepreneurial. It's already labor relations between employee and employer. And such activities are most often legally formalized by an employment contract, even if not properly executed. An employment contract is different from ( characteristic of entrepreneurship) by its subject.

The subject of the employment contract is “the living labor of the employee itself.” Accordingly, in labor relations, the employee becomes subordinate to the employer, disciplinary relations arise, the employee’s work is organized by the employer, who appropriates the income and bears the commercial risk of losses from business activities.

THREE FORMS of illegal entrepreneurship:

without state registration,
without a license,
in violation of licensing.

Even if you legally registered as an individual entrepreneur, but did not receive a license for the activities that require, you are also working illegally, i.e. you are an illegal entrepreneur. Moreover, it is necessary to remember that each type of activity may require a separate license, and if you do not have one, you are engaged in illegal business activities. This is also worth considering.

Note: For example, if you open a treatment center, you should not sell medications until you receive a separate document.

Criminal, administrative or tax LIABILITY

Occurs if the actions of the entrepreneur caused serious damage to citizens, organizations or the state, or income was generated on a large scale (i.e. over 1 million 500 thousand rubles).

Note: Note to clause 2 of Art. 169 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In other cases, the perpetrators bear responsibility administrative responsibility in the form of fines. As punishment Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for a fine (in the amount of up to 300 thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to two years), compulsory work for up to 480 hours) or arrest for up to six months.

For example, you decided to earn a lot of money by reselling some expensive product (car, land, building materials, etc.). In one case, such a transaction may, due to its uniqueness, be excluded from the definition of entrepreneurial activity; in another, due to the receipt of a fairly large income, it may be classified as illegal entrepreneurship.

Tax liability for illegal business

The Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for activities without registration in two articles at once:. Failure to register with the inspectorate will result in a fine of 10 percent of the income received, but not less than 40 thousand rubles.

The legislation provides for different types of liability for illegal business. Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation the punishment for activities without registration or permission (if required) is determined. The main feature of a crime is the presence of damage to organizations, individuals, the state or the receipt of profit. As indicated Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, income or the harm must be major. Let's take a closer look at the norm.

Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: corpus delicti

Conducting business activities without registration or without a license, when it is mandatory, if it caused damage to the state, organizations, citizens or was associated with the extraction of profit on a large scale, entails:

Monetary recovery up to 300 thousand rubles. or equal to the salary/amount of other income for 2 years.
Up to 6 months arrest.
Up to 480 hours of mandatory work.

Aggravating circumstances

If the above acts are committed by an organized group or are associated with making a profit on a particularly large scale, the perpetrators face:

Fine 100-500 thousand rubles. or amounting to the amount of other income for 1-3 years.
Forced labor.
Imprisonment.

The last two penalties are punishable for up to 5 years. At the same time, the judge can add a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles to the prison sentence. or the amount of other income for six months.

Comments

Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the new edition establishes penalties for activities that can in principle be registered. The Supreme Court provided clarification on this issue. In one of the decisions, the court indicated that in order to impute to a citizen illegal entrepreneurship (Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), composition his actions must contain the signs specified in the Civil Code. In Art. 2 of the Code reveals the definition of the activities of an economic entity. In particular, it is stated that entrepreneurship is aimed at systematically generating income from the use of property, sale of products, provision of services or performance of work. Such activities are carried out independently at the own risk of the person registered as an individual entrepreneur in the prescribed manner.

Nuances of practice

In a number of cases, a person who has not been registered and has not received the status of an individual entrepreneur acquires residential or non-residential premises for his own needs, receives it under contracts, including gifts, as well as by inheritance, but due to the lack of need to use the space, he rents it out. Accordingly, the citizen receives a certain profit from this transaction. However, in this case composition of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is missing. If the specified entity evaded making mandatory contributions to the budget from the profit received, its actions, if there are appropriate grounds, are qualified according to norm 198 of the Code. If a citizen engaged in prohibited activities, responsibility falls directly on them. For example, this could be the sale of weapons, human trafficking, production of drugs, psychotropic compounds, their analogues, organization of gambling (Article 171.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and so on. In situations where a citizen, in pursuit of the goal of making a profit, conducts illegal business activities, the punishment for which is established by other norms of the Code, additional qualification of the norm in question is not carried out.

Objective part

Article 171, present in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, establishes responsibility for proactive, independent activities carried out by a person at his own risk, aimed at systematically making a profit when using property, providing services, performing work, selling products on illegal grounds.

Forms of violations

Illegal activities in the field of entrepreneurship can be expressed in:

Lack of registration or special permission.
Providing knowingly false information to a regulatory authority.
Violation of license conditions and requirements.

Lack of registration

The act specified in part one of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, occurs when the subject:

Conducts activities without creating a legal entity or forms a commercial enterprise without going through the registration procedure established by regulations.
I submitted documents to the registration authority, but started work without waiting for the certificate to be issued.
Received a refusal for state registration. It does not matter whether the decision of the authorized body was legal or illegal. If an entity conducts an activity whose registration was denied to it, it may be prosecuted under Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to liability.

Aircraft instructions

To establish a violation, the punishment for which is provided for in Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to identify the fact that there is no record in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs about the formation of a legal entity or the receipt by a citizen of the status of an individual entrepreneur or the presence of a note about the liquidation of an organization or termination of work of an individual. Conducting activities in violation of state registration rules should be understood as the work of an entity that was aware of non-compliance with the registration procedure, which, in turn, provides grounds for declaring it invalid. For example, the documentation was not presented in full, prohibitions were not observed, etc.

Lack of permission

Regulatory acts establish a list of works that are not permitted to be carried out without permission. The right to conduct activities subject to licensing arises from the moment of receipt of the necessary document, and terminates upon its suspension, cancellation or expiration of the validity period. Entrepreneurship in the absence of permission occurs in cases where a person starts work:

Without contacting the competent authority authorized to issue the document.
After submitting the application and documents, but before receiving a response.
After suspension, cancellation, or expiration of the permit.
In several areas, similar in content, but has a license for only one of them.
By permission issued to another entity.

Important point

As the Plenum of the Supreme Court explained, if the Federal Law allows the conduct of activities exclusively under a license, but does not establish conditions and procedures, and the entity, in turn, began work without obtaining permission, its actions are associated with making large profits or causing harm to the state and other organizations or citizens, qualify under the article in question. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As lawyers note, this approach cannot be called indisputable and flawless. The experts explain their position by the fact that, in addition to the fault of the entity conducting activities in violation of the norms, there is also the fault of the authorized bodies, which are obliged to regulate the conditions for obtaining a permit, but have failed to do so. It is worth mentioning one more instruction given by the Armed Forces. The court noted that if the Federal Law excludes the corresponding type of work from the list of activities subject to licensing, the actions of the subject do not contain signs of a crime established by Art. 171.

Additionally

In practice, there may be cases when regional authorities adopt a regulatory act on issues related to the licensing of certain types of work, going beyond their competence, in violation of the Federal Law, or when legal regulation is assigned to the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the subject. In such situations, a person who carried out activities without permission or received it according to established rules, but allowed deviations from the requirements and conditions, cannot be held accountable.

Impact assessment

An act is considered completed when direct damage is caused to the state, organizations, citizens or when large profits are received. The corresponding evaluative concepts are disclosed in the note to Article 169 of the Criminal Code. Major damage/size is, according to the provisions, an amount greater than 250 thousand rubles. Explanations on this issue are provided in the plenary Resolution of the Supreme Court. The court points out that as income within the scope of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code, is the proceeds from the sale of services, products or work without deducting the costs incurred by the entity in connection with the implementation of activities.

Subjective part

It is characterized by guilt in a deliberate form. The person held accountable may be a citizen who has reached 16 years of age. In addition, the subject of the crime may be an individual who, due to his official position, temporarily, specially or permanently performed duties related to the management of the organization, and actually carried out management functions. This may be the director of the enterprise, another employee who has the right to act without a power of attorney on behalf of the company. If the subject is in an employment relationship with an individual entrepreneur or legal entity conducting activities in violation of the state registration procedure or without a license, if it is mandatory, with non-compliance with the conditions and requirements established by the received permit, the employee’s performance of his duties arising from the contract does not fall under the provisions of the norm in question . An exception to this rule are persons exercising management functions (by special authority, temporarily or permanently).

Qualifying features

These include the receipt of particularly large profits and an act committed by an organized group. The first concept is revealed in Art. 169. A profit exceeding 1 million rubles is considered especially large. It should be said that the norm in question has undergone changes. Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not contain the third qualifying feature that existed previously.

Specifics of qualifications in aggregate

A number of problems that arise when identifying signs of other crimes in an act were explained by the Plenum of the Supreme Court. As the court points out, if, when carrying out activities, a person unlawfully uses a trademark belonging to another entity, the name of the place of origin of products, a service mark, similar means of identifying similar products, and in the presence of other circumstances, norms 180 and 171 in combination are subject to application. A similar rule applies in other cases. For example, if in the course of the operation of an enterprise, in violation of the rules of registration or licensing, there is the release, acquisition, transportation, storage for subsequent sale or sale of unmarked products, excisable goods subject to marking with signs protected from counterfeiting, committed in large or especially large quantities, actions of a person are additionally qualified under Art. 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If the activity was related to the manufacture, transportation, sale of products, provision of services, performance of work that does not comply with safety requirements, liability arises according to the commented norm and Art. 238 of the Code. If the work of an enterprise is accompanied by the unauthorized release, use, sale, or counterfeiting of a state-issued hallmark, the act is additionally qualified under Art. 181.

Sphere of tax relations

In practice, difficulties often arose in qualifying violations of the Tax Code. Clarifications on this matter were given to the Supreme Court. The court indicated that the actions of an entity found guilty of conducting illegal business, failing to pay fees and taxes on profits received from such activities, are fully covered by the criteria established in Art. 171 of the Code. In this case, money, property, and other material assets that were acquired as part of this act will act as material evidence in the case in accordance with the provisions of Art. 81 Code of Criminal Procedure (part 1, paragraphs 2 and 2.1). As Part 3, Clause 4 of this article indicates, these items are subject to seizure in favor of the state with the justification for such a decision provided in the court verdict. The crimes specified in part of the first commented norm are considered acts of minor gravity, in part 2 - moderately serious.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation is a fairly large-scale field of activity. The work of a large number of different companies is controlled quite strictly today. Unfortunately, at present there are still a large number of unscrupulous business entities. The responsibility established by law is aimed not only at suppressing acts in the economic sphere. Punishments are educational and preventive in nature. Compliance with the requirements established by law when carrying out economic activities ensures not only the safety of consumers, but also preserves the business reputation of companies.

The legality of entrepreneurship is a complex concept due to the imperfection of regulation in this area.

If there is illegal business activity on the part of business owners, Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will determine the penalties.

Let's consider the features of violations and the types of liability to which an entrepreneur can be held.

In addition to avoiding punishment under criminal and other articles, there are a number of objective reasons for conducting legal business:

An entrepreneur doing business legally can enjoy the protection of government agencies.

It is much easier to run a legal and registered business than to come up with various schemes and ways to circumvent the law.

Problems may arise for entrepreneurs when they have not registered their activities. It is necessary to register as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity.

Otherwise you have to pay a fine. It can be up to 2 thousand rubles.

If a businessman works without a license, when it is required, a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles will follow.. This applies only to individual entrepreneurs who are individuals.

Officials are also required to pay a fine of about 5 thousand rubles. If the violator is a legal entity, the amount will be higher, it is 40-50 thousand rubles.

If a violation is proven, private entrepreneurs and legal entities may also face confiscation of manufactured products. Such decisions are made on an individual basis, depending on the type of activity and other factors.

In cases where activities are carried out in violation of license requirements, a warning is issued.. You can also receive a fine of up to 2 thousand rubles - in the case of private entrepreneurs.

Officials can receive up to 4 thousand rubles, and legal entities risk paying up to 40 thousand rubles.

There is a risk of receiving a fine for gross violations related to licensing. How rough they are is decided on an individual basis. This largely depends on the type of activity.

Sometimes a decision is made to temporarily suspend activities. The period is up to 90 days. The most serious consequences may affect legal entities. They face a fine of 100-200 thousand rubles.

Tax liability

An entrepreneur falls under tax sanctions when tax payment deadlines are violated. Also, individual entrepreneurs and organizations may receive a fine of 10% of the income received - during the period when the activity was carried out.

All this is possible in case of various violations of the tax payment procedure. There are also penalties for non-payment and underpayment of taxes. They constitute 20 or 40 percent of the unpaid tax amounts.

A fine for illegal business of individuals is easy to obtain under an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Other measures are also provided.

Entrepreneurs and firms will have to answer for activities when they were carried out without registration and license, and caused great damage to a citizen, organization or state. Also, those who have extracted large amounts of income face criminal liability.

Violators face a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles, and the entrepreneur’s income for a period of up to 2 years may also be recovered. The court may also take other measures: force the person to perform compulsory work for up to 480 hours. Arrest for up to 6 months is also possible.

Criminal liability is also provided for acts committed by an organized group. If income was generated on a particularly large scale, the fine may be 500 thousand rubles. Entrepreneurs may also be fined an amount equal to 3 years' income.

The harshest outcome is imprisonment for up to 5 years + depending on the situation, the businessman may be fined:

major damage is considered to be an amount of 1.5 million rubles;
especially large damage - more than 6 million rubles.

Illegal entrepreneurship under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is punishable depending on a number of factors. One of them is systematicity. If the activity was carried out at least 2 times a year, it is already recognized as systematic.

In the case where a citizen provides a service once a year, the activity will not be considered systematic. Another factor is making a profit: if a citizen does not receive it, then his actions are not entrepreneurial.

The composition and types of crimes differ, so the preventive measures also vary. And, if an entrepreneur finds himself in such a situation, he needs a good lawyer who can immediately determine what threatens the business.

But it is better to conduct legal activities in order to avoid serious consequences, including imprisonment.

How to prove that the activity was legal? There are a number of situations when entrepreneurs have problems, and they did not even suspect the illegality of their actions.

This happens due to lack of legal knowledge; also, novice business owners can succumb to the provocations of partners and contractors.

In this case, it is necessary to demonstrate maximum transparency of your business.

Sectors of the economy with complex regulation

The greatest number of problems arise in areas that are poorly regulated by the state.

This includes construction, as well as organized transportation of passengers and cargo, small trade, and the provision of various household services. This also includes garage car services, real estate rental, and various courses.

Individual entrepreneurs and organizations are rarely registered in these sectors; people do not work for hire. Construction projects often involve third-party contractors.

The situation for entrepreneurs is calm as long as problems do not arise (technical violations, disputes with tenants, etc.), so it is better to register for your protection.

If you can turn a blind eye to the sale of handicrafts from a private craftsman, then a noisy cafe on the ground floor of a private house requires attention.

Illegal transactions of funds on a large scale must be suppressed by law.

The problem is that such businessmen can be engaged in construction and other activities that require enormous responsibility.

The lack of licenses and certificates leads to problems: who will be to blame for the poisoning of a cafe visitor, the collapse of structures or broken goods from an unregistered store?

Where to report illegal business activity if you witness it? There are two basic authorities:

Economic Security Administration;
Department of Economic Security.

You can also contact the police, prosecutor's office, or send a complaint to the tax authorities. Often citizens decide to attract the attention of public organizations.

Before you complain, you need to make sure that the business is actually illegal.. The application must be confirmed. You can independently introduce yourself as a client of this company and ask for a certificate (which will be denied).

Doubtful receipts for different amounts also become confirmation. You can provide a copy of the contract, as well as various photographs and videos.

There are no specific samples; you just need to correctly indicate all the necessary data. At the top right you need to indicate the addressee, then write “Application” in the middle.

The text must indicate:

a person who breaks the law;
a brief description of the activity;
duration and frequency, specific working hours;
request for action.

Evidence is also included if available. Now we propose to understand the peculiarities of applying to specific authorities.

Tax office

The Federal Tax Service does not have the authority to fight illegal business, since the main task is to collect taxes.

Therefore, it is worth sending complaints here only related to violations of tax laws. And only then the matter gets underway.

This is where criminal complaints are made. It is especially important to do this when the applicant first contacted the police, where the case was not considered, and what will happen next is unclear.

An employee will help you fill out the application; there is also no specific sample here.

In order for the violator to bear responsibility for illegal business, it is necessary to first wait for the application to be considered. This is done within 30 calendar days.

We figured out what illegal business activity is. The legislative framework in this area in 2019 is imperfect, so it is possible to attract only serious violators with impressive turnover and serious violations.

We are talking not only about an unregistered business, but also about the lack of licenses, as well as turnover that goes “by” the official reporting.

Illegal actions must be stopped in order to ensure the safety of citizens and put entrepreneurs of different levels on an equal footing before the law.