To tax secrecy include, first of all, any information related to the taxation of the taxpayer, but also information of a different nature, which in the course of implementation official duties became known to employees of tax, law enforcement, investigative, customs authorities and employees off-budget funds.

The form in which the information is presented does not matter. Information related to tax secrecy can be received both on any electronic media and in printed form. It can be documents, photos, audio files, videos.

It is important to note that each taxpayer has the right to demand confidentiality only regarding information related directly to him. However, information about other persons that has become known to tax or other authorities should also be protected, but as a professional secret. In practice, a situation may arise when the disclosure of tax secrets in accordance with the requirements of federal laws will lead to the inadvertent disclosure of professional.

Tax secrecy is only the information that was obtained in the course of legal actions of state bodies and in the performance of their official duties by their employees. Tax secrets are not information posted in open sources.

The tax code does not contain a list of information constituting a tax secret. However, such information may include:

• information reflected in primary documents taxpayer. It can be cash documents, payment orders, waybills, acts of services rendered, etc.;
• financial statements and documentation not publicly available;
• information on tax and insurance contributions to off-budget funds;
• information of a personal nature and information relating to the trade secret of the organization;
• information related to scientific and technical developments, patents, etc.

Legislation in the field of tax secrets regulates not only its collection and the procedure for obtaining it, but also ensures compliance with the secrecy regime, protection against unauthorized access, introduces criminal, disciplinary and administrative liability for its disclosure and illegal transfer to third parties.

Compliance with the regime of tax secrecy ensures the protection of constitutional rights, commercial and economic interests taxpayers.

Tax secrecy has some similarities and relationships with the concept of "bank secrecy". Banks and financial institutions although they are not interested in disclosing the personal data of their clients, nevertheless, in a number of cases provided for by federal laws, they are obliged to provide the required data to tax, investigative and other government bodies. It should also be noted that in 2018 the global exchange system will begin to operate. financial information(CRS), which also includes Russia, which means that there will be significant changes in the principles of maintaining banking secrecy.

The Federal Tax Service will open the tax secret, and the chief accountant will be punished instead of the director

To whom can the CEO shift responsibility, what are the dangers foreign accounts And what data about your company will be declassified? Learn about breaking news in the tax field from the article electronic journal"CEO".

What information is not included in the content of tax secrecy

Information not related to tax secrecy is listed in detail in Art. 102 tax code RF. With regard to this information, a particular taxpayer cannot require confidentiality.

public information

Protection of personal information individuals relating to tax secrecy is regulated by the Federal Law of July 27, 2006 N 152-FZ "On Personal Data". The law determines which personal data are public information:

• Full name - surname, name, patronymic;
• Date and place of birth;
• numbers personal phones(mobile and "home");
• information about the profession (place of work, position, etc.).

It is customary to refer to publicly available information about legal entities and individual entrepreneurs:

• Company name;
• form of ownership and conduct of business (LLC, CJSC, OJSC, general or mixed partnership);
• IP address, legal and actual addresses of organizations;
• full name of the individual entrepreneur and the head of the company, as well as the full name of the members of the council of the legal entity;
• the structure of the governing bodies of legal entities.

Information about TIN

The TIN of the taxpayer is also publicly available information. The taxpayer identification number can be found using information services tax service.

Data on violations of tax laws

This information is of great importance when choosing a counterparty for transactions. Learn about tax debts organizations can be requested by the tax office. You can also check the possible debt of the counterparty for the payment of taxes and fees on the website of the Federal Tax Service using the TIN of the taxpayer.

Results data tax audits

The results of tax audits, as well as information on the income and property status of the candidate, as well as his wife (spouse) must be submitted to members of the election commission formed to conduct federal or regional elections. And although this information does not belong to tax secrets, members of the election commission do not have the right to disclose it to third parties.

Information about the tax regime of the taxpayer

Information about the chosen tax regime is also open and not subject to confidentiality. An organization or individual entrepreneur may be on a general or special taxation regime. These include USN, UTII, ESHN, tax regime in the performance of a production sharing agreement.

Data provided to authorities local government

Information provided by the taxpayer to local self-government bodies for the calculation of local taxes and fees.

On May 1, 2016, Federal Law No. 134-FZ introduced significant tax secrecy changes in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The list of information not related to this concept has significantly expanded. This is partly due to the need to avoid conflict with legislation requiring certain categories LE obligatory placement of data in mass media. Thus, from June 1, 2016, the following are no longer classified as tax secrets:

• information about income and expenses for the past calendar year in accordance with the financial statements;
• data on average headcount employees for the previous reporting period;
• information on arrears, penalties and fines;
• information on the amounts of taxes and fees paid for the past calendar year.

This information is on the information portal of the Federal Tax Service in the public domain.

• Protecting trade secrets from dishonest competitors: key aspects

How to access tax secrets

To gain access to tax secrets, firstly, you must send a written request for this information. Second, the following conditions must be met.

1. The request is submitted on the letterhead of the organization, indicating all necessary details, since this is a formal letter that must be registered.
2. The method of sending can be any: via e-mail, courier service, Russian Post, etc.
3. The letter must be signed by the head of the organization/institution or the person acting in his capacity, an official. An electronic document must be certified with an EDS.
4. The request must contain a link to a legal act or other document that gives the applicant the right to receive confidential information.
5. The purpose of obtaining information constituting a tax secret should be indicated, indicating the details of specific documents (for example, court rulings, court rulings, criminal case, etc.), in which the need to obtain information is justified.

If at least one of these conditions is not met when sending a request, the tax authority has the right to refuse to provide information.

Response information can be issued in paper or electronic form, depending on the technical capabilities of the applicant and the tax authority.

Who can request information constituting a tax secret

1. State bodies and their employees as part of their work (court cases, inspections, investigative measures, etc.).

2. Information constituting a tax secret may be of interest to the counterparties of the taxpayer (suppliers, buyers, credit institutions, guarantors, lending organizations, etc.). The following may be requested:

• personal data in relation to a specific natural person;
• data on financial position the taxpayer, the value of his assets, etc.;
• information of a commercial nature, marketing research, production technologies, scientific and technical developments, strategic development plans - everything that can be attributed to a trade secret.
• information protected under banking secrecy (information on banking operations, issued loans, deposits, bank account statements, etc.).

They also often request a charter, copies of constituent documents, licenses to carry out activities, and other permits.

The purpose of obtaining such information is to check the reliability of a potential partner before making a deal. In some cases, the law obliges its participants to exchange documents and information of this kind before signing the contract, for example, during auctions, tenders, and auctions. In other cases, the demand for information constituting a tax secret may be evidence of prudence when choosing, for example, a supplier. Lack of due diligence in such situations may be the basis for refusal to deduct VAT and non-recognition of expenses for the purposes of tax accounting if the counterparty turned out to be dishonest. However, the taxpayer has the right to refuse such a request.

In this case, you can contact the tax office with a request to provide information in respect of which the tax secrecy regime is not observed.

In addition, the following information may be requested.

Accounting and tax accounting documents, financial statements. Note that the counterparties of the taxpayer have the right to familiarize themselves with the financial statements for last year. Who is interested in the information contained in balance sheet, income statement? For suppliers, buyers, investors, credit institutions, guarantors, etc. Data accounting may be posted publicly and are publicly available.

A different situation develops with tax accounting data, since they are already a tax secret of the taxpayer in accordance with Article 84 (paragraph 9) and Article 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. State bodies and non-budgetary funds do not have the right to disseminate this information, except in cases where the organization expresses consent to the disclosure of tax secrets. In addition, the law does not prohibit the organization voluntarily and at its discretion to transfer this information interested parties.

If in its policy the organization classifies tax accounting documents as a commercial secret, they will also be regulated and protected by the relevant Federal Law of July 29, 2004 No. 98-FZ “On Commercial Secrets”.

In addition, this category of information may include economic, financial and other information, if they are not freely available anywhere. For this you need:

• prepare relevant documents, in particular, register information related to commercial secrets in a local regulatory act;
• define general order and principles of working with information and documents of this kind;
• identify the circle of persons who, by virtue of their official duties, are involved in this information, and inform them of their responsibility for disclosing information;
• establish a regime for the protection of commercial secrets, ensure proper control over its observance;
• put the appropriate stamp on all necessary documents and other information carriers.

It should be borne in mind that if the withholding of any information may threaten the public interest, then such information a priori cannot be classified as a trade secret.

Bank card, bank accounts. When opening a current account in banking institution a bank card is issued with samples of signatures of persons entitled to certify payment and other banking documents. These can be samples of signatures of the head, chief accountant and others. proxies at the discretion of management. The obligation to issue this card is regulated by the Instruction of the Bank of Russia dated May 30, 2014 N 153-I, however, in this legislative document there is no indication of the need to provide it to any third parties, for example, when signing contracts.

However, the parties to the transaction, by mutual agreement, may exchange copies bank cards in order to implement the principle due diligence when choosing a partner. As a compromise, you can provide a sample signature of only the head of the organization. Refusal to provide a card is also quite legitimate.

Passport details of the founders, directors. All employees of the organization have the right to the protection of personal data (date of birth, address of registration and residence, marital status, passport data, etc.) in accordance with Federal Law No. 152-FZ and the local regulatory act approved by the organization "On personal data of employees ". Therefore, for the transfer of information of this kind to third parties (including contractors and partners of the company) without the written consent of employees, the employer is responsible. The conditions for the transfer of personal data and other agreements prescribed in the contract are a direct violation of the current legislation.

Disclosure of tax secrets

Employees of tax authorities, non-budgetary funds (the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, the FSS and the FFOMS, as well as a number of economic funds), law enforcement and investigative authorities, customs authorities, as well as expert organizations and specialists involved in the work are required to observe tax secrecy.

In addition, it is the responsibility of the above institutions to create and comply with a special regime for the collection, processing, storage and protection of information constituting a tax secret. State bodies must approve a list of officials entitled to access information in this category.

Disclosure of tax secrets by employees of the above state bodies occurs in the following cases:

• dissemination and transfer (including sale) of information to third parties and organizations, unless this is provided for by federal laws;
• unintentional loss of documents and other information carriers.

Special mention should be made of consolidated group taxpayers (KGP). In practice, organizations can unite into a large holding in order to minimize taxation, the conditions for the creation of which are regulated by Chapter 3.1 of the Tax Code. In this case, the receipt of information by one of the members of the CTG in relation to all other members of the holding does not constitute disclosure of tax secrets.

Information about the taxpayer can be removed from tax secrecy and stop being confidential. This applies to the following information:

• accounting data;
• results of tax audits;
• data of statements from bank accounts, the state of the personal account;
• information about separate subdivisions organizations, branches, subsidiaries;
• information contained in licenses, permits, etc.;
• calculated data of tax returns;
• information on tax liabilities, amounts of taxes, fees, insurance premiums accrued and transferred to the budget, etc.;
• Individual income information from approved tax return forms.

In order to ensure free access to the above information for interested parties, the consent of the taxpayer to the disclosure of tax secrets is required.

Written consent must be sent to the tax office to which the organization is attached according to the legal address or the individual at the address of registration. You can submit the document in person or through a trusted person.

In addition, you can place a letter of consent on the official website of the Federal Tax Service through Personal Area taxpayer.

If the taxpayer has an enhanced EDS, consent can be provided electronically via telecommunication channels (TCS).

In order for the tax authority not to have a reason to refuse to accept consent, it is necessary to fully indicate all the details of the taxpayer:

• full name of the organization (for individual entrepreneurs - full name);
• legal address (office address for individual entrepreneurs);
• OGRN, TIN, KPP;
• signatures with the full name of the head or authorized representative.

Responsibility for disclosure of information constituting a tax secret

Criminal liability comes in accordance with Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Part 1 article 183 defines liability for illegal receipt and disclosure of information constituting a commercial, tax or banking secret

Bribing is the receipt of information or an attempt to obtain information for monetary, material or other remuneration to an employee of an organization or an official of a state body.

Theft is the illegal acquisition of information by robbery, theft, fraud or robbery.

Threat - appropriation of information by means of blackmail or threat of physical violence, causing damage to property of material value to a person who owns the necessary information.

Also, crimes include the possession of information with the help of listening devices, computer programs, allowing you to copy content from personal computer etc.

Types of punishments:

• a fine in the amount of the defendant's annual income or in the amount of up to 500,000 rubles;
• correctional labor at the main place of work for up to 1 year;
• forced labor for up to 2 years with deduction from earnings received in places of punishment in favor of the state (but not more than 20%);
• imprisonment for up to 2 years.

This part of Article 183 includes crimes of minor gravity.

Any person who has reached the age of 16 can be held liable for such offenses.

Part 2 article 183 establishes liability for the dissemination of information relating to tax secrets without the consent of the taxpayer. At the same time, information can be sold, transferred free of charge to an interested person or in exchange for material values, information, services.

Disclosure of information can come from both an employee of an organization who has access to information constituting a tax secret, and officials of state bodies who own information by virtue of their work duties.

The following penalties are provided:

• a fine in the amount of earnings (income) of the person held liable for 2 years or up to 1,000,000 rubles;
• correctional labor for up to 2 years, if the crime is defined as small or medium gravity;
• forced labor for up to 3 years;
• imprisonment for up to 3 years.

In addition, if the judicial punishment is limited to a fine, the employment contract with the accused must be terminated and a ban imposed on work in certain positions or on the implementation of activities, the list of which is determined in judicial order. The duration of the ban is up to a maximum of 3 years.

Part 3 provides for liability for violations specified in parts 1 and 2 of article 183 of the Criminal Code, but characterized by more serious consequences and the presence of malicious intent in the actions of the convicted person. Serious consequences here include causing major damage due to the loss of information by its owner. It can be both real financial or property losses, and lost opportunities for generating income. Also, this part of Article 183 includes crimes of persons acting with a mercenary interest, collecting or disseminating information for the sake of material gain.

Measure of punishment:

• a fine in the amount of the wages (income) of the guilty person for 3 years or up to 1,500,000 rubles, and similarly to paragraph 2 of Article 183, the convicted person is deprived of the right to occupy certain positions or carry out certain types of activities. The term of the ban is also up to 3 years;
• forced labor for up to 5 years;
• imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Correctional labor as a punishment is not provided here, since they are usually used in the commission of crimes of a small degree of gravity.

Part 4 defines responsibility for serious crimes under especially aggravating circumstances. These may include, for example, the repeated commission of an offense, the commission of a crime with particular severity, with the use of physical violence, with the use of weapons, chemicals, toxic substances, etc.

Depending on the severity of the consequences for the owner of the information, the following can be provided as punishment:

• forced labor for up to 5 years - can be an alternative to imprisonment, only if the crime is committed for the first time;
• imprisonment for up to 7 years.

In a number of cases, the leakage of information constituting a tax secret from tax, customs or internal affairs authorities may be associated with improper performance by an employee of the specified public institutions their duties. If, in the end, the loss of documents led to major damage, such actions of an official are regarded as negligence, and liability is provided for under article 293 of the Criminal Code.

Losses and losses incurred by the taxpayer as a result of the negligence of officials, illegal actions of employees of state bodies or their inaction are compensated in full from federal budget. This is indicated by Article 1069 of the Civil Code, Articles 35 and 103 of the Tax Code and Article 13 federal law About tax authorities.

Some lawyers believe that when disclosing information constituting a tax secret and related to personal life taxpayer, non-pecuniary damage may occur, which must also be compensated (based on Articles 151, 1099-1101 of the Civil Code). But to date, there has not been enough judicial practice on this issue.

Even if the intentional or unintentional actions (omissions) of tax officials did not lead to the infliction of major damage and grievous harm, nevertheless, in relation to the perpetrators, it is provided disciplinary responsibility in accordance with the Federal Law of March 21, 1991 No. 943-1 “On Tax Authorities Russian Federation". As a punishment, there may be a remark or reprimand, a decision to dismiss, etc.

If the violations committed by employees of state bodies are regarded as minor, the perpetrators may be held administratively liable, which implies the payment of a fine in the amount of 4,000 to 5,000 rubles.

It is not an offense to provide information at the request of the court or the request of law enforcement agencies in the course of investigative measures.

Relevance of the research topic. The legal institution of tax and trade secrets is an essential attribute of a market economy. In progress entrepreneurial activity a large amount of various information is accumulated, which is important for the successful development of a business. AT modern conditions In the information society, information acquires the importance of the most important resource, without which the normal functioning of either an individual entrepreneur, or society and the state as a whole is unthinkable. Moreover, with the development and improvement information technologies, the information acquires the character of one of the most important types goods on the market. Naturally, a person who has this kind of information seeks to keep this information for himself, to prevent it from being received by third parties, since in many cases such obtaining can have simply disastrous consequences for a business.

In modern conditions of fierce competition, legal protection of various kinds of information is necessary for the successful development of entrepreneurship and the formation of a truly market economy based on free competition. As rightly noted in the literature: “Ensuring the legal protection of domestic scientific and technical products contributes to the maintenance of national, including economic and technological security of Russia. Reliable legal protection of the results of intellectual activity is the most effective means of combating industrial espionage, it contributes to the protection of the rights of authors and owners of scientific and technical results.”

For a long time, the institution of trade secrets, and as a result, the institution of tax secrets, was unknown to domestic legislation. This is quite understandable: in the absence of competition, the complete nationalization of the economy, there was simply no need for such legal institutions. Concepts similar in content to commercial and tax secrets were found only in legal acts devoted to the regulation of external economic activity Soviet organizations. Meanwhile, the institution of trade secrets has deeper roots in Russian law than it might seem at first glance.

The problem of protecting confidential information, including commercial and tax secrets, has been developed in detail in domestic jurisprudence. An example is V. Rozenberg's monograph “trade secret”, which was published in 1910 and has not lost its relevance to the present day. 1 The problems associated with trade secrets were also touched upon in the writings of another eminent civilist, the second half of XIX the beginning of the 20th century - G.F. Shershenevich. 2

With the transition of Russia to market economy, with the reform of domestic legislation, bringing it into line with new requirements, interest in trade secrets is increasing again, as evidenced by the appearance in the literature a large number works devoted to this problem.

This work is devoted to the study of the legal nature of a tax secret, its main features, ways to protect information constituting a tax secret, and protect the interests of its owners.

The purpose of the work is to study the role of tax secrecy as a mechanism for protecting confidential economic information.

Research objectives:

– to analyze the concept of tax secrecy in the system of protecting confidential economic information;

– to consider the mechanism of regulation of the legal regime of tax secrecy.

The course work includes an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.

The empirical basis of the study is the use of structural-logical, theoretical-analytical analysis of the literature.

The normative-legal base of the study are such sources as the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Tax and Civil Code s, federal laws of the Russian Federation

The theoretical basis of the study is the work of such authors as Alekseev S.S., Bakanov M.I., Basovsky L.E., Bachilo I.L., Bakhrakh D.N., Bryzgalin A.V., Vitryansky V.V., Guev A.N., Isakov V.B., Kostenko M.Yu., Kucherov I.I., Matuzov N.I., Morozov D.V., Okuneva L., Panskov V.G., Razgulin S.V. ., Rosenberg V., Rushailo V.B., Snytnikov A.A., Staroverova O.V. Torshin A.V., Chernik D.G., Shiverskiy A.A., Yutkina T.F., Yasin E.G. and etc.

1.1. The concept of economic information

Taking into account the specifics of the institution of interest tax law, from the totality of protected information, it is advisable to single out and analyze the one that can be classified as economic in content. After all, it is economic information that forms the basis of the data necessary for taxation (that is, tax-relevant information). The term "economic information" is quite widely used, it means information about the processes of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods 1 . The most important characteristics and the smallest semantic units of economic information are indicators and values, which are quantitative characteristics of the properties of the displayed objects 2 . Economic information may be public or confidential. The latter is protected in the mode of several types (varieties) of secrets, including state, official, commercial, banking, notary, audit, lawyer, tax and insurance secrets. These mysteries, in view of the object that unites them, can be considered as related.

As part of all economic information, experts single out a micro-level marketing information system, which in turn includes an internal accounting and reporting system, i.e. data on intra-company information flows characterizing the volume, structure and speed of commodity production and circulation, the costs of industrial and commercial enterprises, losses, gross income, net profit and profitability 1 . We believe that it is this information that forms the basis of the information that is necessary for taxation, for example, organizations.

The objective reality is that the impact of threats to information security in the field; economy is most susceptible to the system of collection, processing, storage and transmission of tax information.

The concept of ensuring the safety of the activities of tax authorities by federal authorities tax police, approved by order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Ministry of Taxation of Russia on October 12, 13, 2006 No. VA-3033 and BG-6-24 / 802 2, among the main tasks solved in the process of ensuring the security of the activities of the tax authorities, includes the identification of leakage channels from the tax authorities information constituting a tax secret. Disclosure of information constituting a tax secret is defined as one of the main threats to the security of the tax authorities. The external threat in this case is the illegal aspirations of criminal elements to obtain confidential information from the tax authorities, the internal threat is a violation of the regime for handling official documents and materials, which creates the prerequisites for the leakage of official information.

Probably, due to the presence of such threats, the legislator considered it necessary to supplement the economic information protection system with a tax secrecy regime. In the legal literature, it is noted that “firstly, a new legal institution is legislatively fixed in the system of Russian tax law - tax secrecy, the main purpose of which is to create a comprehensive legal protection of information about the taxpayer received tax authorities in the exercise of their powers; and, secondly, a significant novelty is the recognition of tax secrecy general principle taxation” 3 .

With the entry into force of part one of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, any (with the exception of those established by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) information about a taxpayer received by tax authorities (their officials) in the process of exercising their powers is recognized as confidential information and constitutes, in accordance with Article 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, a tax secret. Tax secrets are not subject to disclosure by tax authorities (their officials), except as otherwise provided by federal law. For information constituting a tax secret, special mode storage and access. The loss of documents containing such information, or their disclosure, entails liability under federal laws.

It is known that the obligation to pay this or that tax or fee is assigned to the taxpayer from the moment he has the corresponding object of taxation. In the theory of tax law, the object of taxation is defined as a legal fact or a set of legal facts (legal structure), which, in accordance with the tax law, determine the obligation to pay tax. Specialists associate objects of taxation with legal facts, which are lawful actions. These actions include: accepting an inheritance, acquiring ownership of property, obtaining permission to carry out certain types of activities, selling excisable products, buying cash foreign exchange, receipt of profit (income), etc. These legal facts may arise in the process of production of tangible and intangible goods, their circulation and consumption 1 . According to some authors, tax liability subjects of entrepreneurial activity in most cases are a direct consequence of their entrepreneurial activity and thus are perceived as inextricably linked with it” 2 . It is also noted that the source of payment of any tax is the income of a person, which is, as a rule, the result of his economic activity 1 . Consequently, the analyzed type of information is predominantly of an economic nature and primarily includes information on the financial and economic activities of organizations, as well as on the labor activity of individuals.

However, when performing the tasks assigned by law to control compliance with tax laws, the correctness of the calculation, the completeness and timeliness of paying taxes and fees to tax authorities (their officials), in addition to the information constituting by virtue of Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation tax secret, other types of confidential information become known. Access to such information, its legal regime and protection conditions are regulated by legal acts in various branches of legislation. In this regard, it is of scientific and practical interest to consider the issue of the relationship between tax secrets and other types of confidential information.

When establishing the tax secrecy regime, an approach was used that does not provide for the establishment of any list of protected information, only its confidants are determined, i.e. individuals and organizations who, by virtue of professional activity, under a contract or on another legal basis, the information that they are obliged to keep becomes known. In this case, it is quite permissible to talk about the professional secrecy of these persons. Notarial, lawyer, audit secrets are also constructed in a similar way.

The main difference between tax secrecy lies in the fact that the confidants in this case are not private practices and commercial organizations, and the relevant state bodies, their officials, specialists and experts involved by them. Therefore, information constituting a tax secret should be classified as a professional secret of employees of tax and customs authorities, bodies of state non-budgetary funds, tax police, and persons assisting tax administration. Some other specialists also consider tax secrecy as a kind of professional tax secrecy 1 .

The fact that tax-relevant information becomes the property of employees makes it possible to consider information constituting a tax secret also from the point of view of its relevance to official Information. Previously, based on this, information constituting a tax secret was classified as an official secret of the said persons 2 . This point of view is still held by some other authors. Tax secret is considered by them as a kind of service secret 3 . However, we can only partly agree with this.

From a legal point of view, a secret can be considered as a special regime for the protection of this or that information. In this sense, tax secrecy can be defined as statutory on taxes and fees a special regime of access and use of a certain set of confidential information, for the violation of which legal liability is provided.

1.2. Content of information protected under the tax secrecy regime and its sources

According to Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax secrets are any information received by the tax authority, the tax police authority, the state off-budget fund authority and the customs authority. However, at the same time, it was determined that not all information received by these authorities is a tax secret, but only those that relate to taxpayers. Some experts, not without reason, believe that “tax secrecy should include information not only about taxpayers, but also about other persons - tax agents, banks, representatives and other persons who have the right to claim to keep secrets about them. Therefore, in the conditions of an obvious gap in Art. 102 of the Code, analogy should be applied to these persons” 1 .

In addition, it follows from the content of the article that tax secrecy, in particular, includes industrial or commercial secrets of the taxpayer. However, apparently, the content of tax secrets is not limited to the information protected in their regimes.

Such an approach provides only a very rough idea of ​​the content of information that is protected under tax secrecy. For cognitive purposes, we will try to make the necessary clarifications, based on an analysis of the relevant provisions of the legislation on taxes and fees.

Commenting on Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, S. D. Shatalov notes: “In order to guarantee the taxpayer the confidentiality of the information he submits to the tax and customs authorities, the authorities of state off-budget funds, as well as the information collected about him by the regulatory authorities, in particular, so that it cannot get to competitors or criminal elements, the article in question provides that most of the information about him is qualified as a tax secret and, therefore, is protected by regulatory authorities from distribution and unauthorized access.

The article under consideration “closes” all information about the taxpayer, with the exception of directly named ones” 1 .

Indeed, the legal construction of tax secrecy includes a list of information that is clearly not among the protected ones. These include, in particular, the following information:

- disclosed by the taxpayer independently or with his consent;

- about identification number taxpayer (TIN);

– on violations of the legislation on taxes and fees and measures of responsibility for these violations;

- provided to the tax (customs) or law enforcement authorities of other states in accordance with international treaties (agreements), to which the Russian Federation is a party, on mutual cooperation between tax (customs) or law enforcement authorities (in terms of information provided to these authorities).

However, this knowledge only makes it possible to understand what information is not included in the information constituting a tax secret. For a more precise determination of its content, it is necessary to consider other signs.

In his commentary, A. N. Guev highlights the following features of tax secrecy:

- it represents information received by the tax, customs authorities and authorities of state off-budget funds (both at the place of registration of the taxpayer and other tax authorities, for example, higher ones) about the taxpayer;

- it includes information both provided to the tax, customs authority and the body of the state non-budgetary fund by the taxpayer, and collected (received) by them themselves, for example, during desk or field tax audits. Tax secret information also includes information received from banks, registration authorities, guardianship and guardianship institutions social protection, educational, medical institutions, other institutions;

- constitute any information, except for those specified in the law;

- the provision of information, its components, to law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation, other state bodies, organizations, institutions and citizens is carried out in the prescribed manner;

- is part of a general concept- confidential information;

– different from a trade secret 1 .

To determine the content of tax secrecy, according to
M. Yu. Kostenko, it is necessary to identify:

- the object of tax secrecy;

– method of obtaining information constituting a tax secret;

– persons obliged to observe tax secrecy (subjects of obligation);

– persons entitled to demand compliance with tax secrecy (subjects of law) 2 .

We believe that these signs in their totality make it possible to accurately determine the content of information constituting a tax secret. It is only necessary to supplement this series with its sources, which are also quite specific.

The object of tax secrecy should be considered as the main feature. It is based on tax-relevant information that is directly necessary for taxation, i.e. for the correct calculation and timely payment of taxes and fees. It is this information that is of the greatest value to the authorities that levy taxes and fees. All this information is divided into mass, or public, and confidential. In turn, information with limited access is divided into two information arrays of information, one of which constitutes an official, and the other - a tax secret. The information protected under the tax secrecy regime, in this case, is a set of confidential information that is different from that which is protected under the official secrecy regime. The latter is information on the activities of the tax authorities. The tax secret, as already noted, is information that belongs to the professional secret of the tax authorities, namely the one owned by the taxpayers.

Taking into account the composition of tax secret confidants, it can be concluded that tax secret is also information with restricted access, which refers to the professional secret of customs authorities, authorities public funds and tax authorities. For example, in paragraph 5 of Art. 6 of the Federal Law of April 1, 1996 No. 27-FZ "On individual (personalized) accounting in the system of state pension insurance» 1 determined that the information contained in the opened pension fund RF for each insured individual personal accounts are classified as confidential information.

Specialists draw attention to the fact that information constituting a tax secret can be: provided to the tax authority by the taxpayer himself in the process of fulfilling his duties and exercising the rights provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation; received by the tax authority in the course of tax control; provided to the tax authorities by the tax police, other state and municipal authorities, organizations and individuals in accordance with the law or on their own initiative 1 . In our opinion, the possibilities of obtaining tax-relevant information are somewhat wider. An analysis of the legislation on taxes and fees allows us to identify five main sources. In particular, such information may be:

- provided to the tax authority, customs authority, body of the state extra-budgetary fund by the taxpayer himself;

– reported to the tax authority by tax agents, registration authorities and banks;

- collected by the tax authority, the customs authority, the body of the state extra-budgetary fund in the process of performing actions: for the implementation of tax control;

- received by the customs authorities and tax police in the process of conducting operational-search activities, inquiries and investigations;

- transferred to the pledge authorities and tax police authorities by other regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the order of information exchange, including within the framework of international cooperation.

The main source of tax-relevant information is the taxpayer (payer of fees), who is obliged by the legislation on taxes and fees to provide it. According to paragraphs 4, 5, 7, paragraph 1 of Art. 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, taxpayers are required to:

- submit to the tax authority at the place of registration tax declarations on those taxes that they are required to pay, if such an obligation is provided for by law, as well as financial statements in accordance with the Federal Law "On Accounting";

– submit to the tax authorities and their officials, in the cases provided for, the documents necessary for the calculation and payment of taxes;

- provide the tax authority with the necessary information and documents in the prescribed cases and in the prescribed manner.

In addition, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, taxpaying organizations and individual entrepreneurs are required to report in writing to the tax authority at the place of registration:

– on opening or closing accounts - within 10 days;

– about all cases of participation in Russian and foreign organizations- no later than one month from the date of commencement of such participation;

- about all separate subdivisions created on the territory of the Russian Federation - no later than one month from the date of their creation, reorganization or liquidation;

- on declaring insolvency (bankruptcy), on liquidation or reorganization - no later than three days from the date of such decision;

- about changing one's location or place of residence - no later than 10 days from the date of such change.

The tax authorities receive the first information about a taxpayer, as a rule, when it is registered. After all, when submitting an application for tax registration, the organization simultaneously submits in one copy copies of duly certified: registration certificates, constituent and other documents required for state registration, other documents confirming its creation in accordance with the law. An individual entrepreneur, along with an application for registration, submits a certificate of state registration as an individual entrepreneur or a copy of a license for the right to engage in private practice, as well as documents proving the identity of the taxpayer and confirming registration at the place of residence. When registering individuals, the information about the taxpayer also includes their personal data: last name, first name, patronymic; Date and place of birth; floor; residence address; data of the passport or other document proving the identity of the taxpayer; citizenship.

The tax authority is obliged to register the taxpayer within five days from the date of submission of all required documents and issue the appropriate certificate within the same period. According to paragraph 9 of Art. 84 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, information about a taxpayer from the moment of registration is a tax secret, unless otherwise provided by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

The bulk of tax-relevant information is received by the tax authorities through the submission of tax returns and financial statements.

Tax agents are required to report in writing to the tax
authority at the place of its registration on the impossibility of withholding tax from
taxpayer, and on the amount of his debt within one month. In addition, they must submit to the tax authority at the place of their registration the documents necessary to control the correct calculation, withholding and transfer of taxes.

The tax authorities receive the information necessary for the registration of taxpayers from the registration authorities. According to Art. 85 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, these include bodies that register organizations and individual entrepreneurs; bodies licensing private notaries, detectives and security guards; bodies registering individuals at the place of residence; bodies registering acts of civil status of individuals; bodies carrying out accounting and (or) registration of real estate; bodies of guardianship and guardianship, educational, medical institutions, institutions of social protection of the population and other similar institutions; bodies (institutions) authorized to perform notarial acts and private notaries; bodies responsible for registration and (or) registration of users natural resources, as well as licensing activities related to the use of these resources.

These bodies are required to report to the tax authority at their location:

– about registered (re-registered) or liquidated (reorganized) organizations within 10 days after the registration (re-registration) or liquidation (reorganization) of the organization;

- about individuals who have registered or terminated their activities as individual entrepreneurs, within 10 days after the issuance of a registration certificate, its withdrawal or expiration;

- about individuals who have been issued licenses, certificates or other similar documents of private notaries, private detectives and private security guards, or whose documents have been revoked or terminated, within 10 days;

- about the facts of registration or about the facts of birth and death of individuals within 10 days after the registration of these persons or facts;

- about located in the territory under their jurisdiction real estate or about vehicles registered with these bodies, and their owners within 10 days after the registration of the property;

– on granting the rights to use natural resources within 10 days after the registration (issuance of the relevant license, permit) of the nature user;

- on the establishment of guardianship over individuals recognized by the court as legally incompetent, on the guardianship, guardianship and management of property of minors, other minor individuals, individuals limited by the court in their legal capacity, capable individuals who have been established guardianship in the form of patronage, individuals recognized missing by the court, as well as on subsequent changes related to the specified guardianship, guardianship or property management, no later than five days from the date of the adoption of the relevant decision;

O notarial certificate the right to inheritance and donation agreements no later than five days from the date of the corresponding notarization.

In addition, Art. 862 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation refers to the registration authorities of the organization, and (authorized persons associated with the tax control over the expenses of individuals. These are the bodies that register motor vehicles; persons registering transactions with securities; authorized persons and organizations registering transactions with gold in bullion.They are entrusted with the obligation to provide information:

– on registration of rights to real estate and transactions with it no later than 15 days;

– about registered vehicles not related to immovable property, no later than 15 days after registration;

– on registered transactions for the purchase and sale of securities no later than 15 days after registration;

- on transactions for the sale of cultural property no later than 15 days after certification;

– on registered transactions with gold in bullion no later than 15 days after their registration.

Banks also have different information about their customers. This information is used for the purposes of accounting for taxpayers and for tax control. According to Article 86 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the bank is obliged to report the opening or closing of an account of an organization, an individual entrepreneur to the tax authority at the place of their registration within five days from the date of the corresponding opening or closing of such an account. Accounts (account) in this case are settlement (current) and other accounts in banks opened on the basis of an agreement bank account, to which funds of organizations and individual entrepreneurs can be credited and from which funds can be spent (Article 11 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

A significant amount of tax-relevant information is collected by tax, customs authorities and authorities of state off-budget funds in the process of tax control. In this regard, it is noted that in order to obtain additional information and collect evidence, officials of the tax authorities may carry out such procedural actions (actions for the implementation of tax control) as an inspection (examination) of territories, premises, objects and documents, inventory, reclamation documents, seizure of documents and objects, interrogation of witnesses and expert examination 1 . The information obtained as a result of this includes a wide variety of information about taxpayers, including those that are not related to taxation, for example, about the personal lives of individuals. The information necessary for tax control is reflected in the protocols of tax procedural actions and acts of inspections.

Tax-relevant information, as already noted, can also be obtained in the process of carrying out operational search activities, inquiries and investigations by customs authorities and tax police authorities. These bodies perform the functions of preventing, detecting, suppressing and investigating violations of the legislation on taxes and fees that are crimes or administrative offenses. In this regard, they have to collect relevant information, which constitutes their official secret. So, according to Part 2 of Art. 10 Law of the Russian Federation of June 24, 1993 No. 5238-1 “On Federal Tax Police Bodies” official duties.

Finally, tax-relevant information can be transferred to tax authorities and tax police authorities by other regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the course of information exchange, including international ones. At present, the Russian Federation has agreements on legal assistance in civil, family and criminal cases with a number of countries of the world. These international acts provide for the interaction of law enforcement agencies, primarily in the fight against so-called ordinary crimes. In addition, a number of bilateral international agreements have been concluded with the participation of the Russian Federation, ‘which are directly aimed at achieving cooperation in the detection, prevention and suppression of tax crimes and offenses. In this case, we mean agreements on cooperation and mutual assistance in the field of struggle (on issues) for compliance with tax laws, which allow for interaction between the tax authorities, the tax police of the Russian Federation and the relevant authorities of foreign states in preventing tax evasion. All these agreements provide for various forms of information exchange between law enforcement and regulatory authorities of the participating countries.

Taking into account these sources, we can conclude that the tax secrecy regime “protects information about taxpayers and payers of fees provided by them themselves, tax agents, registration authorities and banks to tax authorities, customs authorities, authorities of state non-budgetary funds and tax authorities police in accordance with the legislation on taxes and fees. In addition, it includes information received by these bodies in the process of tax control, operational-search and criminal procedural activities and constituting their professional secret, as well as transmitted to them in the framework of information exchange, including international, by regulatory and law enforcement agencies of other countries.

2. REGULATION OF THE LEGAL REGIME OF TAX SECRET

2.1 Legal regime of access to information protected under tax secrecy

By general rule established by Art. 10, 12 of the Federal Law of February 20, 1995 No. 24-FZ "On Information, Informatization and Information Protection", state information resources are open and publicly available. Users - citizens, public authorities, local governments, organizations and public associations- possess equal rights to access public information resources and are not required to justify to the owners of these resources the need to obtain the information they request. The exception is documented information classified by law as restricted access, which is divided into information constituting a state secret and confidential information.

As already emphasized in previous chapters term paper that information protected under tax secrecy is one of the varieties of confidential economic information. Therefore, access to it should be limited. Such restriction forms the basis of the legal regime for the protection of the relevant information. In this regard, it is necessary to establish the legal meaning of the term "regime".

Based on the etymological interpretation of the word "regime", it is proposed to understand it as established order life and activities to achieve any goals 1 .

In the legal literature, the legal regime is defined both as a special regime of some object, fixed by legal norms and provided with a set of legal means 1 , and as a regulation procedure, which is expressed in a set of legal means that characterize a special combination of interacting permissions, prohibitions, as well as positive obligations that create a special direction of regulation 2 . There is also a statement that the legal regime is at the same time: rights, duties and responsibilities; a system of measures that is used to achieve the goals; the system of legal influence, consisting in the specifics of the methods of regulation, and its mechanism. There is also a version that the legal regime is a special order legal regulation, expressed in a certain combination of legal means and creating the desired social condition and a specific degree of favorable or unfavorable to meet the interests of the subject of law 3 .

The sectoral affiliation of legal regimes should also be taken into account. In one of his works, D. N. Bakhrakh notes that “the legal regime of the branch of law is a set of legal means of regulation - branch legal tools - mediated by the branch method of legal influence and based on principles specific to this branch” 4 .

In this regard, the definitions of certain regimes in the current legislation are of interest. For example, according to Art. 18 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the customs regime is a set of provisions that determine the status of goods and vehicles transported across the customs border of the Russian Federation for customs purposes.

In all the above definitions, a regime is defined in one way or another as a set, system or combination of legal means, measures and provisions. We believe that any regime is really possible only if a set of interrelated provisions that have a common subject of legal regulation is established. Restriction of access to information constituting a tax secret is also based on a combination of relevant provisions.

The already mentioned Concept of Ensuring the Security of Tax Authorities by the Federal Tax Police defines the protection of information primarily as taking measures to ensure the safety of information resources of tax authorities from illegal distribution, distortion or destruction. With this in mind, the mode of access to information constituting a tax secret can be defined as a set of legal provisions, ensuring the safety of the relevant information resources.

legal basis of this regime are the provisions enshrined in Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with them, tax secrets are not subject to disclosure by tax authorities, tax police authorities, authorities of state off-budget funds and customs authorities, their officials and involved specialists, experts, except as otherwise provided by federal law. The information received by these bodies, constituting a tax secret, has a special regime of storage and access. Access to information constituting a tax secret is granted to officials according to the lists determined respectively by the Ministry of Taxation of Russia, the bodies of state non-budgetary funds, the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the State Customs Committee of Russia.

Taking into account the fact that the bulk of the information constituting the tax Secret is an integral part of the information resources of the tax authorities, one should refer to the analysis of the relevant departmental acts of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia. Thus, the procedure for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities, approved by order of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia dated October 3, 2006 No. BG-3-24 / 346, determines that the provision of confidential information by tax authorities is carried out on the basis of written motivated requests drawn up on official forms, signed authorized official, unless otherwise provided by law or agreements on the exchange of information. These requests are not subject to execution when: the provision of confidential information is not provided for by law, joint agreements and orders of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia and third-party organizations; the tax authorities do not have the requested statistical or informational and analytical information in ready-made form.

Confidential information contained in the unified state register of taxpayers is provided in the manner prescribed by the Rules for maintaining the unified state register of taxpayers. For example, the taxpayers themselves are given information about them that is confidential - within two months after the submission of the annual tax reporting for the past year. Confidential information from the registry is also provided to law enforcement and judiciary within their competence, taking into account the requirements of the legislation on information protection.

In order to maintain the confidentiality of the information received by the tax authorities about taxpayers to law enforcement agencies, when sending requests for the provision of information constituting a tax secret, it is necessary to indicate the specific circumstances in connection with which there was a need to obtain this information, and justify that the need to provide them is related to the performance of duties assigned to the requesting official.

The procedure for providing confidential information varies somewhat depending on which authorities apply for it. The legislation does not provide for the possibility of providing libraries, archives, collections, databases and data banks containing confidential information available in the tax authorities to third parties. The current legislation only provides for the possibility of obtaining confidential tax information. First of all, such information can be provided to the customs authorities, authorities of state off-budget funds and tax police, whose employees themselves have access to information constituting a tax secret.

It has features and the provision of confidential tax information to the tax police. The main areas of interaction between the tax police and tax authorities are determined in the Agreement on the main areas of interaction and coordination of the activities of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Taxes and Duties and the Federal Tax Police Service of the Russian Federation dated May 26, 2000 No. VS-160. For example, the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of December 18, 2001 No. 573 "On the announcement of the Agreement on Information Interaction between the State Statistics Committee of Russia and the Federal Tax Service of Russia", the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of December 21, 2001 "On Information Interaction between the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Ministry of Property of Russia", the order of the Federal Tax Service Russia of January 14, 2002 No. 18 "On the announcement of the Agreement on information exchange The Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Federal Border Guard Service of Russia”, order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of October 18, 2001 No. 524 “On Approval of the Regulation on the Procedure for Interaction between the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Federal Financial Service of Russia”. As one of them, the organization of the procedure for the transfer by tax authorities to the federal tax police of materials on violations of the legislation on taxes and fees containing signs of tax crimes is determined.

Provision of confidential information to the prosecutor's office, internal affairs and federal service security is carried out within the competence of these bodies, taking into account the requirements of the legislation on information protection.

Confidential information is provided to arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction in cases provided for by legislative acts on their activities. At the official motivated written request of the judge, the materials are submitted directly to the court. The information necessary for the enforcement of a penalty is also provided to bailiffs.

Information exchange is also carried out by other state authorities that have access to information constituting a tax secret. For example, a number of interdepartmental agreements providing for information exchange have been concluded with the participation of the Federal Tax Service of Russia. For example, the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of December 18, 2001 No. 573 "On the announcement of the Agreement on Information Interaction between the State Statistics Committee of Russia and the Federal Tax Service of Russia", the order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of December 21, 2001 "On Information Interaction between the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Ministry of Property of Russia", the order of the Federal Tax Service of January 14, 2002 No. 18 “On the announcement of an Agreement on information interaction between the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Federal Border Service of Russia”, order of the Federal Tax Service of Russia of October 18, 2001 No. 524 “On Approval of the Regulations on the Procedure for Interaction between the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Federal Border Service of Russia”.

The purpose of these agreements is to create conditions for raising the level information support activities of federal executive bodies, adoption management decisions; ensure compatibility of information resources; organize the exchange of statistical and analytical information; improve the efficiency of using state information resources.

On the part of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, information exchange primarily involves the provision of information on the state of the criminal situation in the tax sphere and data on violations of tax laws.

2.2. Responsibility for disclosure of tax secrets

In accordance with Article 12 of the Law of the Russian Federation of March 21, 1991 N 943-1 "On the Tax Authorities of the Russian Federation" for violation of the obligation to comply with both tax and official secrets, disciplinary and criminal liability may be imposed on officials of the tax authorities . The grounds for bringing tax officials to criminal responsibility for non-compliance with official and tax secrets differ. Thus, violation of the procedure for the work of officials of tax authorities with official secrets can be considered as abuse of official powers (Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). For illegal disclosure, use and loss of tax secrets, criminal liability of officials of tax authorities occurs depending on the type of disclosed information constituting a tax secret. So, in case of disclosure of information about the private life of a person that constitutes his personal or family secret, Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is applied. Illegal disclosure or use by an official of tax authorities of commercial or banking tax secrets entails his criminal liability on the basis of Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with part 1 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the collection of information constituting a commercial or banking secret by stealing documents, bribery or threats, as well as in any other illegal way for the purpose of disclosing or illegally using this information - income of the convict for a period of 1 to 2 months or imprisonment for up to 2 years.

In accordance with part 2 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, illegal disclosure or use of information constituting a commercial or banking secret, without the consent of their owner, committed out of mercenary or other personal interest and causing large damage, is punishable by a fine in the amount of 200 to 500 minimum wages or in the amount of wages or other income convicted for a period of 2 to 5 months or imprisonment for up to 3 years with a fine in the amount of up to 50 minimum wages or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to 1 month or without it.

The subject of the crime can be, in particular, any employee of the organization. A trade secret must be respected by those who own it, even after their dismissal from work, until the relevant information ceases to be a protected secret, to which there is no free access.

The act provided for by part 2 of Art. 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, has a mandatory feature - the infliction of major damage, which is in a causal relationship with the disclosure or use of someone else's trade secret. These may be losses incurred by the owner of a trade secret, caused by the need to reorient activities, reduce clientele, etc.

The motives and goals for disclosing or using trade secrets can be selfish, related to the desire to get from this material benefit, or those that testify to the personal interest of the perpetrator in the commission of these actions and causing major damage: revenge, envy, resentment.

The guilty person, disclosing or using someone else's trade secret, understands that this will entail or may cause major damage to the owner of the secret, desires this or knowingly allows it.

The rule of Part 2, Clause 2, Art. 139 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for the obligation of employees to compensate for losses incurred in connection with the disclosure by them contrary to employment contract information constituting a trade secret.

Liability is based on the following mandatory conditions(elements):

a) direct actual damage (Labor Code of the Russian Federation);

b) unlawful behavior of the employee;

c) a causal relationship between the actions (inaction) of the employee and the damage caused;

d) the employee's guilt in causing damage (Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Direct actual damage. Under the direct actual damage is understood, in particular, a decrease in the cash assets of the enterprise due to the loss, deterioration or decrease in its value, as well as the need to make excessive payments.

The illegality of the employee's behavior (part 2, clause 2, article 139 of the Civil Code). Illegality can be expressed in various kinds of actions (inaction) that led to the disclosure of information constituting the trade secret of the employer, which caused damage to him.

When determining the causal relationship between the actions (inaction) of the employee, expressed in the disclosure of a commercial secret that became known to him by virtue of the employment contract (contract), and the damage caused, all aspects of the employee’s activities provided for by the employment agreement (contract) are taken into account, job descriptions as well as his personal qualities.

The fault of the employee in causing damage arising from the disclosure of trade secrets. In accordance with the rule h. 2 Article. 118 of the Labor Code, liability for damage caused to an enterprise, institution, organization in the performance of labor duties is assigned to the employee, provided that the damage was caused through his fault.

The amount of liability for disclosure of information constituting a commercial secret under an employment agreement (contract). In accordance with Part 2, Clause 2, Art. 139 of the Civil Code, persons who divulged a trade secret contrary to an employment contract are required to compensate for the losses incurred. However, by virtue of the rule provided for in paragraph 3 of Art. 2 of the Civil Code, to determine the amount of damages subject to compensation, it is impossible to apply the norms of Art. 15 and 393 of the Civil Code, since labor legislation regulates the issues of determining the amount of liability by other rules - the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

It is important to emphasize that the labor legislation of the Russian Federation provides for two main types of material liability of employees: limited and full. It is called limited because damages are limited in relation to wages worker. Full material liability is called so because the employee compensates for the damage in full size without any restriction.

With limited material liability, the employee compensates for the damage within predetermined limits. As a rule, such a limit is the average monthly salary of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

It should be noted that the Labor Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a list of cases of damage for which material liability is provided within the limits of the average monthly earnings of an employee. In this regard, it seems possible to classify as such the situation associated with the disclosure of information constituting a trade secret.

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides for cases of full liability of employees. With regard to the issue of determining the amount of liability for damage caused by the disclosure of information constituting a trade secret, we note the rules provided for by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, namely:

– employees bear material responsibility in full;

- when the damage is caused by the criminal actions of the employee, established by the court verdict;

- when the damage was caused not in the performance of labor duties.

It is important to note that a person who has suffered material damage from a crime has the right, in the course of criminal proceedings, to bring a civil action against the accused or persons who are financially responsible for the actions of the accused, which is considered by the court together with the criminal case (Article 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). In this case, the owner of the trade secret, whose rights have been violated, may apply the rules of Art. 139 of the Civil Code and demand compensation for losses in connection with the disclosure of trade secrets in full. At the same time, the court, guided by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, may, taking into account the degree of guilt, specific circumstances and the financial situation of the employee, reduce the amount of damage to be compensated.

As for the amount of damage caused to the organization in connection with the disclosure of a trade secret by an employee, it can be determined according to the rules of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. With regard to lost income (lost profit), they cannot be included in the calculation of the amount of damage subject to compensation.

Thus, it should be noted that the rights of the owner of a trade secret (employer) to compensation for property damage caused by an employee who disclosed it are severely limited by the norms of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Liability will be subject to the following conditions:

committing by a person of actions to disclose trade secrets;


the fault of the person who disclosed the trade secret;


the presence of a causal relationship between the actions of the person who disclosed the trade secret and the losses of the owner of the trade secret.

When determining the amount of liability, the above restrictions provided for by the labor legislation of the Russian Federation will not apply.

The person who committed the offense will be obliged to compensate not only for direct damage, but also for lost profits (ie, the income that the owner of a trade secret could have received if it was kept).

CONCLUSION

Summarizing the study, the following conclusions should be drawn. tax secret
constitute any information about the taxpayer received by the tax authority, internal affairs authorities, the body of the state off-budget fund and the customs authority, with the exception of information:

1) disclosed by the taxpayer independently or with his consent;
2) taxpayer identification number;

3) on violations of the legislation on taxes and fees and measures of responsibility for these violations;

4) provided to the tax, customs or law enforcement authorities of other states in accordance with international agreements on mutual cooperation between tax, customs or law enforcement authorities (in terms of information provided to these authorities), one of the parties to which is the Russian Federation.

Information constituting a tax secret received by the tax authorities, internal affairs authorities, authorities of state off-budget funds or customs authorities have a special regime of storage and access.

Access to information constituting a tax secret is granted to officials designated by the federal executive body authorized for control and supervision in the field of taxes and fees, the federal executive body authorized in the field of internal affairs, the federal executive body authorized to control and supervision in the field of customs.

Tax secrecy is not subject to disclosure by tax authorities, internal affairs authorities, authorities of state off-budget funds and customs authorities, their officials and involved specialists, experts, except for cases provided for by federal law.

The disclosure of a tax secret includes, in particular, the use or transfer to another person of the production or commercial secret of a taxpayer that has become known to an official of a tax authority, an internal affairs authority, an authority of a state non-budgetary fund or a customs authority, a specialist or expert involved in the performance of their duties.

The loss of documents containing information constituting a tax secret, or the disclosure of such information, entails liability under federal laws. Disclosure of tax secrets entails liability under Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

LIST OF USED LITERATURE

1. Normative legal acts and other official documents

The Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993 // Russian newspaper. 1993. 25 Dec.


On tax authorities in the Russian Federation: Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated March 21, 1991 No. 943-1.


Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Part One) dated July 31, 1998 // Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation. 1998. No. 31. Art. 3824. (as amended on May 1, 2007)


Tax Code of the Russian Federation (Part Two) dated August 5, 2000 // Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation. 2000. No. 32. Art. 3340. (as amended by the Federal Law as of May 1, 2007)


Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Expert comments. // Regulations for an accountant - No. 16. – 1998


Federal Law of April 1, 1996 No. 27-FZ "On individual (personalized) accounting in the system of state pension insurance" // SZ RF. 1996. No. 14. Art. 1401.


Law of the Russian Federation of June 24, 1993 No. 5238-1 "On Federal Tax Police Bodies" // Vedomosti RF. 1993. No. 29. Art. 1114.

2. Monographs, textbooks, teaching aids

Vitryansky V. V., Gerasimenko S. A. Tax authorities, tax payer and the Civil Code. –M.: YURAYT, 1995.

Guev A. N. Article-by-article commentary on the first part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. 2nd ed., add. and reworked. –M.: JURIST, 2006.

Text of the document as of July 2016

The document is no longer valid

In order to improve the procedure for providing confidential information by the tax authorities of the Russian Federation, I order:

1. Approve the attached Procedure for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure).

2. The heads of departments, heads of departments and independent departments of the central office of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia, heads of territorial bodies of the Ministry of Taxes of Russia, when providing confidential information, shall be guided by the requirements of the Procedure.

3. I reserve control over the implementation of this Order.

Minister G.I.BUKAEV

Appendix to the Order of the Ministry of Taxes and Taxes of Russia dated 03.10.2000 N BG-3-24/346

ORDER

PROVISION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION BY TAX AUTHORITIES

1. General Provisions

1.1. This document defines the procedure for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities.

1.2. The legal basis for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities is the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, part one (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1998, N 31, Art. 3824; 1999, N 28, Art. 3487; 2000, N 2, Art. 134), Federal Law of 02.20.95 N 24-FZ "On Information, Informatization and Information Protection" (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1995, N 8, Art. 609), Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 10.03.99 N 266 "On the procedure for maintaining the Unified State Register of Taxpayers" (Sobranie Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 1999, N 11, item 1307) and other regulatory legal acts.

1.3. In the course of fulfilling the tasks assigned to the tax authorities to control compliance with the legislation on taxes and fees, as well as regulatory legal acts adopted in accordance with it, to carry out explanatory work with taxpayers, the tax authorities collect (receive), process, accumulate, store, distribute, transfer (representation) of information both about taxpayers and about the activities of tax authorities.

1.4. In the process of carrying out this activity, the tax authorities form information resources that are concentrated in them in the form of separate documents and separate arrays of documents, documents and arrays of documents in information systems(libraries, archives, funds, databases and data banks, other information systems).

1.5. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the owners of information resources about taxpayers are themselves, and the tax authorities in this case act as the owner of information resources about taxpayers. Information about the activities of tax authorities is the property of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia.

1.6. Responsibility for organizing the protection of confidential information and observing the procedure for its provision rests with the heads of structural divisions of the central office and heads of territorial bodies of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia.

1.7. Provision of confidential information by tax authorities is carried out on the basis of written motivated requests, drawn up on official forms, signed by an authorized official, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation or agreements on the exchange of information.

Requests are not subject to execution in the following cases:

if the provision of confidential information is not provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, joint agreements and orders of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia and third-party organizations;

if the tax authorities do not have the requested statistical or information-analytical information in a ready-made form.

1.8. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for the possibility of providing third-party organizations with libraries, archives, collections, databases and data banks containing confidential information held by tax authorities.

2. Provision of confidential information to law enforcement and judicial authorities, bailiffs - executors and recoverers

2.1. Confidential information is provided to arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction in cases provided for by legislative acts on their activities.

At the official motivated written request of the judge, the materials are submitted directly to the court.

2.2. Confidential information is provided to bodies of the prosecutor's office, internal affairs, tax police and the federal security service within the competence of these bodies, taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of information.

In order to maintain the confidentiality of information received by the tax authorities about taxpayers to law enforcement agencies, when sending requests for information constituting a tax secret, it is necessary to indicate the specific circumstances in connection with which it became necessary to obtain this information, and justify that the need to provide this information is related with the performance of the duties assigned to the requesting official.

Seizure of documents in the tax authorities from the files of taxpayers during the investigation and inquiry in a criminal case must be carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of Articles 167, 169, 170, 171, 176 and 177 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR (Vedomosti of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, 1960, No. 40, Art. 592) on the basis of a reasoned decision of the investigator and with the preparation of a protocol. A copy of the protocol must be handed over against receipt to the official of the tax authority from whom the documents were seized.

Requesting from the tax authorities copies of documents, the originals of which are stored in other organizations, as well as obtaining copies of these documents, is carried out with the consent of the heads of the tax authorities, when, due to the circumstances of the case, the location of the original may entail a delay in the investigation and the adoption of a decision on the case or material.

2.3. The provision of confidential information to the customs authorities is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the Customs Code of the Russian Federation (Vedomosti of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, 1993, N 31, Article 1224) and the agreement on the exchange of information between the Ministry of Taxes of Russia and the State Customs Committee Russia.

2.4. In the absence of information about the debtor necessary for enforcement, tax authorities, within three days from the date of receipt of a reasoned written request, provide the bailiff - executor with information about the TIN, about the numbers of settlement, current and other accounts, about the name and location of banks and other credit institutions in which accounts are opened, on financial and economic activities for established forms reporting. In the absence of a debtor as specified in executive document the address is informed of its new location.

A written request must be certified by the seal of the relevant department bailiffs indicating in it the date of the decision to initiate enforcement proceedings, the number of enforcement proceedings, the name of the debtor - a legal entity and its legal address (surname, name, patronymic of the debtor - an individual and his place of residence).

2.5. To the claimant, upon his application and if he has writ of execution with an unexpired limitation period, information is provided on the presence or absence of the debtor - the organization of accounts and deposits in banks and other credit organizations.

If the debtor-organization has accounts and deposits with banks and other credit organizations, the claimants are provided with information on the names of the said credit organizations and their location.

3. Provision of confidential information to state non-budgetary funds, other government organizations and officials

3.1. Information is provided to state extra-budgetary funds in the manner determined by agreements on the exchange of information between the Ministry of Taxation of Russia and state extra-budgetary funds.

3.2. Accounts Chamber The Russian Federation, in accordance with the Federal Law of January 11, 1995 N 4-FZ "On the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation" (Sobraniye Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 1995, N 3, Art. 167), provides information on the results of audits and inspections, as well as other information required to ensure its activities.

3.3. Upon a parliamentary request, an official of the tax authority to which the parliamentary request is sent must give an answer orally (at a meeting of the relevant chamber of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation) or in writing no later than 15 days from the date of receipt of the parliamentary request or in another form established by the relevant chamber term.

3.4. At the request of a member of the Federation Council, deputy State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the official of the tax authority to whom the request is sent must give a response to it in writing no later than 30 days from the date of its receipt or within another period agreed with the initiator of the request.

4. Provision of confidential information contained in the unified state register of taxpayers

Confidential information contained in the unified state register of taxpayers is provided in the manner prescribed by the Rules for maintaining the unified state register of taxpayers, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated March 10, 1999 N 266.

Ministry of Taxes of the Russian Federation

Order
providing tax authorities with confidential information

1. General Provisions

1.1. This document defines the procedure for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities.

1.2. The legal basis for the provision of confidential information by tax authorities is the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, part one (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1998, N 31, Art. 3824; 1999, N 28, Art. 3487; 2000, N 2, Art. 134), Federal Law of 20.02.95 N 24-FZ "On Information, Informatization and Information Protection" (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1995, N 8, Art. 609), Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 10.03.99 N 266 "On the procedure for maintaining the Unified State Register of Taxpayers" (Sobraniye Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii, 1999, N 11, Article 1307) and other regulatory legal acts.

1.3. In the course of fulfilling the tasks assigned to the tax authorities to control compliance with the legislation on taxes and fees, as well as regulatory legal acts adopted in accordance with it, to carry out explanatory work with taxpayers, the tax authorities collect (receive), process, accumulate, store, distribute, transfer (representation) of information both about taxpayers and about the activities of tax authorities.

1.4. In the process of carrying out this activity, the tax authorities form information resources that are concentrated in them in the form of separate documents and separate arrays of documents, documents and arrays of documents in information systems (libraries, archives, funds, databases and data banks, other information systems).

1.5. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the owners of information resources about taxpayers are themselves, and the tax authorities in this case act as the owner of information resources about taxpayers. Information about the activities of tax authorities is the property of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia.

1.6. Responsibility for organizing the protection of confidential information and observing the procedure for its provision rests with the heads of structural divisions of the central office and heads of territorial bodies of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia.

1.7. Provision of confidential information by tax authorities is carried out on the basis of written motivated requests, drawn up on official forms, signed by an authorized official, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the Russian Federation or agreements on the exchange of information.

Requests are not subject to execution in the following cases:

if the provision of confidential information is not provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, joint agreements and orders of the Ministry of Taxation of Russia and third-party organizations;

if the tax authorities do not have the requested statistical or informational and analytical information ready.

1.8. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for the possibility of providing third-party organizations with libraries, archives, collections, databases and data banks containing confidential information held by tax authorities.

2. Provision of confidential information to law enforcement and judicial authorities, bailiffs and recoverers

2.1. Confidential information is provided to arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction in cases provided for by legislative acts on their activities.

At the official motivated written request of the judge, the materials are submitted directly to the court.

2.2. Confidential information is provided to bodies of the prosecutor's office, internal affairs, tax police and the federal security service within the competence of these bodies, taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of information.

In order to preserve the confidentiality of information received by the tax authorities about taxpayers, law enforcement agencies, when sending requests for information constituting a tax secret, must indicate the specific circumstances in connection with which it became necessary to obtain this information, and justify that the need to provide this information associated with the performance of duties assigned to the requesting official.

Seizure of documents in the tax authorities from the files of taxpayers in the course of investigation and inquiry in a criminal case must be carried out in strict accordance with the requirements of Articles 167,,,, and the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR (Vedomosti of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, 1960, N 40, Art. 592) on the basis of a reasoned decision of the investigator and with the preparation of the protocol. A copy of the protocol must be handed over against receipt to the official of the tax authority from whom the documents were seized.

Requesting from the tax authorities copies of documents, the originals of which are stored in other organizations, as well as obtaining copies of these documents, is carried out with the consent of the heads of the tax authorities, when, due to the circumstances of the case, the location of the original may entail a delay in the investigation and the adoption of a decision on the case or material.

2.3. The provision of confidential information to the customs authorities is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the Customs Code of the Russian Federation (Bulletin of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, 1993, N 31, Article 1224) and the agreement on the exchange of information between the Ministry of Taxes and the State Customs Committee of Russia Russia.

2.4. In the absence of information about the debtor necessary for enforcement, the tax authorities, within three days from the date of receipt of a reasoned written request, provide the bailiff-executor with information about the TIN, about the numbers of settlement, current and other accounts, about the name and location of banks and other credit institutions, in which accounts are opened, on financial and economic activities in accordance with established reporting forms. In the absence of the debtor, information about his new location is reported at the address indicated in the executive document.

A written request must be certified by the seal of the relevant division of bailiffs indicating in it the date of the decision to initiate enforcement proceedings, the number of enforcement proceedings, the name of the debtor - a legal entity and its legal address (last name, first name, patronymic of the debtor - an individual and his place of residence) .

2.5. The recoverer, upon his application and if he has a writ of execution with an unexpired statute of limitations, is provided with information on the presence or absence of accounts and deposits in the debtor-organization in banks and other credit organizations.

If the debtor-organization has accounts and deposits with banks and other credit organizations, the claimants are provided with information on the name of the said credit organizations and their location.

3. Provision of confidential information to state off-budget funds, other state organizations and officials

3.1. Information is provided to state extra-budgetary funds in the manner determined by agreements on the exchange of information between the Ministry of Taxation of Russia and state extra-budgetary funds.

3.2. The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the Federal Law of January 11, 1995 N 4-FZ "On the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation" (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1995, N 3, Article 167), is provided with information on the results of audits and inspections, as well as other information needed to ensure its operation.

3.3. Upon a parliamentary request, an official of the tax authority to which the parliamentary request is sent must give an answer orally (at a meeting of the relevant chamber of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation) or in writing no later than 15 days from the date of receipt of the parliamentary request or in another form established by the relevant chamber term.

3.4. At the request of a member of the Federation Council, a deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, the official of the tax authority to whom the request is sent must give a response to it in writing no later than 30 days from the date of its receipt or within another period agreed with the initiator of the request.

4. Provision of confidential information contained in the unified state register of taxpayers

Confidential information contained in the unified state register of taxpayers is provided in the manner prescribed by the Rules for maintaining the unified state register of taxpayers, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 10, 1999 N 266.

The term "economic information" is widely used, it means information about the processes of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods. The most important characteristics and the smallest semantic units of economic information are indicators and quantities, which are quantitative characteristics of the properties of the displayed objects.

In accordance with Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, any information about a taxpayer received by a tax authority, internal affairs authorities, investigating authorities, an authority of a state off-budget fund and a customs authority, with the exception of information:

1. disclosed by the taxpayer independently or with his consent;
2. about the identification number of the taxpayer;
3. on violations of the legislation on taxes and fees and measures of responsibility for these violations;
4. provided to the tax (customs) or law enforcement authorities of other states in accordance with international treaties (agreements), to which the Russian Federation is a party, on mutual cooperation between tax (customs) or law enforcement authorities (in terms of information provided to these authorities);
5. provided to election commissions in accordance with the legislation on elections based on the results of inspections by the tax authority of information on the amount and sources of income of the candidate and his spouse, as well as on property owned by the candidate and his spouse by right of ownership.

The protection of confidential economic information makes it possible to identify three main approaches that were used in the legislation when determining the composition of information protected under the regime of a particular secret: the first approach involves a direct listing in the legislation of information constituting a secret. In a similar way, the composition of information protected under the regime of state secrets is determined; the second approach is based on granting the right to the owner (possessor) of information to determine the composition of protected information. This approach is used in official and commercial secret regimes; the third approach does not provide for the establishment of any list of protected information at all.

The concept of ensuring the security of the activities of tax authorities, approved by Orders of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Ministry of Taxation of Russia, respectively, dated October 12 and 13, 2000 N VA-3033 and N BG-6-24 / 802, is one of the main tasks solved in the process of ensuring the security of the activities of tax authorities , relates the identification of channels of leakage from the tax authorities of information constituting a tax secret. Disclosure of information constituting a tax secret is defined as one of the main threats to the security of the tax authorities. The external threat in this case is the illegal aspirations of criminal elements to obtain confidential information from the tax authorities, the internal threat is a violation of the regime for handling official documents and materials, which creates the prerequisites for the leakage of official information.

The restriction of access to information received by the tax authorities, which was introduced by establishing an exhaustive list of entities that, by virtue of law, have the right to apply to the tax authorities for the provision of the specified information, as a rule, is explained by the special legal status of information constituting a tax secret.

The dissemination of information received by the tax authorities may be detrimental to the interests of both individual citizens, private life which is inviolable and protected by law, and to organizations whose commercial and other interests may be violated in the event of arbitrary dissemination of confidential information relevant to business in a competitive or criminal environment.

Over the past decade, since 1998, since the introduction of part one of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and the definition of the concept of "tax secrecy", global changes have taken place in the system of tax authorities, including those associated with a significant increase in their functions. The expansion of the scope of activities of the tax authorities was also affected by the entry into force of the following federal laws:

• dated May 4, 2011 N 99-FZ "On licensing certain types activity";
• dated August 8, 2001 N 129-FZ "On state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs";
• dated October 26, 2002 N 127-FZ "On insolvency (bankruptcy)";
• dated November 11, 2003 N 138-FZ "On lotteries";
• dated December 29, 2006 N 244-FZ "On state regulation organization and conduct of gambling and on amendments to some legislative acts Russian Federation".

Currently, the tax authorities have the following powers:

• carry out state registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, peasant (farm) enterprises;
• represent the interests of the Russian Federation in bankruptcy cases and bankruptcy proceedings;
• carry out control and supervision over the conduct of lotteries, as well as over compliance by the organizers of gambling with the requirements of the current legislation.

Functions of the tax authorities, providing for the maintenance of unified state registers of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs (EGRLE and EGRIP), lotteries, the state register of all-Russian lotteries, the provision of information contained in the USRLE and EGRIP, as well as the performance of legally significant actions for participants civil circulation, radically influenced the basic principles of the activities of the tax authorities.

In addition, the tax authorities have unique experience in collecting and processing various information, as well as providing it to interested parties both on paper and in electronic form. An example of this is the activity of tax authorities:

• for the issuance of extracts from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and the EGRIP;
• providing remote access to the specified information resources;
• implementation of a query system for information about legal entities on the website of the Federal Tax Service;
• posting on the website of the Federal Tax Service of Russia information about documents submitted for state registration of changes made to the constituent documents of organizations, as well as information contained in the state register.

The website of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation contains a register of licenses for the production of counterfeit-proof printing products, a register of licenses for the organization and conduct of gambling, State Register All-Russian lotteries, the unified state register of lotteries. The site contains online services that allow an unlimited number of persons to find legal entities of interest to them, the address of their tax office, as well as get information about their own debts for property, transport and land taxes.

When establishing the tax secrecy regime, an approach was used that does not provide for the formation of any list of protected information. The main difference between tax secrecy lies in the fact that in this case, not private practices and commercial organizations are designated as confidants, but the relevant state bodies, their officials, as well as specialists and experts involved by them. Therefore, information constituting a tax secret should be classified as a professional secret of employees of tax, customs authorities, bodies of state non-budgetary funds and persons assisting tax administration. Some other experts also consider tax secrets as a kind of professional secret.

In accordance with Part 2 of Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, tax secrets are not subject to disclosure by tax authorities, internal affairs authorities, investigating authorities, state off-budget funds and customs authorities, their officials and attracted specialists, experts, except as otherwise provided by federal law.

The disclosure of a tax secret includes, in particular, the use or transfer to another person of the production or commercial secret of a taxpayer that has become known to an official of a tax authority, an internal affairs authority, an investigating authority, an authority of a state off-budget fund or a customs authority, a specialist or expert involved in the performance of their duties. responsibilities.

Content of information protected under the tax secrecy regime and its sources

The first part of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation includes Art. 102, containing norms that determine the composition of information constituting a tax secret, and the mode of its storage.

Considering the content of information protected under the regime of tax secrecy, it is necessary first of all to determine what information is in general.

At the same time, it should be noted that when protecting information in the regime of tax secrecy, the material carrier does not matter. Paper carriers, on which the preparation of accounting and tax accounting and reporting documents, acts of inspections, resolutions, protocols, requirements, decisions of tax authorities, are generally accepted and most common. On paper, documents are compiled that contain the so-called facsimile identifiers of a legal or natural person, namely signatures and seals. Magnetic and electronic media began to be used for the purposes of documenting tax-relevant information relatively recently.

In accordance with Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, information, information protected in the regime of tax secrecy, can be any information, primarily in form - it can be any written (electronic) information about a taxpayer that has become known to an official of a tax authority in the exercise of his legal powers. For example, in necessary cases when examining documents, photo and film shooting, video recording, as well as making copies of documents and other actions can be carried out. The content of such information can also be anything, i.e. include not only information directly related to taxation issues, but also other information, the legal protection of which is provided for by various regulatory legal acts (for example, personal, family, commercial secrets).

In the commentary to Art. 102 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation S.D. Shatalov notes: “In order to guarantee the taxpayer the confidentiality of the information he submits to the tax and customs authorities, the authorities of state off-budget funds (hereinafter referred to as the regulatory authorities), as well as the information collected about him by the regulatory authorities, in particular, so that it cannot get to competitors or criminal elements, the article in question provides that most of the information about him is qualified as a tax secret and, therefore, is protected by regulatory authorities from distribution and unauthorized access. The article in question “closes” all information about the taxpayer, except for directly named ones.

A distinctive feature of information protected under the regime of tax secrecy is that the information constituting it is only information about a person (a taxpayer - an individual or a legal entity), i.e. it can be any information related to a specific person.

Moreover, this information should be obtained by the tax authorities only in compliance with their official duties. Information about a taxpayer received by an official not in connection with the exercise of his powers is not a tax secret. In this case, there is no basis for classifying information as a tax secret, since any third party can obtain such information about a taxpayer in the same way without any obstacles.

The main source of tax-relevant information is the taxpayer (payer of fees), who is obliged by the legislation on taxes to provide it.

According to sub. 4, 5, 7 p. 1 art. 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, taxpayers are required to:

• submit to the tax authority at the place of registration in the prescribed manner tax returns for those taxes that they are required to pay, if such an obligation is provided for by law, as well as financial statements in accordance with the Federal Law "On Accounting";
• submit to the tax authorities and their officials, in cases provided for by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the documents necessary for the calculation and payment of taxes;
• provide the tax authority with the necessary information and documents in the prescribed cases and in the manner prescribed by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 23 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, taxpayers - organizations and individual entrepreneurs - are required to report in writing to the tax authority at the place of registration:

• on opening or closing accounts - within 10 days;
• about all cases of participation in Russian and foreign organizations - no later than one month from the date of commencement of such participation;
• on all separate subdivisions created on the territory of the Russian Federation - no later than one month from the date of their creation, reorganization or liquidation;
• on declaring insolvency (bankruptcy), on liquidation or reorganization - no later than three days from the date of such decision;
• about changing his location or place of residence - no later than 10 days from the date of such change.

In accordance with Art. 82 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation as a guarantee of the safety of such information in tax legislation there is a rule according to which, when exercising tax control, the collection, storage, use and dissemination by tax authorities of information about a taxpayer constituting a professional secret, in particular lawyer's secret, audit secret, is recognized as unacceptable.

In accordance with Art. Art. 24, 85, 86, 90, 93 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes the obligation for certain individuals and organizations to provide information about the taxpayer known to them. This duty can be installed for tax agents, banking organizations, witnesses and just individuals. Failure to provide information to the tax authorities entails liability in accordance with Art. 129 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. Information received from these persons is protected under the regime of tax secrecy, but only to the extent that it relates directly to the taxpayer.

The tax authorities receive the information necessary for the registration of taxpayers from the registration authorities. According to Art. 85 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, these include bodies that carry out registration of organizations and individual entrepreneurs; bodies licensing private notaries, detectives and security guards; bodies registering individuals at the place of residence; bodies carrying out registration of acts of civil status of individuals; bodies carrying out accounting and (or) registration of real estate; bodies of guardianship and guardianship, educational, medical institutions, institutions of social protection of the population and other similar institutions; bodies (institutions) authorized to perform notarial acts, and private notaries; bodies that carry out accounting and (or) registration of users of natural resources, as well as licensing activities related to the use of these resources.

These bodies are required to report to the tax authority at their location:

• about registered (re-registered) or liquidated (reorganized) organizations - within 10 days after the registration (re-registration) or liquidation (reorganization) of the organization;
• about individuals who have registered or terminated their activities as individual entrepreneurs - within 10 days after the issuance of a registration certificate, its withdrawal or expiration;
• about individuals who have been issued licenses, certificates or other similar documents - private notaries, private detectives and private security guards, or whose documents have been revoked or terminated - within 10 days;
• about the facts of registration or about the facts of birth and death of individuals - within 10 days after the registration of these persons or facts;
• about immovable property located in the territory under their jurisdiction or about vehicles registered with these bodies, and their owners - within 10 days after registration of the property;
• on granting the rights to use natural resources - within 10 days after the registration (issuance of the relevant license, permit) of the nature user;
• on the establishment of guardianship over individuals recognized by the court as legally incompetent, on the guardianship, guardianship and management of property of minors, other minor individuals, individuals limited by the court in capacity, capable individuals who have been established guardianship in the form of patronage, individuals recognized by the court missing, as well as on subsequent changes related to the specified guardianship, guardianship or property management - no later than five days from the date of the adoption of the relevant decision;
• on notarization of the right to inheritance and donation contracts - no later than five days from the date of the corresponding notarization.

Legal regime of access to information protected under the regime of tax secrecy

Based on the etymological interpretation of the word "regime", it is proposed to understand it as an established order of life and activity to achieve any goals.

In the legal literature, the legal regime is defined both as the social regime of an object, fixed by legal norms and provided with a set of legal means, and as a regulation procedure, which is expressed in a set of legal means that characterize a special combination of interacting permissions, prohibitions, as well as positive obligations that create special direction of regulation.

In order to maintain the confidentiality of information received by the tax authorities about taxpayers to law enforcement agencies, when sending requests for information constituting a tax secret, it is necessary to indicate the specific circumstances in connection with which it became necessary to obtain this information, and justify that the need to provide this information is related to fulfillment of the duties assigned to the requesting official. The procedure for providing confidential information varies somewhat depending on which authorities apply for it.

The legislation does not provide for the possibility of providing libraries, archives, collections, databases and data banks containing confidential information available in the tax authorities to third parties. The current legislation only provides for the possibility of obtaining confidential tax information. First of all, such information can be provided to customs authorities, authorities of state off-budget funds and authorities of the federal service for economic and tax crimes, whose employees themselves have access to information constituting a tax secret.

One of the most important components of the regime of legal protection of information is the establishment of legal liability for violation of the procedure for the formation of resources of tax-relevant information and the regime of tax secrecy. In this case (for such offenses) the following types of legal liability will apply: tax (financial), administrative, criminal, civil and disciplinary liability.

The disclosure of a tax secret is recognized as a guilty illegal, in violation of the protection regime for the relevant confidential information, action (inaction) of an official of the tax (customs) authority, as a result of which it became available to third parties.

The courts of general jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the arbitration courts of the Russian Federation have access to tax secrets. In proceedings on cases arising in connection with challenging non-normative acts, decisions and actions (inaction) of tax authorities and officials of tax authorities, in proceedings on cases of administrative offenses referred to the jurisdiction of the relevant courts (Article 29 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation; Art. 22 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation), there may be a need to involve information about the taxpayer as evidence. In these cases, materials containing this information are provided by the tax authority at a reasoned written request of the judge directly to the court (Article 66 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation; Article 57 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).

The information necessary for the enforcement of a penalty is provided to bailiffs (civil servants who, in accordance with Article 4 of the Federal Law of July 21, 1997 N 119-ФЗ "On Enforcement Proceedings" execute judicial acts and acts of other bodies). In the absence of information about the debtor necessary for enforcement, bailiff sends a reasoned written request to the tax authority about the TIN, about account numbers, about the name and location of banks and credit institutions in which these accounts are located. Such information constitutes an object of tax secrecy. However, at the request of the bailiff, it must be provided by the tax authority within three days.