Article 171 of the Criminal Code: illegal business

Today, more and more people are starting to engage in any business, large or not. Before you start your own production or the provision of services, you must register with the tax authorities as a legal entity or an IP.

However, not all of them want to benefit from their own business, go through this procedure. Consequently, here it is a question of illegal entrepreneurship, for which the owner bears both administrative and criminal responsibility.

About the law

The Penal Code deals with the business without registration or without a license. Thus, if an entrepreneur is already a tax agent, but conducts activities without special permission, this is also punished with the full severity of the law (article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

Types of entrepreneurship, where a license is required, are specified in a special law adopted in this regard. For example, a special permit is required in the conduct of banking activities, in the sale of fuels and lubricants and other similar forms of business. This is necessary in order to protect the market from dishonest businessmen, since licensed activities imply special control over the actions of these enterprises.

Violations

Thus, if a citizen decides to engage in business (activities that involve the systematic receipt of any income), then he needs to register with the tax office at the location of the enterprise and / or obtain a license.

In the event that it will be revealed that neither one nor the other is present, the activity falls under the description, which is contained in Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, illegal business. Depending on how many people participated in it and what amount of profit the businessman had already managed to extract, a verdict was passed.

Crime and Punishment: Article 171, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Part 1 of the said provision says that if the activities of such a company caused major damage or are connected with the receipt of income in such quantity, the following types of punishments can be applied:

- fine up to 300 thousand rubles;

- Compulsory work up to 480 hours;

- arrest up to 6 months.

Part 2

In addition, article 171 of the Criminal Code also provides for an offense committed by several persons under a pre-designed plan or without it, but with causing particularly large damage. The penalty for this type of activity is as follows:

- fine up to 500 thousand rubles;

- forced labor up to 5 years;

- imprisonment up to 5 years with a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles.

These sanctions contain article 171, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Amendments

Here it can be noted that any activity that involves obtaining a permanent income, even if the guilty person managed to make just one transaction, is illegal. Nevertheless, Article 171 of the Criminal Code in the new wording provided for exemption from criminal liability if the act was committed for the first time, a citizen does not have a criminal record and reimbursed all the damage caused or voluntarily converted the income in favor of the state.

The amendments touched on several articles, but as for the release, it is provided for simple crimes, without aggravating circumstances (like Article 171, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

With regard to the amount of damage or profit, it can be said that the amount that the entrepreneur receives is subject to control. This includes the costs that the businessman incurred to organize his business.

For example, if the owner of a gasoline station raised a certain amount, and then bought fuel and paid salaries to employees, the amount of finance before spending operations is taken into account.

Food

In addition to the crimes themselves, which provide for article 171 of the Criminal Code (illegal business), especially "advanced" businessmen do not stop there. That is, there is another type of illegal business implementation, when an organization is registered or even has a license, but there are problems with the goods.

Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code explicitly states that if a legal or natural person (does not matter) transports, buys or accepts, and stores or sells goods without labeling, this is considered a crime.

As some activities are subject to licensing, so many consumer goods are subject to certification and special labeling.

Separately, the turnover of food, alcohol and tobacco products is stated in Article 171.1, parts 3-6.

In the event that a businessman commits a turnover of products without mandatory information on the product itself or does not mark, the punishment will be the following:

1. Large size:

- fine up to 400 thousand rubles;

- Forced labor up to 3 years;

- term in correctional institution up to 3 years plus a fine up to 80 thousand rubles;

2. Particularly large size:

- fine up to 700 thousand rubles;

- forced labor up to 5 years;

- serving a preventive punishment in a colony up to 6 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

In this case, the code, in the notes to article 171.1, indicates the designations of the sizes in money terms by parts. For the 3rd and 4th parts, a large one - 250 thousand rubles, an especially large one - 1 million rubles.

Special products

With regard to alcohol and cigarettes, the legislator provided for punishment for the turnover of such goods without special marking in the form of excise stamps. At the same time, the large size will be the volume of 100 thousand rubles, and especially large - 1 million rubles.

If an entrepreneur, knowing about the need to label the products of distilleries and tobacco factories in this way, does not do this, he faces punishment:

- fine up to 500 thousand rubles. (800 thousand rubles with a particularly large amount);

- forced labor up to 3 years (up to 6 years, respectively);

- colony, term - up to 3 years with a fine of up to 120 thousand rubles. (6 years and 1 million for a particularly large amount).

Gambling business

Everyone wants to earn money. Someone goes to work, and someone is engaged in illegal activities with the prospect of receiving a huge revenue.

In connection with the law banning gambling organizations on the territory of many countries, including in Russia, not very honest businessmen continued to underground their activities or created new places for such entertainment. It's no secret that the income from this type of business is very tangible, although he himself is rather risky.

Along with the ban, an article appeared that provides for a certain punishment for the implementation of such illegal activities - 171.2. This provision considers violations in more detail than Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The composition of the crime is almost no different, here a specific type of activity is important.

In the disposition (the description of the act) it is said that such entrepreneurial activity is criminal , which is based on the organization and / or implementation of gambling. It is noted that games can be conducted using special equipment, the Internet or by using any kind of communication. In the event that a businessman has organized similar entertainment in an authorized gaming zone, but has not received a license for this, he is also criminally liable.

When considering such cases it could be said that the actions of an entrepreneur fall under the description that Article 171, part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains, but the legislator specifically identified this activity in a separate position.

Sanctions

The punishment for 172.1 is not much, but more:

- fine up to 500 thousand rubles;

- Compulsory labor up to 240 hours;

- restriction of freedom to 4 years, deprivation - up to 2 years.

Given that there are only two game zones in Russia , not everyone can afford to gamble. One zone is located in the Krasnodar Territory ("Azov-City"), the second - in the Altai ("Siberian coin").

Punishment for stable groups and officials

When an offense is committed by several persons in collusion, or the entrepreneur has solely made a profit in a fairly large amount, Article 171.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in part 2 provides for the following sanctions:

- a fine of up to 1 million rubles;

- a real term in a correctional institution up to 4 years with a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles.

In the presence of particularly qualifying signs (an organized group, the use of official position or a very large size), the penalty is provided in the form of a fine of up to 1.5 million rubles, and also in the form of serving time in prison up to 6 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

In addition, if the act was committed by an official or a person who has a high (or not) position, the perpetrator may be prohibited from continuing his activity and occupying the relevant position for up to 5 years. This part of the punishment is realized together with imprisonment and a fine, although the sanctions can be and simply in the form of imprisonment in the colony. It should be noted that Article 171 of the Criminal Code does not contain such details.

Similar acts

Thus, in relation to entrepreneurs who carry out illegal business (without registration or without a permit for certain activities), there are several articles in which the activity itself is divided by product or product type.

For example, Article 172 of the Criminal Code separately refers to the punishment for illegal banking activities, and Article 222 - for the turnover of weapons committed by a group of persons (in parts 2 and 3).

check in

In some cases, it is possible to talk about the illegal formation (creation) of a legal entity. Illegal and punishable will only be considered such a registration, in which counterfeit documents or dummies were used.

In this case, even if the firm carries out legitimate activities, a violation of the registration rules entails punishment under Article 173.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Composition

As in any crime, the act envisaged by Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation must also contain a composition, otherwise the actions will not be illegal activity.

Considering illegal entrepreneurship from the point of view of the theory of criminal law, it can be noted that the composition is alternative, material and formal and has qualifying and particularly qualifying characteristics, which is fully described in Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Investigation Methodology

The detection of these crimes is to find signs that will allow to say about the activities of the entrepreneur as illegally carried out.

There are also some nuances here. The investigator should find out exactly which facts should be taken into account, and when all the same business can be considered illegal. In addition, the profit gained in the process of illegal business also matters.

If this amount is large (including property), from 1.5 million rubles, the crime is qualified in part 1 171 of the article, if in an especially large amount (from 6 million rubles.), Article 171 applies , Part 2 of the Criminal Code.

To begin with, it is necessary to determine, in general, which article to qualify the crime, and only then to collect evidence, based on the content of the indictment.

For example, if an entrepreneur has a registration with a tax authority and there is a permit for any type of activity, but in practice the businessman commits transactions in an adjacent or similar kind, then it should be equated to doing business without a license.

Why is this happening? This is due to the fact that each activity has its own rules and requirements, starting from the staff and ending with the building where the enterprise will be located. Therefore, in order to avoid problems with the law in the implementation of several related types of work (services, production), you need to get a license for each.

In addition, if such permission already exists, but the period of validity has expired and the entrepreneur continues to engage in this work, this is also considered a violation (Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with comments).

Features of crimes

It is necessary to note the position of the Supreme Court in relation to entrepreneurs with a license of another entity. According to the Federal Law "On licensing ..." the territorial validity of the permit is not fixed, that is, it is possible to organize business in one region, and obtain a license in another (if, for example, there are branches across the country).

However, if a region has adopted a normative act that is contrary to the laws of the Federation or is not within the competence of these bodies, and the businessman has obtained a license on the basis of this act, he has no criminal or administrative responsibility.

Often, together with the crime qualification described in Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, judicial practice means several other forms of illegal acts, such as money laundering (Article 174), the use of someone else's trademark (180th article), and the like.

Difficulty in qualifying

In the decision of the Supreme Court, which was published on November 17, 2004, the practice of dealing with cases of illegal entrepreneurship shows all the complexities and moments of qualification and appointment of punishments. So, according to the document, the following difficulties occur:

- definition of the subject;

- differentiation of adjacent compositions;

- the concept of income - the difference between a one-off transaction and business itself.

With regard to income above, it has already been said that by such should be understood all the money received, taking into account the expenses incurred. If several persons participated in the case, the incomes are taken into account in the aggregate.

The difference between a one-time revenue-earning and a business is the direction. If a person bought, for example, a mobile phone in China, and then sold it more expensive in Russia, it is not considered an enterprise and is not punished by law.

The transaction, which was aimed at making a profit, further investing money in the purchase of goods and its sale, is considered an entrepreneur's activity.

Since Article 171 has a blanket nature, it is possible to clarify what exactly entrepreneurship is itself in Article 2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

On adjacent convoys are said in the case when crimes fall into one category (in this case, to the sphere of economy), and articles in their dispositions indicate similar acts.

Related compounds

As an example, you can consider the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation 171 and 159. In both cases, the perpetrator commits, in fact, theft. Only in the first article we are talking specifically about business aimed at profit, which will have a recurring nature, and in the second article - about obtaining (illegally) property, movable or immovable, including money. At the same time, fraud can be either related to entrepreneurship or be the result of illegal actions by an ordinary citizen.

Definition of guilty

The question connected with the subject of a crime, it is considered in the decision objectively enough. Does not allow for polysemy and interpretation options message that punishment should be applied to a particular citizen.

Thus, the person who in one way or another was appointed on a permanent or temporary basis by the head of the entire enterprise, including branches and representative offices (article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with comments) is responsible for illegal activities, including related structures. In simple terms, only the most important is used as the accused.

Employees who work at the enterprise and carry out the instructions of its head are not responsible for the unlawful activities of the head.

The court's decision

The guilty verdict under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation must necessarily contain in the descriptive-reasoning part the reasons for which it was decided that a certain activity of a citizen was entrepreneurial.

With regard to the crime, when the result was not only money, but also valuables or property, such a verdict was issued, where in the narrative-reasoning part the reasons for the turnover of such income in favor of the state are indicated.

The position of a citizen who is involved as a defendant, that he did not know about the need to register or obtain a license, does not matter: ignorance of the law does not absolve from responsibility. Especially if we talk about permission to carry out certain activities, their list is so small that it is simply impossible to get confused. It is unlikely that the producer of blasting works, for example, did not know that it was necessary to obtain a license for this.

In addition, any large companies with whom the businessman plans to cooperate, when establishing partnerships in any sphere that is licensed without fail, require this document.