Illegal commercial activity: composition and types of crime under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Consequences of illegal business activities

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

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

What is illegal business activity

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

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

Among the signs of entrepreneurial activity it is worth highlighting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Punishment for illegal business activities

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

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

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

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

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

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

Criminal liability for illegal business

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

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

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

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

Commerce that is carried out in compliance with legal requirements is positioned as legal. But if there is a violation of order, then we are talking about illegal business, which implies appropriate punishment.

Illegitimate business and its varieties

There are several options for illegal business, which determine the severity of the violation and imply one or another type of liability. Entrepreneurship outside the law can be expressed in:

• lack of required registration or incorrect formation of a legal entity;
• lack of special permission to conduct specific activities;
• violation of general licensing requirements.

In the presented video, the lawyer explains in detail which cases are still considered illegal business, what punishment the criminal faces in certain situations, and how things work with investigations in practice.

Legislative framework and responsibility

Administrative responsibility

• in the absence of legal registration, the fine ranges from 500 to 2,000 rubles;
• in the absence of a license, the fine ranges from 2,000 to 2,500 rubles.

For legal entities, fines are several times higher (40,000 - 50,000 rubles) than for individuals, and confiscation of products, equipment, etc. is chosen as an additional penalty.

To determine the punishment for illegal sale of goods also used Article 14 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. If it is proven that goods were sold illegally (without a license) or were produced in gross violations of quality standards, which also falls under the definition of “illegal business,” then, according to Articles 14.2 and 14.4 of the Administrative Code, the company’s activities may be suspended for a period of 3 months or more. Fines are issued, the amount of which depends on whether we are talking about a legal entity, an individual or an official. In case of repeated violation, the amount of the fine will be increased.

Criminal liability

According to Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation when conducting commercial activities without a license(in case of compulsory licensing) a fine is imposed. But if the illegitimate business resulted in large incomes(without paying taxes) or to significant damage citizens, then in addition to a fine, the unfortunate entrepreneur faces forced labor (about 480 man hours) or imprisonment for up to 6 months.

If the illegal business activity, which was carried out outside of licensing standards or without the necessary permits, resulted in particularly impressive amounts of income or major damage and was carried out group of people, That:

• the amount of penalties increases from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles;
• the period of compulsory work is 5 years;
• The term of arrest is increased to 5 years.

As a punishment for carrying out banking operations without the required license, a fine ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 rubles is used. But in order for Article 172 to be used against the “guilty”, the conduct of illegitimate banking activities must be accompanied either by receiving a profit on a particularly large scale, or by causing significant damage to citizens and the state. The punishment used is compulsory (forced) labor for a period of up to 4 years, arrest for a period of up to 4 years.

If illegal business activity in the banking sector was carried out several people together, the punishment increases. The period of compulsory labor is increased to 5 years, and the term of imprisonment is increased to 7.

Tax liability

If an entrepreneur ran a business without registration for 90 days, the fine will be 20% of his income, but not less than 40,000 rubles.

For late registration, if it is overdue by less than 3 months, you will also have to pay a fine of 5,000 rubles. If the delay exceeds 90 days, the fine is 2 times greater. In addition, the violator may be charged all unpaid taxes.

How are such crimes investigated?

In order to apply penalties or criminal liability to a legal entity or individual for illegal business, the fact of illegitimate activity must be identified and proven. And if it is quite possible to identify violations during company registration, the use of false data or lack of a license, then the fact of receiving income in a systematic format or the fact of causing damage still needs to be proven. In addition, it must be proven that the income became the property of the offender, and the damage caused is truly classified as “large and significant.”

Significant damage- This is income that is not received by the state treasury. Damage refers to taxes that were never transferred to the state treasury by a legal entity, individual or group of individuals as a result of business activities aimed at making a profit.

When calculating the amount of damage, only the profit of the violating entrepreneur is taken into account. But his expenses are not taken into account. In this case, the amount includes both the financial resources that were received by the illegal entrepreneur and the cost of goods on the date of the special investigation.

Determining the amount of damage (its size) is within the competence of government agencies and is not established by law.

An appeal to tax authorities or the Department of Economic Crimes must be written in as much detail as possible, with the obligatory clarification of your contact information.

Is it legal to make money online?

Everyone who receives income must pay taxes. As for licensing, if the activity carried out by a freelancer requires obtaining a special permit, then work without a license is a priori positioned as illegal business. If a remote worker provides his services in compliance with all licensing standards, and is also registered as a private entrepreneur and pays all required taxes, then his activities are completely legal and are unlikely to attract the attention of law enforcement agencies, the tax service or the financial police.

The legality of the activities of freelancers, as well as methods of combating illegal business on the Internet, is described in the following video.

Examples of violations

One of the most common violations in terms of licensing can be called running a business not specified in the permitting documentation. For example, upon registration, a construction company received permission to develop facilities of SS-1 complexity class. And in order to get more profit, the company’s management signed a contract for the construction of a building of SS-3 complexity class. As a result of such manipulation, the basic requirements for conducting construction activities in the Russian Federation were violated, which could lead to tragic consequences. Accordingly, not only administrative, but also criminal liability can be applied to the company’s management as punishment.

No less often, when conducting investigations to identify cases of illegal business, specialists are faced with situations where activities are carried out without registration. For example, a citizen organizes a workshop for repairing expensive gadgets at his home, makes a profit and does not contribute taxes specified by law to the state treasury. As a result of such activities, the state receives less tax revenue, and the business is classified as illegal. Both administrative methods (fine) and tax liability for concealing income can be taken as punishment.

Illegal business is prosecuted by law, and this is quite justified. The solution to many problems in the field of domestic business lies within the competence of supervisory authorities and local management structures. To avoid excesses and subjective assessments, experts advise regularly consulting with experienced lawyers.

In Russia, as in most other countries, liability for illegal business activities is provided, and the punishment of an individual depends on the severity of the violation. After all, a citizen who actually receives income from his occupation exercises his rights, but avoids many types of responsibilities, including paying taxes.

What is entrepreneurial activity

In Russian legislation, entrepreneurship is considered to be an activity that a citizen conducts with the aim of obtaining regular, permanent profit. This includes the provision of various services, the manufacture and sale of goods, and the rental of premises. According to Article 14 of the Civil Code, an individual acquires the right to such an occupation only if he is registered as an individual entrepreneur. Otherwise, he faces a fine for illegal business activities.

Thus, individual facts of the sale of goods or the provision of services are not considered a violation. But provided that the volume of services, the quantity of goods sold, and other circumstances do not indicate the systematic nature of the transactions. Evidence to the contrary is provided by: testimony of witnesses, documents confirming payment (bank statements, receipts for receiving money), acts of accepted work. Also taken into account:

• facts of putting goods up for sale in public places,
• advertising of any kind,
• facts of wholesale procurement purchases,
• concluding a rental agreement for premises for a specific purpose.

At the same time, the presence or absence of profit in itself does not play a role in determining whether the law has been violated. It is important that the actions were performed repeatedly over a certain period.

Since the property of an individual entrepreneur is not actually demarcated, controversial issues arise regarding the rental of housing. In order for such a fact to be regarded as an economic source of income, it is necessary to prove that:

• it was acquired or created specifically for profit;
• hiring transactions were recorded as business transactions;
• there are long-term connections with service consumers;
• There is a purposeful relationship between all transactions.

In 2004, by a decision of the Supreme Court, it was determined that the rental of one's own residential premises with the receipt of income by private individuals does not entail liability for illegal entrepreneurship. Therefore, in this case it is not necessary.

Responsibility for illegal business activities

There are two types of liability for offenses in the economic sphere - administrative and criminal. To bring a citizen to justice, there must be facts (and proven in court) that indicate their permanent (systematic) nature. Responsibility for illegal business activities depends on the amount of damage caused to the state or affected citizens and organizations.

Types of administrative penalties

In administrative proceedings, citizens are prosecuted under Article 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Paragraph one states that the fine for illegal business (without an individual entrepreneur certificate) ranges from 500 to 2,000 rubles. If several norms are violated simultaneously, the penalties are summed up, for example:

• sale (storage, transportation) of goods without markings is a plus under Article 15.12 (fine up to 4 thousand rubles with confiscation);
• provision of catering services in violation of sanitary standards - adds Art. 14.4 (up to 2 thousand, again - up to 5 thousand rubles);
• with violation of the rules for the sale of certain types of goods, for example, cigarettes - another Art. 14.5 (plus 1 thousand rubles);
• sale of goods restricted or prohibited for sale (medicines, weapons) - Article 14.2 (up to 2 thousand and confiscation).

Note that the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for significantly lower fines for citizens than for registered individual entrepreneurs.

State registration is the main, but not the only condition for running a legal business. If a citizen carries out work that is subject to licensing, or is associated with obtaining a special permit (SRO - during construction, for example), he may additionally receive a fine for illegal business activity without a license. This is established by paragraphs 2,3, and 4 of Article 14.1 of the Administrative Code.

These types of services include, in particular:

• educational and medical;
• transportation of citizens by passenger transport;
• scrap metal acceptance and processing;
• development of computer programs;
• providing communication.

For such illegal business, administrative liability comes on a more serious scale.

• For work without a license (special permit), if they are required by law, a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles with possible confiscation of equipment, raw materials, manufactured products (at the discretion of the court).
• For violation of the terms of the license permit - up to 2 thousand rubles. (cases of gross violations against individuals are not considered).

Judicial practice shows that a significant part of cases for illegal business activities under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation ends in termination due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. In half of the cases, confiscation turns out to be impossible, because the tools do not belong to the lawbreaker, but to another person.

Criminal liability for illegal activities

It occurs when a citizen’s independent risky actions cause serious negative consequences. In this case, illegal business activity entails punishment for the individual under Article 171 of the Criminal Code.

1. A fine of up to 300 thousand rubles, or may be imposed in the amount of income received over the last 2 years. Either by a court decision - compulsory labor (up to 2) or arrest - up to 6 months.

These types of penalties are imposed for work without state registration (as well as without a license), if damage is caused or the income generated reaches a large amount. In the latest edition (2016), it includes the amount of 2.2 million rubles.

1. The amount of penalties increases to 500 thousand rubles, or up to 3 annual income, forced labor or imprisonment is possible - up to 5 years. Provided: the actions listed in the first paragraph were accompanied by aggravating circumstances:

• several persons (group) participated in generating income;
• The profit received reached a particularly large size - 9 million rubles.

Since 2010, punishments for illegal business activities, as well as for economic crimes in general, have been applied less frequently. This is due to the fact that cases have become more frequent when market participants tried to resolve purely competitive relations in this way. As a result of mitigation of the Criminal Code:

• the penalty for work in violation of licensing rules was abolished (only for the complete lack of registration or permission remained);
• significantly increased the amount of damage, allowing it to be classified as large (there were 250 thousand, and 1 million - especially large);
• limited the possibility of detention - now this is possible only as an exception, if the identity of the suspect has not been established or he has a permanent place of residence in Russia, or is hiding from the investigation.

The specificity of criminal prosecution is that liability is linked to the amount of damage caused. Consequently, if it is not proven, then the offense is considered an administrative violation. If a citizen committed a crime for the first time, and fully compensated for the damage caused, and also contributed double compensation to the budget, exemption from liability is allowed (Article 76.1 of the Criminal Code).

Real Russian life: theory and practice

Most often, people are brought to justice for illegal business for trading “from hand”. Simply because such an activity manifests itself clearly, and usually there are witnesses. As for, for example, programmers, tutors, cooks - this is practically impossible. It is difficult to prove that a person systematically performed work for several customers over a certain period.

The most common type of illegal services is construction. Considering that the fine for illegal business is 2 thousand rubles, which is incommensurate with the payment for contract work, there is no point in such a punishment. It is difficult to talk about confiscation when the manufactured product is a built residential building. You cannot even be charged for working without a permit, since supervisory authorities in the field of work safety do not have the right to draw up administrative protocols in relation to an individual. They can only punish a registered individual entrepreneur or organization.

Due to the vagueness of the concept of illegal business activity, punishment of an individual is quite difficult, and therefore judicial practice in such cases practically does not develop. The question of excluding many types of services from the business category: educational, contracting, legal is regularly raised.

Thus, from January 1, 2017, citizens providing the services of nannies, caregivers, and tutors were classified as the self-employed population. Provided that they voluntarily declare their occupation, they are until 2019. It is unlikely that the new law will stimulate citizens to come out of the shadows. After all, in 2 years you will have to buy a patent, or pay personal income tax on the income received, and the employer will have to pay insurance premiums. Moreover, all of them will be known to the tax authorities.

What is illegal business, what are its criteria? What type of punishment is provided for conducting business illegally? When can punishment be avoided? You will find answers to these and other questions in our article.

Establishing a fact that indicates the conduct of business activities without official registration with the competent authorities is a serious violation in the field of business. Entrepreneurship getting out of control is undesirable both for the authorities, which means a lack of funds flowing into the regional budget, and directly for entrepreneurs who are deprived of state protection. In order to exclude illegal entrepreneurship, certain norms have been developed, which are contained in Russian codes and laws. In Russia, the fact of illegal entrepreneurship is determined by the following criteria:

1. whether the commercial activity is independent;
2. whether the subject’s activities are focused on generating income;
3. whether the economic activity of the subject is systematic - whether it was carried out once or has a duration of conduct;
4. lack of licensing documents to conduct business activities;
5. complete absence of registration actions when conducting business activities.

Based on the foregoing, it can be determined that the main distinguishing feature of entrepreneurship from an ordinary transaction is the combination of systematic actions and making profit from them. That is, for example, a service provided once for money is not entrepreneurship, but the same actions performed 3-5 times a year will already be of a systemic nature. Therefore, illegal entrepreneurship means:

• unregistered business activity;
• activities executed in violation or with the provision of false information;
• carrying out certain types of activities without licensing;
• conducting business in gross violation of licensing requirements.

According to the laws of the Russian Federation, a citizen of the Russian Federation who has registered his business as a legal entity or individual entrepreneur can conduct business activities. Carrying out activities without appropriate registration is fraught with consequences - illegal activities are punishable by:

• administrative responsibility;
• tax liability;
• criminal liability.

Let's consider each type of punishment separately.

Administrative liability for illegal entrepreneurship

This type of offense is provided for in articles of Chapter 14 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

• penalties in the amount of 500 to 2000 rubles are provided for a citizen engaged in commercial activity who has not registered it as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity;
• Conducting licensed activities without obtaining a permit entails fines:
  • for citizens - from 2000 to 2500 rubles with the possibility of confiscation of manufactured products and means of production;
  • for officials - from 4,000 to 5,000 rubles with possible confiscation;
  • for organizations - in the amount of 40,000 - 50,000 rubles with or without confiscation;
• in case of violation of the requirements and conditions of licenses:
  • for individuals - from 1500 to 2500 rubles;
  • for officials - from 3,000 to 4,000 rubles;
  • for legal entities - from 30,000 to 40,000 rubles;
• In case of gross violation of licensing conditions, sanctions are provided in the form of suspension of illegal activities for up to 90 days or a fine:
  • for citizens - from 4,000 to 8,000 rubles;
  • for officials - from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles:
  • for organizations - from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles.

The fact of illegal business activity can be established by police officers or prosecutors, tax authorities, the antimonopoly committee or consumer market supervisory authorities. The reason for an inspection, as a rule, is a complaint from dissatisfied customers or another signal indicating illegal business conduct or irregularities in work. The result of checking and identifying the fact of a violation is the drawing up by employees of the authorities of a protocol on the offense, which is drawn up during the verification activities. Bringing to administrative responsibility for illegal business is within the competence of the magistrate who carries out judicial proceedings at the place where the citizen’s illegal business is conducted or at his place of residence. A citizen can avoid liability if the protocol was drawn up incorrectly or contains inaccuracies and contradictions, since while the authorities are re-registering it, the period allotted by law for holding the citizen accountable, which is 2 months, may expire. If the case is not considered within this period, the judge is obliged to make a decision to terminate the proceedings.

Tax liability for illegal entrepreneurship

Sanctions for illegal entrepreneurship are defined in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in Article 116 and are expressed in the form of collection of taxes not received by the state and fines for evasion of their payments:

1. An entrepreneur who has not registered with the tax authorities for the purpose of conducting business is punishable by a fine in the amount of 10% of the amount of income received, but not less than 40,000 rubles (this type of sanctions is applied if, at the time of the tax audit, an application for registration of activity was not submitted to the authorities );
2. Violation by a taxpayer of the deadline established by law for filing an application for registration with the tax authority entails a fine of 10,000 rubles.

In addition to applying sanctions for the absence or delay of state registration for conducting business activities, tax authorities have the right to assess additional taxes that were not paid by the citizen during the conduct of business. An illegal entrepreneur is required to pay personal income tax on the entire amount of income received as a result of conducting illegal business activities. In addition to the accrued tax, penalties are added for the entire period of overdue tax payments and a fine for non-payment in the amount of 20% of the total amount of additional assessment. Tax sanctions are imposed on the violator only if there is a court decision.

Illegal business and criminal liability

This type of act, such as illegal business activity, also provides for criminal liability under the sanctions of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as follows:

• Carrying out activities without registration and obtaining a special permit, in cases where licensing of activities is mandatory, if this act has caused major damage to individuals or legal entities, or the state or is associated with the extraction of income on a large scale, is punishable by:
  • a fine of up to 300,000 rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to 2 years;
  • or mandatory work - up to 480 hours;
  • or arrest - up to 6 months;
• the implementation of the above act, committed by an organized group and/or associated with the extraction of profit on an especially large scale, is punishable:
  • a fine from 100,000 to 500,000 rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of 1 to 2 years;
  • or forced labor - up to 5 years;
  • or imprisonment - up to 5 years with a fine of up to 80,000 rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to 6 months or without it.

Important! In this case, a large amount of income is recognized as cost, damage, income or debt in an amount exceeding 2,250,000 rubles, especially large - 9,000,000 rubles.

Police officers or prosecutors are involved in proving facts of making large profits without registering activities or causing damage to third parties. It is worth noting that it is virtually impossible to detect an offense that falls under the Criminal Code, since test purchases by authorities during inspections are carried out for limited amounts. Therefore, as a rule, criminal prosecution of persons receiving significant income from business is carried out only in the framework of cases of involvement in laundering proceeds from crime, while responsibility for such activities carried out by the organization is assigned to its leader. Also, it should be noted that the following are not subject to criminal liability, regardless of the amount of income received:

• citizens who performed duties under an employment contract concluded with an illegal entrepreneur;
• owners of real estate properties that are rented out.

Important! Circumstances mitigating criminal liability are the positive characteristics of the perpetrator and the single fact of involving a citizen.

Criminal legislation assumes the possibility of combining illegal business activities with other criminal penalties in the field of business, for example, with the purchase and circulation of counterfeit products, etc. In this case, criminal liability measures are provided for the totality of all crimes.

• administrative (penalties here range from 500 rubles and reach 2000);
• criminal (isolation from society for a certain period, monetary payments from the income of the perpetrator, arrest, compulsory labor);
• tax (if violations are identified, mandatory payments of 10% of the amounts received are provided, but not more than 20,000 rubles, as well as 20% if the business has been operating for more than three months).

Law enforcement agencies

The following authorized government agencies can identify the implementation of a business that is not registered in accordance with the established procedure:

• police;
• tax office;
• prosecutor's office;
• antimonopoly service;
• trade inspection.

The fact of violation of the law must be recorded by the inspection authorities in the protocol. In addition, no more than two months must pass from the moment such an offense as illegal business activity is identified and suppressed. An individual in this situation can only be punished by a court decision.

Illegal business as a criminal act

In this case, a person may be under Art. 171 of the Code of Crimes. It occurs only if law enforcement agencies reveal that a person has received income on a large scale, i.e. not less than 250,000 rubles. At the same time, it is quite difficult for the police to convict a person of illegal business, because this requires a test purchase for large sums of money, which is quite problematic. That is why, without sufficient evidence to open a case, they will not initiate it.

Criminal liability arises for special damage in the amount of 250,000 or more, and only after that commerce is defined as illegal business activity. An individual (2016) is punished as follows:

• a fine in the amount of up to 300,000 rubles or from the income of the perpetrator for a period of up to 2 years;
• compulsory work;
• arrest.

If commercial activity carried out outside the law entailed causing damage on a very large scale, then penalties here range from 100,000 rubles and reach 500,000. In addition, the guilty person may be sentenced to isolation from society for up to five years. years, but with the smallest cash payments.

These are the consequences that (RF) ends with. Therefore, it is best for citizens engaged in commercial activities that bring them a permanent income to register with the tax office at their place of residence as an individual entrepreneur and pay business contributions to the state.

Responsibility under the Code of Administrative Offenses

Provides a fine of 500 rubles and up to 2000 for illegal business activities. The case of bringing to administrative liability is considered by a magistrate. This can happen at the place where the offense was committed or on the territory of the citizen’s residence, if he reports it. When a fine is imposed, its size will depend on whether the person has committed an offense for the first time or has already been prosecuted for conducting illegal business.

There are several types of offenses in the Code of Administrative Offenses:

• working without a license and violating the rules of its use;
• commercial activity without tax registration.

Of course, the size of the fine will depend on the specific case. Operating without special permission may be a more serious violation of the law than operating without registration. That is why fines are always imposed by the court when studying and considering the specific circumstances of the case. Law enforcement agencies, trade inspection and antimonopoly service can only identify such an offense as illegal business activity. The Code of Administrative Offenses envisages punishment for an individual in the form of a fine, which will be paid by the person only on the basis of a court decision.

Sanctions

If a person is engaged in business and has not registered in the prescribed manner as an individual entrepreneur, then the tax authorities consider this as illegal business activity. An individual will be punished (2016) in the form of a fine in the amount of 20,000 to 40,000 rubles. If we consider it as a percentage, then this is from 10 to 20% of all income. In case of failure to comply with the deadlines for registration with the inspectorate, an unscrupulous businessman faces a fine of 5,000 to 10,000 rubles.

Protection

If a citizen has suffered material damage from running a business that is outside the law, he can personally contact the law enforcement agencies so that the violator is held accountable. First of all, the tax inspectorate is interested in ensuring that there are as few illegal traders as possible. As is already known, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability in the form of payment of considerable fines for illegal entrepreneurs who have been carrying out their business for a long time without certain documents.

Illegal business activities of an individual are always aimed at obtaining permanent profits from the provision of services or the sale of goods. Such a business is not properly registered with the tax office. This entails unpleasant consequences in the form of fines and, in special cases, imprisonment for the guilty person. Therefore, citizens who encounter illegal commerce must report this to law enforcement agencies in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from purchasing low-quality items, products and services.

Registration

In order for the activities of an individual aimed at obtaining a permanent profit to be completely legal, he needs to register with the tax office at his place of residence as an individual entrepreneur. To do this, you must provide the following documents:

• written statement;
• check for payment of state duty;
• passport;
• TIN and its photocopy.

The person also needs to decide on the taxation system. This must be done in order to make paying business fees easier and in a smaller amount. If all documents are collected and submitted to the inspectorate, then issuing an individual entrepreneur certificate will take only a few days. It is necessary for a citizen to perform these actions in order not to pay a fine in the future for illegal business activities, as well as to save his time and money.

Varieties

Not every activity for which citizens pay money can be considered entrepreneurial. A person can receive income from:

• use of your property (this could be renting out housing or transport for a day);
• sales of things - products, household appliances, furniture;
• provision of services - hairdressing, massage, cosmetics.

Even if a woman did her friend’s hair and received money from her for it, she is not obliged to immediately go to the tax office and register as an individual entrepreneur. Now, if this is her permanent occupation, bringing in a stable income, then in this situation she will need to register. Otherwise, such a business is an illegal entrepreneurial activity, the punishment for which can amount to several thousand rubles.

Judicial practice

It can be quite difficult and not always possible for law enforcement agencies to identify unregistered businessmen. But sometimes in practice there are situations when buyers who have received a low-quality product themselves come to the police or tax service.

Example from the case file:

The citizen asked her friend to help her make beautiful and modern renovations in the kitchen and bathroom. The latter agreed because she is a professional plasterer-painter and receives a good income for such “shows”, although she does not officially work anywhere and is not registered as an individual entrepreneur.

After the woman completed her job, the customer asked her to whitewash the ceiling again because it was not white and clean enough. The citizen did not agree, took the money and left. The customer applied to the tax office with a request to hold the latter accountable for an unregistered business and provided evidence that apartment renovation is the main income of her friend.

The tax inspectorate drew up a protocol, on the basis of which the court decided to hold the citizen accountable, which entails a fine for an individual for illegal business activities. In addition, the violator had to register as an individual entrepreneur within five days.

In this example, it is clear that the woman was simply carrying out illegal commercial activities using her own work skills and abilities. But she did not want to pay taxes to the state, so she was fined by the court for illegal actions.

If a citizen constantly carried out poor-quality repairs in residential premises, as well as organizations and enterprises, where the amount of income was considered impressive and reached, for example, 300 thousand rubles, then the culprit could be held accountable for such a criminal act as illegal entrepreneurial activity Art. . 171 CC.